Options Unlimited !

"Would you like an Egg,Blueberry,Muffin,Plain or Vegetable", goes the guy at the counter."OK, give me the Egg one"- I say (not bothering to listen to the numerous options posed at me). "Would you like Cream Cheese with it". "OK". (Lets get done with the order??)."What kind of Cream Cheese would you prefer". At that moment, I just cancelled my order and left !
What you just read was a typical conversation I have to indulge myself almost every single day in my attempts to purchase a decent meal.There are options for everything right from the bread you choose, the dressing , the kind of toppings, the kind of fillings, the sauce and even the cream cheese !! Buying a meal here needs even much more patience than watching a Test Match for 5 days withering into a draw ! And as if that was not enough, I found myself in another excruciating situation (lets assume that excruciating fits this sentence perfectly - this ain't a GRE test!) at the hair-cutting salon.Here is an excerpt from it. The lady (the only good part about a haircut is that you have ladies/girls and unfortunately aunties cutting your hair!) asked me , "So which number should we use". I was taken aback. Number?What kind of number? Back home, I just tell the guy "Peeche se chota karna....Aage thoda jyada" (which means get it short behind and keep it little more in the front). Finding myself in a helpless situation, I asked her what are the options (wishing I had a lifeline such as Phone-A-Friend to choose from in answering the question). "We have 5, 4 , 3, 2 and 1"."Lets go with 3 I said" (working out that 3 is the in between number so the effects of it on my hair would be average. But the end result was so bad that I could almost hear my scalp telling me "Either you expose me completely or you cover me" ! Since then I haven't got my hair cut to save me the disgrace.
Its one thing you have to accept when you are here in the US - You need to know your options otherwise you are going to make a mockery of yourself. Be it at Subway or Quiznos or at a restaurant - make sure you are well read and know which dressings would go good with which kind of salads. Its actually moments like these which make you miss home much more. Getting a cup of tea is as simple as saying "Ek cutting dena" and the chai walla will dutifully prepare for you the cup of tea you would savour the most ! Imagine him asking you "Which kind of tea powder - Assam, Red Label , Brooke Bond" The day he asks this question he will be only left with his tea powder and no customers !
To cut the long story short, I now expect options thrown at me for everything I ask. I'm trying to think I'm playing KBC everytime without any lifelines. More often than not I get the correct answer, but when I am confused, I just leave the game !