💬 I asked for medium spicy and cried in front of my whole team

Team lunch on Friday at a new Andhra meals place near Kondapur. 9 of us, 1 long table. The waiter asked how spicy I wanted my chicken fry. I said medium. He said, sure sir. First bite was fine. Second bite my ears started to feel warm. Third bite I stopped tasting anything. By the fifth my nose was running and my manager asked if I was okay. I said yes in a voice 2 notes higher than usual. Everyone had noticed by then. Someone passed me a glass of water. Someone else said, don't drink water, it spreads the heat. Which is not true, but nobody wanted to argue with a man who was visibly suffering. I ate a full bowl of curd and 3 sugar cubes from the tea counter. The thing that annoys me is the chicken underneath was great. I could tell. Good masala, good curry leaves. But all I could taste for the next hour was the chilli, sitting on my tongue like a heater. Good spice should come in slowly and let you taste the rest of the dish first. My mother makes fry with the same chillies and it's hot, but you still taste the onion. The waiter came back and asked how it was. I said, wonderful, medium was perfect. My manager heard that and laughed until he had to take his glasses off. I'm not going back there for at least a month, and the waiter knows my face now. Next time I'm asking for no spice at all and a lot of rice.

Medium at an Andhra place is a trap. Their medium is what everyone else calls very hot. I learned that near Malakpet the hard way, with a glass of buttermilk shaking in my hand. Now I ask for the spice on the side and add it myself, a little at a time. A spoon of ghee on the rice also puts out the fire better than water ever does.