There is a great south Indian place down the street from my digs at the Imperial... and I enjoy taking a little walk with my book to the restaurant. I can get a bottle of sparkling water and a dosa for 70 rupees -- I leave 100 (which always surprises the waitstaff) which means that my little dinner is $2 (quite a cost-savings from LA). (I'll need to do this every day to afford my new apartment). I read my book -- which, by the way, I learned tonight that the people at the hotel have thought it was a BIBLE all this time. It's a black hardcover book which, come to think of it, really DOES look like a Bible. It's quite funny that people have thought I have such religious devotion...
I managed to get my shopping done (or started) - but DONE for the time being. I hear that the refrigerator made it ok from my Egyptian Embassy and after a near dramatic event last night -- the inverter was installed properly. I didn't know that the inverter (the device that keeps a few fans/lights running for a couple of hours when the power goes out - which happens almost every day) has to go INSIDE the house. You can imagine my shock and DISMAY when I learned that this large metal box and huge battery with wires sticking out... would need to go at the foot of my BED in the master bedroom. I don't think the guy installing the inverter had ever seen such a depressed customer. Luckily a few phone calls later (I don't speak Hindi - he didn't speak English) we ironed out the whole affair.
As Meredith pointed out "yes" here doesn't necessarily mean "yes" and "no" doesn't necessarily mean "no". Luckily, "NO the inverter can't go anywhere other than in your master bedroom" actually meant, "well, YES, with a little more work it can go wherever you want it." Lucky me.
I attended the "Mango Festival" today -- (we shot it for a story) -- and I was quite upset to learn that I couldn't be a part of the mango-eating-contest. 3 kilos of mangos -- 3 minutes.
When I asked the guy if I could just have a few mangos and eat on the side for TV purposes (the event was "sold out" ) he told me that it would be unfair for me to have only a few mangos when everyone else had to eat 3 kilos of mangos. When I told him I didn't actually care about winning the contest, he asked, "Well then -- what's the point?". I guess he's right. So the CNN coverage of the mango festival will be sans-Seth in mango eating contest.
Ok... big deal tonight -- France/Italy -- going to some random party to watch the game.