Today I went with two old friends to have an Indian lunch.

Last week I was teaching a train the trainer course with service engineers from around the world. One of the students was from India and asked about one of our former trainers who had held a class there many years ago. I just happened to run into the former trainer at a restaurant a few months ago as he now works close to our office.

So, I contacted him and we made plans to meet for lunch this week and catch up.

Here is Paul the former trainer. You can see our meals in front of us. You will get a closer look later in the post.

Here is Alam, my student from India. He will be helping me teach a class this week to build on the knowledge he gained last week.

Here am I with my meal in front of me. I was already having memories of similar meals during trips to India.

We met at Sri Ananda Bhava in Pleasanton which is a South Indian vegetarian restaurant.

We all had the South Indian Thali.

Thali is actually the name of the platter that is holding the food. The Thali is is a style of cuisine in India that combines small portions of food that are astringent, bitter, salt, sour, spicy and sweet. The foods are served in small katori (bowls) that are arranged around the edge of the platter.

Depending on the region the makeup of a Thali differs. In some regions they may be vegetarian, but in others they may include meat or seafood. In the south rice is typically served with a Thali, and in other regions you may get roti.

I really enjoyed the meal, both for the food and also the great company as we shared memories of times past.

Steven