Yummy things come in small, shinny packages

This Saturday morning we loaded William up in our hiking backpack and took a little walk around the side streets in our neighborhood. Greg had been with Bagwelle before, but I had never been.

We started turning out of our apartment and walking up a short flight of stairs to another road. At the top of the flight of stairs is a small clinic for leporasy and TB, across the street from a Shiva linga (small temple). Next is a government school - now I know where all the kids wearking khaki and white uniforms are headed! Then we hit a main road, called Imam Khomeni Road or Road #7, depending on your political views :)

We stopped at a small, but sufficient, grocery store named "More," where we picked up some maida (flour), eggs, juice, muesli, and some other staples. Heading down Road 7, we started towards some carpentery shops, to see what they were making. Lots of chairs, some small tables, and other decorative pieces seemed to be their specialty, all made to order. One also had some antique pieces with wood inlay and a beautifully framed Mughal-style painting (I have no way of telling if it was authentic or not). I think a second trip for closer inspection and price haggling is in order!

The real find, though, was not a typical Indian-style shop. On the first floor of a three storey home, I noticed a nice looking Western-style women's fashion shop. On closer inspection, a sign also advertised "fine chocolates." Good clothes and fine chocolates? I figured we couldn't go wrong so despite some eye-rolling from Greg, in we went. Now, we had a valid reason to buy chocolate: we're going to our boss' house for dinner tonight and need a gift. The woman who hand-makes the chocolates, though, did not want us to make our selection without sampling each option. Did I protest? Well, for about half a second. Then after the first truffle, I accepted everything else she offered.

We ended up with a 250g assortment for the gift (coffee, plain and butterscotch truffles, and then an almond-chocolate bar that is her speciality). Then she forced another 100g box on us for free "for home enjoyment." I didn't even bother to protest at that point.

As we were chatting more, we found out that the Consul General is a weekly customer of hers (perhaps this accounts for the good service?), and she also volunteered to come with us to negotiate with the carpenters. If she gets a kickback or not, I have no idea, but since the carpenters spoke Hindi, not Telugu, and only a little English, I might just take her up on the offer.

Here's a picture on the street from our walk - we get 6 bananas for Rs. 10 ($0.20) from a hand-push cart every few days.