Saturday night: Out on the town

I barely spent a few hours at home this weekend. That's of course bad news for my apt (needed cleaning) and my clothes (needed washing). But it was worth it. It started off with cricket like last week. People were in better shape and fewer injuries. That was followed by a trip to a "Andhra Mess". I'm loving discovering these new eateries around town. This one in particular is closer to home and I anticipate coming here to eat once a week. (Incidentally, this mess is in a giant neighborhood called "Magarpatta City": more on this place later.)

Then I went home with the intention of taking a nap but couldn't sleep. I got a call from a friend who wanted to hang out, so I went to one of the malls in the city called E-Square. Turned out, my friend wanted to hit up a lounge called "Not Just Jazz By The Bay". This is a place that offers music and food and drinks. A slightly upscale clientèle and definitely one of the places to be on a Saturday night. Lots of well-dressed people, although you must keep in mind, in India jeans apparently count as "well-dressed".

They had a "cover" of Rs. 500 but apparently the way it works in most clubs/bars in India is that you pay the cover, and get coupons for that amount to be used there on that day. So in essence it turns out to be a "Rs. 500 minimum" instead of a cover. That was fine by me since I was starving and didn't want to pay an additional amount to eat the expensive "bar food". Also, we had to sit at the bar since all the tables were reserved. I didn't mind it so much and even got to chat a little with the bartender.

On Saturdays this place features a live band and on that day it was "One Night Stand" from Mumbai. I think this was a former college band that recently had a reunion. They covered a lot of popular classic rock songs from the 60's, 70's and 80's, so you can imagine I was very thrilled to be there. (I hate listening to new music unless it comes highly reviewed and recommended. Yeah, I'm close minded.) They were very good except for a few places where their guitarist screwed up the guitar solos.

One very odd thing I observed there is that there were kids in the place. And yes, they weren't "carding" anyone. So I guess underaged drinking isn't really a problem here. Also, my friend told me about how Shiv Sena went on a rampage a few years ago trying to shut down places like these. I just left that place thinking it's gotta be really hard to try and live like an Austinite over here in India.