Monday, February 25, 2008

It was almost 8 months ago that I joined Schlumberger and it would be easy to say that I have had an amazingly exciting time so far in the company. I have been traveling and my longest stay at a particular location was 11 weeks in Scotland. The unfortunate part being that i haven't had the chance to really explore the ways and streets of Mumbai. It was around 4 weeks ago that I was asked to come to Baroda to get "more experience" as if I had any!!! I was excited about the idea of putting into place all that i had learnt but was disappointed that from a "happening" place like Mumbai I was moving to some small town in Gujarat.Well it seems I was wrong, Baroda it seems is well developed city with more malls per sq km than Mumbai and the people here definitely love to spend their money.What has surprised me is the prosperity in the state of Gujarat, be it the amazing sights of Ahmadabad or Surat, the sheer absence of slums. Now I have always been a foodie all my life and I have always loved the tastes and sights of street food. Be it the chat and vada pav of mumbai or sarafa of Indore but what I have seen in Baroda is nothing like before. Near a mall called Vadodara Central on the roadside you will see a huge row of hawkers serving the most amazing Chinese, Punjabi, Italian and of course the good old omelet. The amazing part is that these hawkers have proper menus and will provide bisleri if u ask for it too.You will see people coming in the swankiest cars with their friends just to savour the pizza the hawker has to offer.This amazing mix of the street food and yet trying to achieve the finesse of a restaurant is something I have never seen before and I really enjoyed my time there. Another interesting restaurant that I visited is called "Sasu Ki", Its a thali place and it is pretty amazing,the food is really nice but what kept me wondering throughout the dinner was the queer name the owner had picked, unfortunately for me the owner wasn't there that day and this is one question I hope I can get an answer for before leaving Baroda. Well iIdon't know where my job is going to take me next and to what interesting experiences but till then i guess I can make more trips to the roadside fiesta!!!!