India - Day 9 (Wednesday)

Today is the day we decided to really go out for dinner; we wanted to go to a place that was not in walking distance of the hotel. We decided that we were going to go to the Hard Rock Cafe. There was a minor problem - the driver had never heard of it and the people he was calling had never heard of it either. Suzy and I could not really figure out how such a big named place was unknown in such a big city. We were about to give up and just head back to the hotel when the driver found someone who not only had heard of the place but knew where it was located. I give Rambas, our driver, credit; he did not give up looking for the Hard Rock Cafe, just because a couple of people had never heard of it.

The Hard Rock Cafe was pretty much what I expected, as it had music blaring (note to self - you are not 19 any more and cannot handle music at decibels that rival a jet airplane) and musical paraphernalia hanging from the walls. The majority of the wait staff looked out of place, except for our waiter. He had the rocker-motif going and he looked like he was supposed to be working at HRC. He spoke with an Indian accent, which is what he should be speaking with since he is from India, but that is the only thing that seemed strange for him. I wanted to take a picture of him because he so looked the part, but I did not want to insult him, so I didn't.

The menu was set to cater to Americans as there were hamburgers and other meals that had beef. The oddity about ordering a hamburger was that it was either 7 ounces or 10 ounces instead of half-pound or 3/4 pound. I ordered the Hickory BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger (7 oz.). It was a very juicy burger and very messy. It ended up being a burger that I ate with a fork and knife. I was barely able to finish the burger - it was very big and very tasty; because it tasted so good is why I finished it.

You can't go to a HRC and not get a t-shirt. Remember when I mentioned in a previous blog that I towered over the majority of the people every where I went? They did not have an XXL t-shirt there. When I asked the attendant, she thought I wanted 2 shirts size XL. I did end up buying an XL shirt, as it looked like it would fit me, as long as I never put it in the dryer.

We were done with dinner and my souvenir shopping so we called Rambas to pick us up. He came by shortly thereafter and drove us back to the hotel - all of about 10 minutes away.

Well, after a little research, I found out why no one had heard of the Hard Rock Cafe - it had only been in Bangalore since December 29, 2007. HRC had only been open about 5 months when we went.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. It could be as simple as taking them somewhere they would really like to go.