The Global Soul
May 7th, 2006 | Published in dispatch | 10 Comments
The comforts of globalization, for me, lies in how in no matter which Subway you’re at around the world, they always have my favourite things: BMT, and Turkey breast, ham and bacon melt - and say the same things in the same steps.
Six inch or footlong, do you want it toasted, the same number of ham slices and cheese (2 for every six inch), would you like all the vegetables (to which I always say, everything but pickles), would you like salt or pepper ma’am, and which dressing would you like.
I love Subway, and I love Jaipur for having one. I also love Jaipur for how my hotel has air-conditioning that actually works instead of suffocating me, for cleaning my room everyday, for having hot and cold water around the clock, for having great and cheap food for room service (I have room service!), for having 3 electricity points, and have I mentioned air-conditioning that works (also, for costing S$20 a night and looking better than many Malaysian four star hotels)?
After travelling for as much as I’ve recently done, I’m tired. I stayed in the hotel - my nice hotel - for a day and a half, ordered room service, made love to my laptop, and was rewarded with not just rest, but the nice surprise of blowing my nose and finding that whatever appears doesn’t have to be shades of black.
A dear friend sends me this image with the message, “two of your favourite things” -
Yummy
Alt caption: It’s hot in there
Ah, India.
Today a rickshaw-wallah asks me which part of India I come from, two days ago I took my worst bus ride in a long time, three days ago I woke up in sleeper class in a train arriving at Agra Fort, four days ago I was caught in a jam between one dead body and another (while trying to avoid stepping on cow dung, dogs, and trying not to be run over by motorcycles at the same time)… tomorrow? India makes you lose your capacity for surprise. All I know for sure is that tomorrow I will eat a Subway sandwich again (for someone who loves Indian food as much as I do - let it be said that the max. threshold lies around 3 meals of it everyday for 15 days).
