Monday, December 28, 2009

Christmas dinner & midnight mass

We (Lawrence, Meena, Shaarad, Stag, Nishanth, Monishca & I) went to Koshy's for this year's Christmas dinner. I have always felt that Koshy's was an expensive, overly hyped eating place. It's true that some very interesting people from all walks of life meet there often, and it has a noisy but rather nice feel to it in the late evenings, but I think the food is still ridiculously dear.

They had a special Christmas menu, and the items on it did sound exotic. What caught our attention the most (at least that of all the non-vegetarians at the table) was the roast turkey dish, priced at a whopping 400 Rupees. I imagined that it would be a large carved turkey roasted on a fire (ala the wild boars in Asterix comics – especially on the last page). I think the other guys were also thinking such wondrous thoughts, because we decided we would order one for the table, and split it among us 4 non-veggies.

When the dish finally did arrive, it left us spellbound by its sheer size. I could probably finish the entire thing in under a minute with my fork hitting the plate a maximum of 3 times. Lawrence couldn't believe it, and had to confirm with the waiter if this was the turkey we had ordered. The waiter nodded his agreement with a large smile. The guy must have mistaken our looks of disbelief for pleasure.

Us non-veggies grumpily finished off the miniscule roast turkey dish, while the veggies had a good laugh at our cost. Now when I think of it, since the veggies obviously enjoyed that turkey more than we did, they should have probably paid for it as well.


 

After dinner, we headed home and chilled for a bit. When it was close to midnight, we walked all the way to St. John's medical college, and went to the chapel within the hospital. The midnight mass was in progress, but my body clock was already complaining. There were some pretty girls in the rows, but their beauty was no match for my sleepiness. I was leaning against some counter and continuously nodding off. I had a feeling that people around me were more interested in my comically bobbing head, than on what the Father was saying.

After the mass, the entire congregation moved en masse to a garden where a beautiful crib had been made. The garden had a pretty fountain, and the crib had lifesize figures which made the entire setup a real treat to watch. Next we were served Christmas cakes along with tea/coffee. The coffees were indeed brilliant, and the other guys had 3 or 4 cups each. I didn't dare to have more than one, because I had to wake up early. By the time we got back home, it was 3 am which meant I had only about 30 minutes to sleep. I had to be up by 3.30 am so that I could be at the Sony World junction at 4 to catch my cab to Cochin :(

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