Rick’s Rants and Raves

Today we visited the India Festival. I’d been given complimentary tickets by a coworker who is on the executive committee. In recent years, Anne and the kids and I have been really enjoying exploring Indian food around town. Indian food tends to be more expensive than Chinese or Mexican, but not quite as pricey as Japanese, so as a result, we usually reserve it for a treat. The exception however is that I can get a very nice Indian lunch for $6 at work every Thursday thanks to Cuisine of India, who brings in some excellent chicken tikka masala and saag panir, among other things.

So I looked forward to visiting the India Festival, but didn’t really know what to expect. As we pulled into the parking lot and didn’t see another Caucasian, I knew we were in the right place.

We stepped inside and were immediately hit with the smell of curry and garlic. We wandered the aisles looking at the vendors’ wares.

The vendors could largely be lumped into four broad categories: food, clothing, Indian DVDs & CDs, and mystics/spiritualists. One of the clothing vendors was tickled by Emily’s curiosity in the saris and helped her try one on.

The aisles were frequently packed such that it was difficult to move through without being bumped. It felt a lot like a bazaar, at least to my limited experience.

However, we spent the majority of our time sampling the food. We tried dishes from four different restaurants (Udipi Cafe, Bayleaf India Bistro, Taste of India, and a vendor from Virginia), most of which I don’t even know the name of. The food from Bayleaf and Taste of India was excellent. One of the dishes we got from Udipi would have been better had it been fresh and hot.

I especially appreciated Bayleaf’s $3 sampler plates. They were reasonably sized and perfect for sharing a variety of interesting dishes.

The best part was that the kids tried everything! And then came back for more.

Years ago, Anne and I ran into some acquaintances at a local Japanese restaurant and we were jealous that their daughter was with them. At that time in our lives, our kids were picky eaters at home with grandma, and we didn’t realize just how soon that would change. Today our kids ate a lot of dishes that were entirely foreign (in nationality) but not so foreign to their experience.

We sat in on a few performances in the auditorium. One was a really adorable childrens’ song expressing unity although we have different names and faces. When the final girl, face painted orange, white, and green sang “I am Bindia and I come from India”, the crowd roared.

As we went home, Anne and I agreed that it was fun and interesting, but perhaps not worth the $6 per person it would have cost us if it were not for the free tickets. The India Festival was geared toward the Indian population of our city, as a celebration of their culture by them, not so much as outreach or education of the non-Indian residents. So although it was interesting, I don’t think it was worth $29 (tickets plus parking) to us to have a bunch of Indian restaurants in one location.