Getting Lei'd at Little India

It took a train ride on a weekend day pass in the company of the glorious holy shit in my pocket  and 18 hike maniacs to get lei'd on a sidewalk!

The meet up was set for 4.7 mile hike to Udupi Palace, a restaurant specializing in South Indian cuisine in Artesia, a city south of LA. Getting off at the Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs station, nothing could suggest to a curious police cruiser what the group of 19 hikers  from San Diego is up to. The police cruiser hovered by a while until it eventually gave up. 
For most of us, the meet up was an exposure to vegetarian dining and for others, it was an exposure to something Indian and the realization that India is actually a country in East Asia.
Ernest Sato once mentioned that Hema, the host and the idea behind this Southern India food exposure is originally from Kashmir. Kashmir is more of a North India so I thought of Kerala as more of South India. 
Marushka who comes from the Tuva Republic ordered exactly like what Hema ordered. The dish is called Chana Batura and it's name reminded me of Tina Chitura, a friend from Zimbabwe. 
I initially ordered a dish with biryani but Hema came to my rescue and got me to order Paper Dosa instead.  I remember eating biryani with lamb in a party hosted a co-worker from Kerala many many years ago and I really braced for something new. What, no meat?
I ate the paper tearing one small piece at a time and dipping it on the accompanying side dishes in what looked like metal measuring cups without their handles. All the side dishes were mildly hot and spicy so the bland paper tasted well after a dip. Halfway through the paper, I started using the spoon on what I thought was a lentil dip and finish it as I would a soup. I also ate what looked like a curried potato and peas dish with a fork. 
Cathy who ordered the same paper asked me why I didn't finish my paper. I told her I don't eat classified ad pages. 
While Jamie, a half and half  Chinese and Indochinese, as in Vietnamese, who thought Artesia looked like Tijuana tried to impersonate a cloistered Arab woman,we loitered the sidewalks of Little India marveling at the couple grand priced saris that showed the wearer's navel. I kept sneezing inside the sari shops that I had to go out in the sidewalks to just gawk  at passers by. The Indian women I saw seemed to be just as relaxed as everyone, not doting on their children nor looking subservient to their menfolk. 
Some of us got plucked on salons threading eyebrows. Tamara just have to be lei'd as well.

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