I know the title is not very inviting for the readers, but soon you will see the irony.

This is back in the days I had landed fresh off the boat from India to Manhattan, the rush to be cool and blend with local culture was a pressure. One Monday morning my colleague next to me ushered, “I have brought a cake, it’s on the coffee table, help yourself”. Being a typical Indian I did not rush immediately wanted to seem that I am not greedy of cakes, but could see my other colleagues returning back with a slice of cake, enjoying and thanking my Jewish neighbor. Yes he was Jewish man and was trying to understand his religion from past few months.

After some time I got up to check for the cake, sure enough it was a huge tray of cake, though only one eighth of the pie was left, next to it my neighbor had posted a note Bar Mitzvah. Took a tiny piece of cake and headed to my desk. While I munched on it, it sure was delicious, out of regular, needless to say an expensive cake. Now to exchange some pleasantries, I told him it was delicious and fine cake. He beamed. I should have left it there, my american accent kicked in and asked him, “Hey, where is this Bar Mitzvah, is it in Manhattan?”
He was like, “What do you mean”, a frown broke on his temple.
“I mean, I like this cake, might buy some and take it to my friends”.
My point was there are Liquor bars, there are coffee bars, so there cake bars.
He burst into laughter, needless to say others joined the commotion. Then he explained to me Bar Mitzvah is not a place but a ceremony they had performed on their boy previous day. I sheepishly concluded later that we did something similar in our culture called Upanayana.