Mantri Mall

Confession: I have now seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II three separate times. And the movie has only been released for four days.

Today, my lab group spent the morning at Mantri Mall, one of India’s largest malls that happens to be about five minutes away from IISc. We watched the morning HP show (3D this time; the glasses were absolutely ridiculous. The intermission was in an even worse spot, and there were huge subtitles on the screen. The theater was filled with lots of Tamil grandmothers and crying babies and college kids playing hooky, and the people next to us were explaining the movie the entire time – and incorrectly at that! If you’re going to sit there talking during the entire movie, at least get your facts straight. Snape is NOT Harry’s father. Needless to say, I don’t think I’ll ever have a normal movie-watching experience here… Looks like I’ll just have to watch it again when I get back to the US!)

After the movie ended, we walked around Mantri Mall. The native Bangaloreans were extremely proud of Mantri Mall, and for good reason! The mall was huge – definitely got lost on more than one occasion – and clean, and it had different shops (instead of lumping everything, from the grocery store to the clubs, together) It looked like it came straight from the US; there were Staples and Apple Stores and Smoothie stands. There was even a food court.

AND THE FOOD COURT HAD A TACO BELL!

Unfortunately, I soon discovered that Indian Taco Bell is disgusting. They use nacho cheese instead of normal grated cheese. The refried beans taste like rajma. The hot sauce packets have a masala twang. And the menu had even fewer vegetarian options than TBell at home.

After eating two tacos, I had to eat an ice cream to get that taste out of my mouth. (What an imposition, I know. Making me eat ice cream. Oh, and I had to assemble the ice cream I ordered – like they gave me little shot glasses of ice cream and chocolate sauce and nuts, and I had to pour it all together.)

So in summary, I went to a mall, made an ice cream sundae, got lost, had to ignore crying babies and 3D glasses whose lenses kept popping out as I watched Harry Potter, and ate disgusting tacos (not necessarily in that order.)

One thing is for sure: not going to work/class at IISc is just as fun as not going to class at Tech.

-July 18th