Where Everybody Knows Your Name

I loved the TV show “Cheers” growing up. I remember watching it with my family as a kid, and I still watch it whenever I run across an episode while channel surfing. I’ve even made a pilgrimage to the original Cheers bar while in Boston. If you think about it, it’s amazing that a sitcom was as successful as it was when probably 90% of it was shot in one place, and that place being a small-ish dingy basement bar.



We would make an awesome Indian version of Cheers!

Digging a little deeper, I think the reason it was so successful is because as hard working Americans (or hard working Indians, as it is) we can relate to it. After a hard day’s work, sometimes all you want to do is be with friends in a familiar place, and possibly have a cold beer in a frosty mug. It could be argued that it’s all part of the American Dream; to be able to congregate with a bunch of other blue collar Americans and talk about family, the football game last weekend, or how much their boss is pissing them off. We all have a Cliff Clavin or a Norm in our lives. We’ve all had a relationship like Sam and Dianne. We all know a no-nonsense fireball like Carla, or an innocent dim witted Woody, or an intellectual know it all like Frasier.  Even if it’s not feasible to go to the bar every night after work, or even every week, you could still sit in your recliner and unwind with the cast of Cheers and feel like you were there.

Luckily, I’ve found my own little “Cheers” here in Bangalore. It just happens to come in a slightly different form; a Pizzeria/Karaoke bar we’ve affectionately termed Romano’s (actual name is Pizzeria Romano). If you don’t know what you’re looking for on the crowded streets of Koramangala (a neighborhood in Bangalore) you’ll likely drive right past it 3 or 4 times before you see it. It’s not big and it’s not fancy, but it is a vital cog in the wheel of maintaining my sanity. 



Romano's! Not much to look at from the outside.

I like India most of the time, and I enjoy my job (also most of the time). But the issues you deal with here on a daily basis are far different than what you’re used to. By the end of the week, after dealing with workers urinating on floors, trying to communicate with people when you don’t understand each other’s language, and/or sitting in the middle seat on an airplane between two guys who have never heard of the word deodorant, the term “I need a beer” has never rung truer. I think all of my fellow expats would agree, as we all have similar problems to deal with. Luckily, we found a common solution.

Chris, Casey, and Dawn collaborating on "Barbie Girl". Fortunately Casey can't untag herself in my blog photos. :) 

The staff at Romano’s knows us very well. Their faces light up when we walk in on a Friday evening, because they know that they are going to do good business that night. I would guess that on an average Friday night when we are there, we are 40-50% of their business. Sometimes, it’s just us and a few other people. Sometimes the place is nearly full. But I doubt anyone holds the esteem with the staff that we do (I also doubt anyone spends as much money as we do).

But Romano’s wasn’t chosen for our hang out spot because of the food or the drink specials. We go for the music. We go for Dawn and Reuben, and maybe even to live out our own childhood (or college....or current) fantasies of being in a band.



Proof that I am now an international superstar.

Chris and Casey (expat friends whom I went to Dubai with) discovered Dawn by accident while having brunch at one of Bangalore’s nicer restaurants. She was there singing with her dad. Running into her outside, Chris asked where else she performed, and she informed him that she sings and runs karaoke at Romano’s on Friday and Saturday nights. Since it was very close to their apartment, they decided to check the place out.  The rest is history.

It’s hard to describe just how good Dawn is without hearing her for yourself. Her voice is strong in all registers, but always under control.  She can sing with power or tone it down for lighter or more intimate songs. There is also a tiny rasp to it that she uses at just the right times, and puts true emotion into every song she sings. To put it mildly, she has an incredible voice. She can sing anything from Adele to The Beatles to Justin Bieber to Alanis Morissette to Lady Antebellum to Prince, and make you completely forget about the original version of the song. If she were on American Idol or The Voice, I would bet my life savings that she would go very far and be a factor towards the end, if not win it all.


Reuben, Dawn, and Chris rocking Purple Rain. Never really liked the song until I heard these guys sing it.

If any music execs read my blog, you would be wise to jump on the next plane to Bangalore and head to Romano’s this Friday. She is an India native (although she has no noticeable accent), so she would come with 1.2 billion pre-packaged fans. You can give me my finder’s fee later.  All of this is capped off by the fact that she’s pretty easy on the eyes. Dawn is usually joined by a member of her very musical family playing guitar, or Reuben on the drums singing back-up. Plus, I’m happy to be able to call them friends. We are there early every time to make sure we get the front tables.

And then there’s the rest of the music. That would be us. It is, after all, a karaoke night! Dawn and Reuben are just in charge, and sing when no one else does. That being said, I’m sure everyone would prefer to listen to Dawn the entire evening. But after they coax the first one of us up on stage, it tends to open the flood gates. By that time, Chris has had a few gin and tonics, Casey is halfway through her bottle of champagne, I’ve downed a couple of Kingfishers, and the others around the table have done the same. We’ve forgotten all of our troubles by that point, so why not embarrass ourselves?! They even leave the guitar up at the front so you can play your own song if you’d like. So I’ve taken advantage of that a time or two…to mixed reviews. (Hootie and the Blowfish is not a local favorite)


Not sure what this gem is we were singing, but I'm sure it sounded pretty.

Most of the time I’m sure we sound (and look) ridiculous, especially to the more reserved Indian clientele. But we usually find at least 6-8 people to join us, so we kind of just take over the bar.  Casey usually belts out “Proud Mary” at the top of her lungs with Dawn's brother Michael, and sometimes she graces us with a lovely rendition of “My Humps”. Chris and Dawn have been known to do an awesome “Purple Rain” duet (check out the youtube link below). And then there are the group songs we do that tend to induce high kicks from me, and some other sweet dance moves from the others. Casey’s fiancé and I even did a heartfelt duet of the classic love song “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias. Of course then we had to explain ourselves afterwards because I actually knew how to play it on the guitar (long story) and Brandon knew all the words. And then I usually do my version of “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn”. I even got to sing a Bryan Adams duet with a random Indian woman a few weeks ago! (I’ll never quite understand the obsession this country has with Bryan Adams, but it is borderline ridiculous).

Chris and Dawn Rocking out on Purple Rain- Chris's Emotional Last Performance

All in all, we have a good time. We’ve made a lot of new friends and supported the local economy. Some of my fondest (and fuzziest) memories of my time here will probably be from Romano’s. And judging by the tears Casey had on her last Romano’s night before she left, and Chris’s emotional last duet with Dawn, it probably means that it will be an emotional end for me as well in a couple of months. But that’s a good thing. It means that there’s something in your life that makes you happy enough that you’re upset when you have to leave it. When you think about it, isn’t that the point of life? To continuously strive to find those things that you don’t want to live without? We're all on a continuous pursuit of happiness, my friends.

I know for a fact that I’ll never get to share another night at Romano’s with Chris and Casey, since they have both moved back to the US. But I can also tell you that I will never forget those nights for as long as I live, and I wouldn’t trade the memories for anything. And as life goes, as one door closes (in this case being the door to Romano’s), I’m sure another will open.



I'm really glad that I packed a flowered pearl snap.

So if you see pictures of me on Facebook with a microphone in hand with my tongue out, or doing some sort of crazy high kick on the dance floor, don’t judge. It’s all part of the necessary therapy needed to keep myself sane in a land of craziness.



Piano Man is and will always be the perfect end to any night anywhere in the world.

That’s one of the great things about karaoke night. I’m 8000 miles away from home in a culture that couldn’t be more different than my own. But at the end of the night you’re arm in arm with co-workers and random Indian people belting out Piano Man at the top of your lungs. Everyone can relate to that. Everyone has their problems throughout the week. Maybe some of the Indians in the room have had to deal with jackass Americans all week (and just maybe that American was me). But we all have our own places to go, and our own ways to deal. At the end of the day, we’re all human.

And after all, sometimes you want to go where everybody know your name. And they’re always glad you came. You want to go where people see; our troubles are all the same. You want to go where everybody knows your name. Do do do do do do. Do.