A fun weekend in town

Sometimes we feel like getting out of HYD for the weekend, just to break the cycle - after all, aside from going out to restaurants, over to a friend's house, Sunday brunch at a hotel, or the occasional movie, there's not much variety in our weekend activities here. Not that it really bothers me, just that it can seem repetitive after coming from DC. Hence, this weekend I figured would be the same: we were going to reportedly the best Italian restaurant in town on Friday; to a friend's house Saturday afternoon for a dog birthday party, followed by a "representational event" on Saturday evening; and (depending on William's nap schedule) possibly brunch at a hotel for Father's Day. Not a bad weekend line up, but nothing too special either.

Even if brunch tomorrow doesn't work out, I won't complain - Friday's dinner turned out to be quite enjoyable. The bruschetta was excellent, and the gnocchi in a mushroom-pea cream sauce was pretty good, too, after a bit extra pepper (http://littleitaly.in/hyderabad_res.html). The dessert options left something to be desired, alas, but chocolate mint gelato with hot fudge is never bad. I do like Indian food, but it was a treat (for a whopping $25 per person) to have something not Indian-fied at all.

Saturday's "representational event" (i.e., a social event at which someone from work must make an appearance) turned out fantastic. Rather than the usual celebrity (usually film star) speech or Tollywood dance number, the company asked a local drama circle (Dramatic Circle of Hyderabad) to perform an original adaptation of Farrukh Dhondy's short story, "Bollox." I'm not a theater connoisseur by any means, but I found myself laughing quite a bit and really enjoying the performance. Partly, I'm sure, because I haven't been to any live performance of a Western-type since I've been here (I have been to a kuchipudi dance recital), but also partly because the acting was great. The troupe is in the running to present the piece at the Edinburgh festival this year, and I'd definitely recommend it.

The short lesson of the weekend: if I make a little more effort to seek out the local events, perhaps weekends will seem less repetitive. Of course, now I just have to figure out how to find out what's going on...