Saturday, January 22

Today we went to Trivandrum and covered as much territory as we could. We visited Modern Book Centre, Style Plus, Big Bazaar, and the Lulu Mall.

We had a surprise at the Lulu Mall because half the units remain closed. Unlike the mall in Kochi this one bears a sad resemblance to Reef Mall in Dubai. Presumably this owes something to the pandemic and hopefully it grows into something that works.

According to our driver it also has a second problem: since it opened most of its customers have come to look and do some sightseeing, so only the ice-cream kiosks have done the business they expected.

Lulu mall does, however, have a large and fully functional supermarket, which has a lot of handmade and baked-right-there goods.

When we get back and unload the groceries that we have bought I notice this. I look at the small print on the back and, sure enough, the contents contain 22.5% fat. Hmm, I thought fat free had a strictly binary meaning, like vegan spread or free from preservatives.

“77% fat free” equates to “not all the ingredients here are fat” which in turn has nothing to do with the usual meaning of fat free.

xxx