The results: Waterfalls and Firecrackers!

It's pretty late over here, well, certainly past my bed time, it's 10:59 pm! I don't have work tomorrow, thursdays are the volunteers day off, so I thought I would write a new post (not to mention I have a wonderful functioning keyboard, no really!)

Well, a friend of mine, whom I volunteer with, is staying with a family in Calcutta. He invited some fellow volunteers and myself to his families house for a traditional Indian family dinner. WOW! What we got was way too swanky for our own good.

We took a 30 minute taxi ride through the crowded streets of Calcutta and found ourselves in a quite neighborhood of 5 storied apartment buildings, nice ones. This was the first time that I had heard silence in over 2.5 weeks, let me tell you it was bizzare.

The first thing that was unfamiliar to and dissimilar to my eyes was, as one of my friends described, "a gate." The apartment building had a gate. This was an interesting start. We entered an elevator which took us up to the top floor of the building. Since I have spent SO much time in the poshed up houses, I knew that the top floor of big apartment buildings mean one thing: penthouses! And that is what it was.

We walked through the front door and were struck by cool a/c air, a first since Bangkok. The house was swankier than many houses I have seen anywhere. We sat and drank in a living room, which was raised off the main floor a few inches, making the sitting experience, on very nice tassel lined furniture, that much more swanky. Gold god's and goddesses were situated on coffee tables and beautiful eastern asian cabinet ware. We met the hosts, he was a man named Arjay, an architect and she was Sonia, a very talented painter. Arjay has designed 27 churches in Eastern Inida and Sonia has works in many galleries in Europe. The two have traveled to many countries, countries which only accept very deep pockets.

The party was moved to the rooftop, I mean the rooftop garden. There was a full lawn, "large enough to play croquet on" said Arjay. A small fountain and multiple sitting areas. We got a further tour of the rooftop and discovered the "part room" a beautiful room with lights and a glass floor. There were 3 more terraces. One of the terraces was quite romantic, leveled above the rooftop garden.

We sat, ate, drank, talked, it was gluttonous, I mean glorious! The conversation was very varied. Everything from traditional Thai tattoos to how my parents met. From bombings in India to SOUTH BEACH Florida and ghost stories. The couple was very well educated which 4 children living abroad. The servants served the food on silver trays. A portable a/c machine was brought out to cool the guests. There were 9 appetizer dishes. Trendy hindi house music played in the background, oh how I wanted to dance. It was wonderful! I was just about on overload from all the appetizers: small sandwiches, three small pizzas, tons of fried chicken, fried river fish, cuban tostones, chips, vegetables, ham, and an Indian dish.

I was ready to go home, certainly satisfied, but that was not all. We were moved from the rooftop to the dinning room where the main dinner would be served! I was so stuffed I had no idea how I would be able to eat anymore. There were about 12 different traditional Indian dishes. I would name then but have no idea what they were, accept good! The conversation continued to get more and more humorous, pictures of the family and Sonia's artwork were brought out. We were also invited to the wedding of the daughter at the end of December!

The family also had a dog. More of a bear than a dog. Remember the movie Beethoven? Well same dog, but named Mozart. The beast was huge! It weighed more than me and demanded more attention that me, too! It was brilliant!

I sort of went into a food coma and was immobile for about an hour. The servants were Nepalese. After that hour we all finally, grabbing our over loaded bellies, said our thanks to the family and headed home.

The taxi ride took 10 minutes coming home. That's how dense the city is during city hours. I got home and discussed the night with Katie. This past morning she laughed at me, "you were so drunk! Drunk on food, that is!"

I truly was, it was sensational. What a wonderful night of partying on beautiful rooftops with a/c, wonderful people, conversation and food!

Going from budget meals, about $1.20 a meal, to endless amounts of food for a night, yea of course I ate a lot!

The results this morning and all 11 trips to the bathroom today: Waterfalls and firecrackers.