Well, I decided to have an adventure. I went to a place called "Trinity Bar & Restaurant" near my apartment, and made the relatively simple mistake of eating while I enjoyed one of India's most popular beers: Kingfisher Strong.
The decision to nosh came in a moment of weakness, or "hunger" as it's generally called in this context. The atmosphere should have informed my thought...you walk in off of the street into a a small, exceptionally dirty room. There are what appear to be wild cats hanging out in a corner. It's impossible to discern what color the walls were originally painted because of a combination of soot and strange lighting.
I saw the soot and said "So what...Chinese restaurants sometimes have the tiles in their ceilings turn brown over time because of cooking grease. It's probably not a big deal." My stomach would punish me for my adventuresome nature.
I stood for a second at the entryway when I walked in, staring at the cats, the walls, and the various people eating. I turned to my left and spoke to a small man who stood (behind an iron cage) surrounded by sky-high stacks of liquor bottles. He was surprised to see me there. Apparently, they don't get many Americans.
I said "Bar?" he goes "Upstairs". I think to myself "The upstairs will probably be nicer." I round the corner to the stares of a group of locals. When I am three paces down the hall, the conversation returns to a normal cadence. If I understood Hindi or Kannada or whatever language they were speaking, I'm sure I would have heard "is he lost?"
I walk through an Innocuous corridor and towards a mysterious open room. It's either the bathroom or where they keep extra beer. I'm not sure and I doubt drunks looking for the bathroom would be either. Next to that is a more official-looking bathroom, except it's got a small layer of indescribable filth on the bottom of it. It smells like I feel after smoking a pack of cigarettes and going running.
Ah. The staircase. It's a twisty metal deal, complete with banister. Once painted blue, it's now blue-ish. I walk up the small stairs to a room full of Indians watching music videos in silence. I sit down at a table and no-one talks to me. Turning over my shoulder, I ask the man next to me "Beer?"
He taps somebody on the shoulder and that guy comes over to me. Brimming with curiosity, I tried to see If I could pay for my drinks with a visa. They haven't quite set that functionality up yet. I managed to get my brew and upon receipt, I started looking around the room. Garbage literally painted the floor's black and white floor tiles a rainbow of filth. A cat was stalking in the back corner away from all of the men.
The room is the same color as downstairs. There are about fourteen tables, some of which have chairs and most of which invite you to sit on what looks like stolen park benches. I look across the table at a sudden glimmer of motion. A cockroach has climbed to the top of the bench directly opposite me. In a room that is full of people, with the lights on.
He stands on the top of the bench and wiggles his antennae around. I move my body to see if he's scared of me. He stays there. For probably a minute, I am treated to cockroach semaphore before one of the guys who works there comes over. He asks me If I need anything. I point to the cockroach. He smiles and flicks it onto the ground.
The cockroach adventure was after I had eaten, by the way.
