Meet Maneesh

There is, on almost every street in Mysore, a shop selling sweets.  They are made with sugar and ghee (some kind of "clarified butter," I don't know exactly what this means but obviously its delicious and of course I've eaten a ton of it).   The best sweet shop is downtown; its called "New Bombay Tiffanys" and their sweets are fresher, tastier, and more gorgeous than anyone else's.  

And what would a fabulous Indian sweet shop be without a wonderful, jolly proprietor?  His name is Maneesh and he exudes endless volumes of joy.  Whenever I stop by he makes me a saffron lassi, which is best described as an orange julius but with exotic indian spices instead of oranges.  Really, who needs oranges when you have fresh mangoes and saffron on hand?  

"Ummmm....I made some delicious sweets with saffron and pistachios and raisins but they all kind of look like brown balls....."

"Oh here, just stick this piece of silver foil (yes, REAL silver) on it, its delicious."

Its like eating princess food for snack time.  And  when you're wearing a tiny rhinestone bindi and half a meter of white and orange flowers in your hair and eating silver, you really, really feel like a princess.