The day i arrived in Nampula (my first stop in Mozambique), i had no company for lunch as well as dinner. I ate alone at an Indian owned restaurant and tucked into some prawns & mixed fried rice. My first taste of local crusine. Little did i know that on the next day, in addition to some delicious food, i would also be treated to a few bouts of laughter, thanks to the subtle sense of humour of (lets call them) Mr T & Mr M. (Mr T is a Mozambican & Mr M is a Zimbabwean.)
I met Mr T & Mr M in the afternoon, on the second day. We did not get too much time to get acquainted as Mr M & i had some official work. It was only at the end of the day, when we got back to the hotel that we got some time to get better acquainted over dinner. It started off with some brief introductions of ourselves and, since we were at dinner, it carried on to food. Mr T expressed his liking for some spicy Indian food while Mr M had an opposite opinion. He had one bad experience with Indian spices and was not willing to take a second chance. His expressive narration of his experience gave me the feeling that the spices set off a fire inside him. But, on the repeated insistence of Mr T, Mr M finally agreed to taste some of the spicy stuff.
After going through the various Indian items on the menu, Mr T finally settled for an Aloo Parontha and some chicken masala. Mr M would not budge from some tried and tested local food. The waiter took down our order and left. Mr T was still looking at the menu in a very serious manner. Mr M and i looked at each other wondering what he was looking for. Without looking up from the menu Mr T commented, "I don't see a fire extinguisher on the menu." We looked at each other for a moment and then, suddenly burst out laughing. Well, i did not know that Mr M had such a bad experience... :-)
This was just an indication of what was to follow...
Football is a craze in Africa. With the upcoming league final & Euro 2008 our talks also drifted towards club football. Mr T was casually dressed in a jeans and T-shirt with 'FCP' printed on the shirt. Mr M interpreted it as 'FC Porto' a Portuguese football club and asked Mr T, "Did you play club football in Portugal?" Mr T was in a very jovial mood and winked at me as he replied back, "Yes. I did. Don't you know that i am a Portuguese." Mr M wondered for a moment and then realizing that Mr T was trying to pull his leg quipped back, "Then, you are the dirtiest Portuguese i have ever seen." And all three of us started laughing. (The Portuguese, i learnt later are generally very fair.)
Now, this was a dinner i would remember for quite some time...
I met Mr T & Mr M in the afternoon, on the second day. We did not get too much time to get acquainted as Mr M & i had some official work. It was only at the end of the day, when we got back to the hotel that we got some time to get better acquainted over dinner. It started off with some brief introductions of ourselves and, since we were at dinner, it carried on to food. Mr T expressed his liking for some spicy Indian food while Mr M had an opposite opinion. He had one bad experience with Indian spices and was not willing to take a second chance. His expressive narration of his experience gave me the feeling that the spices set off a fire inside him. But, on the repeated insistence of Mr T, Mr M finally agreed to taste some of the spicy stuff.
After going through the various Indian items on the menu, Mr T finally settled for an Aloo Parontha and some chicken masala. Mr M would not budge from some tried and tested local food. The waiter took down our order and left. Mr T was still looking at the menu in a very serious manner. Mr M and i looked at each other wondering what he was looking for. Without looking up from the menu Mr T commented, "I don't see a fire extinguisher on the menu." We looked at each other for a moment and then, suddenly burst out laughing. Well, i did not know that Mr M had such a bad experience... :-)
This was just an indication of what was to follow...
Football is a craze in Africa. With the upcoming league final & Euro 2008 our talks also drifted towards club football. Mr T was casually dressed in a jeans and T-shirt with 'FCP' printed on the shirt. Mr M interpreted it as 'FC Porto' a Portuguese football club and asked Mr T, "Did you play club football in Portugal?" Mr T was in a very jovial mood and winked at me as he replied back, "Yes. I did. Don't you know that i am a Portuguese." Mr M wondered for a moment and then realizing that Mr T was trying to pull his leg quipped back, "Then, you are the dirtiest Portuguese i have ever seen." And all three of us started laughing. (The Portuguese, i learnt later are generally very fair.)
Now, this was a dinner i would remember for quite some time...
1 comment:
lol..fire extinguisher..your friend seems to have a total phobia against indian food! poor guy :)
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