...even if it's on a Monday. I've found this to be a sound philosophy for years now, and so yesterday I took my own advice.
The reason I was having a good hair day is that I got a haircut. The heat and humidity has been doing a number on my mane, so it was in need of some serious TLC. I had solicited recommendations for salons from friends, since I was a little concerned that the average hairstylist here in India wouldn't be familiar with my type of hair, since it's much finer than the average Indian woman's hair. Anyway, I end up calling a nice salon and booking a haircut and pedicure - at the same time. That's right, I had two men working on me at once - one on my head and one on my feet. It was heavenly.
I was kind of hoping that the hairstyling experience would be really different here (providing me with blog material), but there weren't any striking differences. The guy who cut my hair was an edgy guy with bleach blonde hair (yes, he was Indian) and several piercings who called me "darling" and kept insisting I drink green tea. My pedicurist was muscular and tattooed and was trying hard to pretend not to be grossed out by how dry my feet were (or maybe I'm projecting here - not sure). Really the only difference between a haircut in the states and a haircut here was the number of people staring at me at I was in the chair. Sigh - yes - they still stare. Ami was very disappointed in me for not getting my hair cut on the street like she and I had discussed earlier. Did I mention that? Every morning we pass by a row of barbers who have set up shop on the sidewalk. When I mentioned that I needed a haircut, Ami dared me to get it done at one of those places and I accepted. After all - my hair is long, and it grows back, right? I didn't end up doing it there because I really wanted a pedicure as well, and street pedicures seem like a guaranteed path to hepatitis.
So how did I manage to not waste my good hair day? Originally my friends and I had planned to go to karaoke at Irish House. The plans changed last minute to be redirected to Bandra and our favorite bench-dancing venue - The Big Nasty. The night turned out to be a fun one - particularly for a Monday. We went to dinner at a pan-Asian restaurant called Nom Nom first. Funny story: Ami texted me to tell me about the change in plans, and she ended the series of messages with "nom nom bandra." Being a nerd, I assumed that that was her cutesy way of saying "I'm excited to be eating dinner in Bandra." So as I'm leaving the salon to meet up with them, I keep sending messages asking "so what's the name of the restaurant?" Kevin didn't respond, since Ami had told him she had already let me know. I resend the message "what's the name of the restaurant?" "Nom nom" "I know we're eating there, but what's the name?" "Nom nom." Ooooooooh I get it now. Anyway, it was a bit of a "who's on first" moment but I eventually found the right place :)
The rest of the night was typical Bandra fun - different friends came and met up with us at The Big Nasty, mostly at my urging since I've become an expert at exerting peer pressure on people. One noteworthy conversation I had was with my friend Joanne's date, who is in the Indian navy. I knew absolutely nothing about the Indian navy prior to meeting this guy, so I took the opportunity to ask him questions and learn a thing or two. He's been with the navy for 9 years total - 4 were in training and then 5 as a sailor. The first 3 years of all Indian military training take place at the same training institute, with Army, Navy and Air Force all being trained together on the same campus. Similar to West Point and its equivalents in the states, this training provides an undergraduate university experience. Then for the last 18 months each branch of the armed forces will separate for more specialized training. This particular guy is a submariner - he said he chose this specialization because it seemed more interesting than some of the others. There are no women sailors in the Indian navy - any females will be in the logistics and support services areas of the military rather than combat operations. So this guy spends his time locked in a pressurized tin can with several hundred other dudes for weeks on end. Sign me up for that! (kidding)... The longest he's ever been out to sea is 35 days, but some people will stay out for as long as 60 days. He said that it's really nice to see the sun after that long of a time period. Can you even imagine not seeing the sun for that long? (shudder) Speaking of the sun, night and day don't really matter in the submarine. He said that you kind of lose track of what is day and what is night, and just sleep whenever you are off duty, regardless of what time it is. Yikes. Ami and I also asked the most pressing question of all - does he get seasick? The answer is a resounding yes based on the expression on his face when he answered. He said that the first couple days out to sea are always the worst, and then you get used to it. But since the submarine is submerged and the jets aren't on all the time, it's a lot more unstable than the larger navy ships and so can be verrrrrrrry wobbly. On second thought, I won't be volunteering to spend time on a submarine. What's the point in being locked in with hundreds of guys if you're so nauseous you can't even get out of bed?
The conversation ended with me asking him which submarine movies out there are the most realistic. He starts of strong with U-571 and The Hunt For Red October, but then ends up recommending "Down Periscope" to me. So....either he was messing with me throughout the movie-focused part of the conversation, or he's a big Kelsey Grammer fan. Take your pick.
The reason I was having a good hair day is that I got a haircut. The heat and humidity has been doing a number on my mane, so it was in need of some serious TLC. I had solicited recommendations for salons from friends, since I was a little concerned that the average hairstylist here in India wouldn't be familiar with my type of hair, since it's much finer than the average Indian woman's hair. Anyway, I end up calling a nice salon and booking a haircut and pedicure - at the same time. That's right, I had two men working on me at once - one on my head and one on my feet. It was heavenly.
I was kind of hoping that the hairstyling experience would be really different here (providing me with blog material), but there weren't any striking differences. The guy who cut my hair was an edgy guy with bleach blonde hair (yes, he was Indian) and several piercings who called me "darling" and kept insisting I drink green tea. My pedicurist was muscular and tattooed and was trying hard to pretend not to be grossed out by how dry my feet were (or maybe I'm projecting here - not sure). Really the only difference between a haircut in the states and a haircut here was the number of people staring at me at I was in the chair. Sigh - yes - they still stare. Ami was very disappointed in me for not getting my hair cut on the street like she and I had discussed earlier. Did I mention that? Every morning we pass by a row of barbers who have set up shop on the sidewalk. When I mentioned that I needed a haircut, Ami dared me to get it done at one of those places and I accepted. After all - my hair is long, and it grows back, right? I didn't end up doing it there because I really wanted a pedicure as well, and street pedicures seem like a guaranteed path to hepatitis.
So how did I manage to not waste my good hair day? Originally my friends and I had planned to go to karaoke at Irish House. The plans changed last minute to be redirected to Bandra and our favorite bench-dancing venue - The Big Nasty. The night turned out to be a fun one - particularly for a Monday. We went to dinner at a pan-Asian restaurant called Nom Nom first. Funny story: Ami texted me to tell me about the change in plans, and she ended the series of messages with "nom nom bandra." Being a nerd, I assumed that that was her cutesy way of saying "I'm excited to be eating dinner in Bandra." So as I'm leaving the salon to meet up with them, I keep sending messages asking "so what's the name of the restaurant?" Kevin didn't respond, since Ami had told him she had already let me know. I resend the message "what's the name of the restaurant?" "Nom nom" "I know we're eating there, but what's the name?" "Nom nom." Ooooooooh I get it now. Anyway, it was a bit of a "who's on first" moment but I eventually found the right place :)
The rest of the night was typical Bandra fun - different friends came and met up with us at The Big Nasty, mostly at my urging since I've become an expert at exerting peer pressure on people. One noteworthy conversation I had was with my friend Joanne's date, who is in the Indian navy. I knew absolutely nothing about the Indian navy prior to meeting this guy, so I took the opportunity to ask him questions and learn a thing or two. He's been with the navy for 9 years total - 4 were in training and then 5 as a sailor. The first 3 years of all Indian military training take place at the same training institute, with Army, Navy and Air Force all being trained together on the same campus. Similar to West Point and its equivalents in the states, this training provides an undergraduate university experience. Then for the last 18 months each branch of the armed forces will separate for more specialized training. This particular guy is a submariner - he said he chose this specialization because it seemed more interesting than some of the others. There are no women sailors in the Indian navy - any females will be in the logistics and support services areas of the military rather than combat operations. So this guy spends his time locked in a pressurized tin can with several hundred other dudes for weeks on end. Sign me up for that! (kidding)... The longest he's ever been out to sea is 35 days, but some people will stay out for as long as 60 days. He said that it's really nice to see the sun after that long of a time period. Can you even imagine not seeing the sun for that long? (shudder) Speaking of the sun, night and day don't really matter in the submarine. He said that you kind of lose track of what is day and what is night, and just sleep whenever you are off duty, regardless of what time it is. Yikes. Ami and I also asked the most pressing question of all - does he get seasick? The answer is a resounding yes based on the expression on his face when he answered. He said that the first couple days out to sea are always the worst, and then you get used to it. But since the submarine is submerged and the jets aren't on all the time, it's a lot more unstable than the larger navy ships and so can be verrrrrrrry wobbly. On second thought, I won't be volunteering to spend time on a submarine. What's the point in being locked in with hundreds of guys if you're so nauseous you can't even get out of bed?
The conversation ended with me asking him which submarine movies out there are the most realistic. He starts of strong with U-571 and The Hunt For Red October, but then ends up recommending "Down Periscope" to me. So....either he was messing with me throughout the movie-focused part of the conversation, or he's a big Kelsey Grammer fan. Take your pick.
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