new friends!

for once i was looking forward to teaching yoga (i'm subbing for tori's twice-weekly classes at the grand hyatt, a luxurious hotel with a yoga studio overlooking the nile) and had worked out a few good sequences, so for once i was disappointed when nobody showed up. in an excellent display of willpower i did the routine by myself, and was in a great mood afterwards. i left the hotel around 7 and decided to walk up the corniche and catch a taxi at the bridge to zamalek. suddenly, a guy bumped into me and i jumped. he apologized in english with a hint of an accent, and after a short pause he struck up conversation. Turns out that he and his friend were not egyptian, but indian, and had met here for a vacation. Jim was currently living in Rome and Ashish in Singapore. They asked me where they could buy sunglasses and I ended up leading them downtown. After some haggling we rewarded ourselves with a beer, then I found myself going to dinner with them at Sequoia, a very stylish restaurant on the northern tip of Zamalek. Both guys were good conversationalists and the three of us peppered one another with questions. I've been really interested in India since reading The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga (which I highly recommend) and a blog by an australian woman living in Mumbai with her indian husband, whiteindianhousewife.com. Over dinner I got to hear about how the caste system affects modern day life in India, and their outlooks on arranged marriages versus love marriages. I'm hoping to meet up with them again before they leave Egypt.