[From December 2007.]

Holy shit, went to a wedding last night, and it was insane and wonderful.

Three of us — Sunil, his cousin, and I (Raju had to work) — took a cycle rickshaw uptown, stopping on the way due to the incredibly dense traffic and to get beetlenut.  Of course, my mouth immediately filled with blood red saliva, and I’m sitting there with it spilling out on to my chin and running down my throat, and I ask, “do I swallow the first part?” because it starts with chewing the leafy outside, which causes the spit, and they have no idea what I’m saying because my mouth is full.  Until I get it across what I’m asking, it’s not as if Sunil’s english is that great anyway, and they’re shaking their heads vigorously, no, “no drink!” and I’m thinking, uh oh.  But it only made my stomach achy later, though that was somewhat overdetermined.

Sunil and his cousin keep looking at me funny until I blurt, “what?”