Indian faith

helloo!
well, I just ate dinner in an Indian restaurant. Ya, i know, i know what you are saying "well, you're in India, aren't ALL the restaurants Indian?". You do have a point there, but there are different kinds of restaurants here. There are really upscale restaurants with way inflated prices in the expensive hotels that cater to tourists and the rich. The food is often not that good, the prices are high, but you know that it is "safe" to eat there as their whole business runs around tourists. Then there are mid-priced restaurants that cater to foreigners tastes. They have indian food but also italian, israeli and even mexican foods, all vegetarian of course, and of varying tastiness and quality, but these too are also "safe" for the same reason as above. Then there are Indian restaurants... which may or may not be safe, its your gamble. Because the local people grow up with the bacteria in the water and all that, just like mexico, they are immune to stomach problems due to bacteria. The Indian restaurants are cheap, sometimes a quarter of the price of the same item on one of the other restaurant's menus and the one i ate at was taaaaasty. I've been pretty much playing it safe and sticking to the first two types of restaurants. I really dislike the first type, tolerate the second type and so i am happy to find the tasty and cheap 3rd option, the Indian restaurant. I have been healthy so far, so i figured i could risk a little stomach upset in the name of adventure and trying something new. Besides, it was recommended to me by some australian friends and i've seen other foreigners eating in there so it must be fine. Its not all that flashy, and it looks like everything is prepared well, but the premises are never clean looking in ANY of the restaurants, by Canadian standards, and it is just something you have to get used to, otherwise you don't eat. You just gotta have faith.
So, we'll see, how it goes. The food was good, although a bit on the spicy side. Ayurvedic doctors tell me it is best if i stay away from spicy food as much as possible. Actually, there is an ayurvedic restaurant right next to my room. I go there alot, almost everyday, and the food is just glowing there, but you need a little variety and excitement. I can't eat there all the time.
Anyhow, enough about my dietary habits. I'm sure you are all thrilled.
what else?
oh, at the Indian restaurant... i only had one large bill and some small change, but the small change wasn't quite enough (i was 5 rupees short) and they never have change for a big bill. when you hand them 500 rupees, they almost always never have change, which is funny, because 500 rupees is only 12 dollars, but that is like.... a small fortune here, and they never have change. If you insist on paying with such a large bill, they send the lowest guy (or child) on the totem pole out with the 500 rupee bill to scare up change from someone else.
So the kid told me to just pay him some other time, the 5 rupees i owed him. This is a beautiful thing. This is not the first time someone has done this for me here. They are so trusting. I love it. They don't know if i'm gonna come back. they don't know me from a hole in the wall. But on a couple other occasions... in the same scenario at different establishments, they have shrugged off my bill completely saying i can pay next time i come, when i have change. Amazing. in a place where people have so little and scratch together every penny they can, they are willing to let me walk out the door, bill unpaid, a stranger, trusting completely that i am going to come back and pay them.
Just another one of those surprising contrasts that India is so famous for.
well. ... that's about all i have to report for now.
the science experiment carries on...