India - Dirty Shopping

I went souvenir shopping on Saturday. Although I must admit I would have traveled into Bangalore on Saturday even if I had no souvenirs to buy. The need for American style food drives me into town each weekend regardless of the two hour drive.

This particular Saturday I had a few things to get done though. I got my hair cut, which was a strange experience because it was the first time I had a professional cut my hair in more than four years. I do not have hair clippers here though so I had to go to the salon. The guy who cut my hair, his name was Mani, did a decent job of it though. I was happy with it and it wasn’t too expensive either. I spent 350 rupees, which is just under nine dollars. The company is going to pay for it anyway.

Before getting my hair cut I ate at McDonald’s. I know this is a cliché for an American to go to a foreign country and then eat American fast food, but I don’t care. I needed food that wasn’t Indian and McDonald’s happened to be the first place I found. An interesting thing about McDonald’s here in India though: there is no beef in the entire store. Also, half of the items on the menu are vegetarian items. Since most of the country here worships cows (about 80%) and half the country is vegetarian, many of the American places do not carry beef at all, so all the burgers at McDonald’s are either chicken or vegetarian burgers. Needless to say, I got the McChicken Combo. It tasted just like home, albeit with “normal” size portions. The drink and fries I got were “medium” but are the same size as the “small” back home. You can thank McDonald’s for helping to make America fat.

After that I went out to M.G. Road. In Bangalore, Mahatma Gandhi Road is essentially the “center” of town since you can get to many good shopping places from M.G. Road. I wandered around that area buying souvenirs for friends and family as well as exploring a bit. I got most of my souvenir shopping done and for that I am glad. I really dislike shopping, and here in India it is even worse. The streets are full of dust and dirt and after an hour or so my eyes start to burn and I feel like coughing. The crowds of people, especially on Saturday, are packing the sidewalks and you have to fight your way through them to get where you are going. The selection of stores does not leave you wanting though, especially in that area. There are plenty of places to buy most things you could want.

After shopping, I ate dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s. The food was good, but still no beef. I was craving a hamburger, but ended up getting Chicken Alfredo pasta instead. Oh well, T.G.I. Friday’s has beef, and I’ll probably end up there next weekend.

All in all, it was a good shopping day, and I look forward to NEVER having to do it again!