Bollywood party - Berkley Saree stores - Fisherman’s Wharf

We had the “Bollywood party” as scheduled on 18 Jul (Fri). The first to arrive was Teresa, followed by Nina and Hannah. Later the remaining, Erica and Pranjal, Dan and Jennifer, Melanie and Frank joined in. Latha made some excellent Idlis, Aloo Bondas, sambhar and coconut chutney which was really lapped up by everybody. They were all absolutely at home discarding the fork and knife and using their fingers and really appreciating the food.

While everybody was having their Idli - Bonda - Sambhar, Sai put on a Bollywood movie with English subtitles, on the DVD - “Hum Hain Rahi Pyar ke” - an Aamir Khan starrer with Juhi Chawla .It was a very light hearted comedy and as the film progressed, everybody was so relaxed that they all became very informal sitting on the carpet, some lying down as they watched with rapt attention trying to understand the nuances of the film and its comedy. At the end of the day everybody had enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

On 19 Jul 08 (Sat) went to Berkeley to pick up eight identical sarees for the bridesmaids for Stephanie’s wedding with Sai.Went around four to five saree shops out of about ten shops. What an amazing variety of Indian clotheswear they had. And all the shops were constructed typical Indian style. The shops could have been anywhere in India – Mumbai, Delhi or Hyderabad.

All the salesgirls were Indian and they spoke chaste English and Hindi. One shop was probably owned by a Gujarati and another one by a Punjabi – all second or third generation Indians settled probably for more that 100 years yet maintaining the Indian tradition. It was all very interesting indeed. We could locate the sarees alright but they did not have eight of the same colour and design so the shopkeeper may have to get the same from India.

Later in Berkeley itself, we went to “Viks’ - an Indian restaurant .Had some Chat items, as tasty if not better than stuff back home in India; then went to the Fisherman’s Wharf in downtown San Francisco. Fisherman's Wharf is San Francisco's most popular destination and features the Pier 39 Shopping/ restaurant malls/ a row of seafood, restaurants, street vendors, and souvenir stores ,combined with a major fishing pier.

The Fisherman’s Wharf is more than 400 years old – the Spanish being the first people to occupy it in the 16th century. Surprisingly we saw some horse driven carriages right in the middle of the busy approach road to the Wharf! Reminded me of Bombay .There was also a Bakery where we could see them baking bread in a unique way,which they have been following for the past 150 years or so . We could see the same through huge transparent glass windows. There was a “Bread crocodile” made of several pieces of freshly baked breads on display!

On the edge of the mall are also a lot of sea lions that sunbathe themselves! We however did not go near them and saw them only from a distance. Thousands of tourists flock here on a daily basis to see these sea lions perched on cement platforms ,on the waterfront making a lot of noise. From the Wharf we could see Alcatraz - an island where they used to send the prisoners who were sentenced to various crimes. It was notorious as no prisoner could escape from the prison and even if he did he would die due to the freezing water around the island. Now it is a hot tourist spot to which cruises are organised.

On the waterfront there was a floating restaurant ( see the photo) .We could see the restaurant swaying in the wind on the waves of the ocean !The weather was really very good and we really enjoyed ourselves otherwise it could be really really ……….freezing cold !The shopping mall was crowded and a carnival like atmosphere prevailed in the air. The shops especially curios made out of sea shells and other oceanic stuff were attractive and reasonably priced. Ideal for taking gifts home.




We walked through “Hard Rock Café” a prosperous shopping Mall.The Owner of the Café sold a roaring business to the present owner and donated the money to the Sathya Sai Medical Trust . His donation was mainly responsible for the construction of the Sri Sathya Sai Super Speciality Hospital in Puttaparthi – one of the most modern hospitals in the World and that too in a small village in India ! We saw a crepe being made in an Italian restaurant. !A Crepe is something like a Masala dosa - made of rice flour and instead of the Aloo Masala you stuff it with a stuffing of your choice – generally some sweet stuff .In this case as you can see in the photo it is strawberries and Ghirardelli chocolate!