I had lunch Thali style

Friday, Feb 4

Today the ops mgr Prasad took me on a visit to a contract manufacturer that makes one of our products. It was a small factory in the industrial part of Pune. We drove through some really pretty scenery with tree lined streets. The owner was this 70 year man who was pretty fit and sharp for his age . They served us chai tea and we had small chats for at least 20 before I could do what I came to do which was to just walk around and check on their facility. My part was done quickly enough so they took advantage and talked business with Prasad. I saw that it's a very casual way of doing business, there was no powerpoint presentations or formal agreements. The owner would ride Prasad pretty hard about giving him more business and whipped out his notebook and quoted something that was said 5 years ago! It was just some hand written notes on a ledger!

Afterwards they insisted on taking us to lunch. He was very proud that this was lunch in the best hotel in this part of town. It looked like an equivalent of a motel 8 at home but I took his word for it. Our lunch was thali style which means you are served a big silver platter that typically carries an ensemble of small metal ramekins of different types of dishes. It's typical in southern India and usually only vegetarian. As soon as you sit down there are various servers that would come and start filling up your ramekins. I loved it, each dish was a burst of flavor. There were different types of dahl and curries and vegies. There was also this delicious milk dish with fresh fruits. They also brought us at least 6 different kinds of roti (bread). I learned to put my hand over the dish so they would stop filling up my ramekins. Throughout our meal these servers would appear out of nowhere to fill up your plate. You get distracted for one minute and your plate is suddenly full again, it's magic! I think this is the one country where I could easily become a vegetarian. At home being a vegan would mean boring salads and hummus and soy bean burgers. Here there are hundreds of veg dishes that would keep your palate happy. I have eaten chicken maybe once since I have been here and find that I don't miss meat that much.