Delivery…A way of life

Kids,

I’ve had this post in the drafts folder for over 3 months but always found reasons to get another one out.  That is until recently when some friends, Ryan and Lacey, posted on Facebook that they had Taco Bell delivered to their door.  So here I go.

Delivery isn’t some new concept that we had just learned about.   To be honest, back in the US we had developed a bad habit of ordering Chinese food when you kids were fed and bathed.  I believe the main reason we picked up the habit was due to my work hours typically keeping away until past 6pm, which left you three ‘hangry’ for at least an hour. We found it easier to get you taken care of and then eat in peace.  Please don’t take it personal…you’ll understand some day.

When we moved to Mumbai we happy embraced the massive delivery culture here in India.  To help us get acclimated to the grocery stores we found at least two online grocery stores that deliver anything we needed right to your door for rp50 or less than one dollar.  There were times when we only ordered eggs and the delivery was free.  Once we got used to what seemed to be constant congestion and available options in the grocery stores we slowly moved away from online grocery shopping due to the random quality of products.  Fruits, vegetables, and yogurts were our biggest complaint. At this age you ate fruit like it was going extinct and the produce from the online stores was hit or miss.  So what did we do? We found a produce cart down the street that we could call and they would deliver some of the best produce we’d seen, with free delivery. Ok, to be honest Winnie called him and ordered everything in Hindi. See where I’m going with this…

After weening ourselves off of grocery delivery we learned that there was a liquor store, also down the street, that delivered for free.  The local establishments are one of the great features about living in Powai.  The hard part about liquor delivery is that we really didn’t know what they had, and definitely couldn’t figure it out over the phone.  I took a couple of trips to the store but ended up just wandering around the street and store like a lost puppy dog.  The store only displayed wine and hard liquor, no beer.  All wine and liquor in Mumbai was much more expensive than the states due to the heavy import duties.  For example a bottle of Yellow Tail wine, that you can get in the states for $8, is $36 in the local Haiko.   I’m thankful we’re not alcoholics.  But, after a few calls to the store we found a good beer and wine that fit our budget.  Plus after two calls they knew our location without me having to tell them.  They actually hung up on me the third time I called and I called them back to make sure we didn’t get disconnected.  Oh, and if you request it, they will bring a credit card machine to your door.  Yeah, it was an awesome problem.

Outside of these two items we really only took advantage of food delivery from a variety of restaurants around Powai.  Zomato.com is the local food rating website, but also allows for online orders.  It to was a problem, but after four months we have it a little more under control.

Love,

Mom & Dad