GRIP, Internships Abroad Lunchtime Adventures

Drishti Works - Mumbai, India

Come 1:30 pm, I’m seized with the classic excitement derived from both stomach and mind: where to for lunch today? Every day my lunch break brings new flavors and textures: from dosas with coconut chutney, to thepla and moong and chaat and idli and dozens of other delights that my coworkers are filled with excitement at the prospect of showing me. This is not the Indian food I’ve tried from Philadelphia or even London. These are the real Bombay specialties, the local eateries each with its own special mix of spices and preparations. Where we go, there is no other foreigner around – the locals look at me - not unkindly, just unexpectedly - as if I’ve taken a wrong turn. Someone came up to me trying to sell me a doll. “You like a barbie!” He didn’t ask, he assumed, pointing to my light-brown hair and back to the doll’s blond hair. I couldn’t help but chuckle, as I kindly said no, thank you, and walked on. I've come to accept the stares that being visibly foreign attracts.

But the precious one-hour lunch breaks are not just an enjoyable culinary experience. It’s a chance to connect with my colleagues, to understand the local norms a bit more, to observe this bustling little commercial subset of south Bombay, a melting point of cultures around the country and beyond. I usually go to lunch with two guys from the Machine Learning team – and our chats range from the most efficient unsupervised learning methods to their respective home cuisines, to the increasing drought and inconsistent monsoon problems that have been increasingly noticeable these past few years, to the joy cricket brings them. Every day, they teach me a few Hindi phrases that I use the afternoon post-lunch to practice on the rest of my colleagues. They laugh, amused at my poor pronunciation but appreciative of my effort.

And just the journey to our chosen lunch spot is an adventure in itself. If it’s crossing the roads in one piece, or staying dry from unpredictable bursts of the monsoon showers or your own sweat from the humid heat. Just last week, the building touching ours partially collapsed, due to weak foundations further damaged by the season’s humidity. It had been expected to collapse, so had been evacuated several days beforehand. Nevertheless, the huge rubble of rubble in front of our office was slightly shocking at first, with an aftertaste of empathy - for those who will have to clean the site and rebuild the structure. The rubble blocked our shortcut to the food joints. We take the long way now. I get to see the notorious Mumbai trains pass by from close-up now because our walk takes us by the tracks. People standing half-out in the open train doors, not for lack of space (it’s not rush hour yet), but for the sake of getting that extra ventilation. The heat can be brutal here.

To combat the inevitable drop of energy following a filling and deliciously flavorful lunch, we get the customary chai from the vendor at the bottom of the office. This is the real deal. Sweet, milky, delicately spiced, aromas tickling the nose and the palate. Now, full, energized, and spiced up, we are ready to tackle the afternoon’s workstreams.