Bombay times: 8-12 Oct

A very good weekend. That’s what I just had. I went to Bombay for 4 days, during the long Dussehra weekend. And unlike last time, I wasn’t unwell before going. So I knew it had to be decent. But it turned out to be pretty much better than expected.

The joy started at the airport. Reaching at 1 hr 5 mins before flight departure time, I was security checked at T-55 minutes. Boarding was announced at T-45. The flight started taxiing at T-5. It took off in such a way that it flew virtually parallel to NH 8. So I saw the expressway, the actual gargantuan size of the toll plaza, the Nestle building, IFFCO chowk, and even home!!
Landed in Bbay only 4 mins late. The plane parked in its bay within 1 minute of leaving the runway, and the bay was right in front of the terminal. I walked straight out and got into a cab. Unfortunately, we hit traffic on the Bandra flyover due to narrowed lanes and ongoing visarjans of Durga. I went to Prabhadevi, picked up Murli, and we went to Colaba to meet the others. The entire drive took 2 hours, longer than the flight to Bbay!! At Basilico, we met Dipu, Shek and Suhail (who had also landed that afternoon) and had a decent dinner. We called Nia also, but she was unable to come. Then we walked along the Gateway, and I saw every car worth seeing in India in the first 10 minutes there! Murli then left to catch a train to Baroda, where some factory was being inaugurated, and we went to Worli in Suhail’s office cab. Shefali was in NY, so her room was empty, which is where Suhail and I stayed. Happily, by way of double bonus, Priyanka was also out of town, so we had the run of the house!

We reached there by about 11.30, and met Mohini and Shek II. The rest of the evening consisted of talking, catching up, and drinking. We tried having a Glenmorangie neat, but it was a Herculean task, and ultimately we all had to dilute it a bit. Then we had a bit of Bailley’s, infinitely more palatable! Finally, the cards session started at 3ish I think. I was a spectator, who slept off while watching. Finally I think we all slept around 5-5.30 am.

Dipu left early, around 8 I think, back to his place. Shek also left by 11ish. Suhail, who had slept on the couch, well, him I woke prolly around 12 and we got ready. Went to Phoenix mills with the intent of eating at Copper Chimney, but seeing the crowd settled for a miniscule proportioned meal at Spaghetti Kitchen. Dipu, Mohini and Shek II joined Suhail, Shek and I for the meal. After that, we went bowling. That was a lot of fun. It had been long, but I was eventually able to get into stride. Dipu won thanks to a late burst, scoring 152. I closed at 146. The Sheks ended in the 120’s. Suhail made Mohini very happy by scoring less than her at 68, a fact he is not entirely proud of!
At the lanes we bumped into Suchai, Katragadda Kartik, Aditya Kaviraaj and Ritesh Rajoria. Outside, once we finished, we bumped into Deepali Sehgal, Venkat MS and 1 more guy. They had all been hanging out together. Was nice catching up with so many people. To bond, we took Dipu’s case.

From there, Mohini and Shek II went off to Bandra on their own. We made our way to Atria, where we met Nia at the food court CCD. Here, we also bumped into Meera MR. As we were on our way out, Suchai arrived. Then we went to Ivy café, this neat place near Atria which was a wine bar and bakery. That’s where the get together happened. After a lotta last minute coordination, the people to arrive in addition to the 6 of us were – Kartik, Basu, Rohan, Dhaval, Shipra, Sandy and Shatanshu. We had white wine, red wine, sparkling wine, chicken nuggets, fries, chocolate pastries, and blueberry cheesecakes. And the bill was reasonable. We were also lucky, on our way out, to bump into Balaji Ravi and Abhinav Sutte. Anyway, everyone went their own ways. Only Shek, Nia, Suhail, Dipu, Rohan and I were left, with 2 cars. We went to Nariman, bought movie tickets at Inox, then went to Bade Miyan, Colaba for a kebab dinner served on the car bonnet. It was delish!! :)
Made our way back after that to Inox for the 10.30 show of Babylon AD, the only sore point of the trip. Wotta miserable movie!! Everything about it was irritating. Only the crowd was good!

We were dropped home by Rohan, and after speaking to Shek II a bit, we slept off I think around 2ish.

Friday was not a holiday. But Suhail was bunking and I was unemployed. So I woke around 9, woke Suhail by about 11. We lounged till 1, watching TV, reading the paper and getting ready. Then we made our way to Nariman and had lunch at Ansaa (Only Parathas) with Dipu and Murli. Free once more, we went and killed an hour at Mocha before going again to Inox at 3.30 for a show of The Accidental Husband. It was a decent 1 time watch that concluded at 5.15ish. Then we went to Phoenix to kill some more time and perhaps shop. We were caught in the evening traffic compounded by Durga Puja and took an hour to reach.
Once there, we bumped into a couple of Shirotans, Rohan and Sanchit. We also spent some time at the Barista there, having Irish lattes. We even bumped into Harsh ‘Horsie’ Shah, which was the biggest surprise as he was visiting from Singapore on some work. Then we returned to Worli. Shek got free late, and we had plans of going clubbing with Murli and Mansi. Since Shek also got stuck in traffic, we met him directly at Phoenix for a kebab dinner at Maroosh. Then we went to his place so he could change. This was the real dampener. All routes to his place were blocked by processions of Visarjan. Took us 45 minutes for the 3-4 km distance, and we had to walk a bit at the end. He got ready while we waited, and the plan changed.
We went, once he was ready, to Dome, one of our favourite places in Bombay and the place with the best crowd. Met Murli and Manasi there. Bumped into Jai, my ex-trainee from Kotak, who was on a date it seems. Suhail and I had a couple LIIT’s each, while Shek had his whisky. It was quite nice, and even rained quite heavily during that time. The lightning made wonderful patterns low in the sky. I was almost thrown into the pool by the DCE pair. We left around 1. Reached home close to 2. Spoke a bit with Shek II, and slept finally at 2.40.

Saturday morning the alarm rang at 5:30. I was greeted by an SMS from Dipu the great, saying that he had to mail some report, so instead of 7am, we should take the 9am. After re-coordinating and cursing, and after much tossing and turning, I went back to sleep. Woke afresh at 7.30, and Suhail and I got ready. Packed a few things in our backpacks, and left by 8ish. We first picked up Shek, then Dipu, and with this circuitous route, reached gateway by 8.50. After buying some snacks, we boarded the 9am ferry, and were thus ferried to Mandhwa. Suhail was working throughout the ride. We listened to music, ogled, and generally passed time.
On reaching the other side, we got into a vikram and went to Alibag. At Alibag, we broke fast (:)) at a strange place which actually served eggless omelettes!! I of course had only wadas, the safest option. Suhail was working here too. Then we went, bought some alcohol (Antiquity and Smirnoff), went to the ATM and finally got into a vikram. By the time we reached Kashid and found a place to stay, it was 1.45. We whiled away the afternoon on the hammocks, playing cards and listening to music. At 4ish, we changed and walked out. We went to our old favourite dhaba and had vadapavs with green chilli, pakoras and some drinks. Refilled, we went to the beach. Horror! It had dogs, cows, horses and people!! Anyway, it was still relatively clean, so we went to a somewhat secluded place and jumped in. It was awesome!! Had a blast, got out and walked back to our place. It was getting dark, so I assume it was around 6.30-6.45pm. After bathing (Dipu without lights), we got down to business. Business was 29. We had dinner, which I liked, then went for a walk. It was a nice quiet, dark walk, probably a kilometre. We came back, resumed business and opened the alcohol. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to consume much. The warm weather, warm alcohol and warm Thums up conspired to burn our chests like heartburn. So, after just playing the game, we slept off, I think by around 2.

The next day saw me wake at 7 to Suhail’s alarm. He was to go for a swim at 6, but seeing the darkness outside at the hour, decided against it. So at 7 we got ready, packed, settled the dues and got out. The plan was to catch the 8 am bus to Alibag. Well. We got on the road and started walking towards the destination. We walked. And walked. And walked. 8 became 8.25. We reached the shacks at the other end of the beach. Decided to sit there and eat something. Ordered maggi and eggs. And the bus came! So, foodless, we boarded, sat at the rear, and nodded off.
Reached Alibag at 9.45ish. Walked to the city office of the ferry service and bought tickets for the 10.30 ferry. They provided a bus to take us to Mandhwa. So we were able to board the 10.30. Suhail, as usual, was busy throughout. It was a pleasant, snack-filled ride back. Marred only by an extremely irritating middle aged man who found it necessary to peer over our shoulders to examine the fascinating gadgets we carried, and who considered it his sacred duty to keep the ferry clean by polluting the ocean.

We reached good ol’ Bbay by 11.45. Suhail went off on a conference call. The 3 of us took a cab back to Worli. We met Mohini and Shek II. Had some of Mo’s handmade parathas. Yes, they were edible. Lounged a bit. Then we ordered lunch in from Domino’s, and were able to secure some discounts through tough negotiations on the time and quality of delivery. Good food. Meantime, Suhail came along and packed. At 3.30, with bags in hand and dues settled, we left. And so….back to saadi dilli :(

Cheers to the good times!!

Updates

Friday 19th September: Had a nice evening. Drove to Akshay's at 11.30 pm. We went to GK and Kalkaji to pick up Nidhi n Niti....came over to Akshay's house...Raghav joined us there. We watched 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' while having Breezers and smoking a hukka. Got home at 4, slept at quarter to 5.

Been nice with Akshay in town....met him 4-5 times, for bowling, clubbing at CTC, and at Mocha (def col) with PK on i think 23 sep. Caught up with an old friend, and managed to thaw the (till now somewhat awkward) friendship with nrtg.

Wednesday 24th September: Met neha n sunayana after spanish class. Saw neha's place in munirka. treated them to lunch at tgif, vasant vihar. was nice catching up after a while....

Friday 26th September: Bunked my spanish class, went alone to pvr mgf after an early lunch and saw back to back shows of A Wednesday and Charlie Bartlett. Evening was dinner at home with Shweta mausi and family. I bartended. Ate haleem. Drank beer. Aaaah :)

Thursday 2nd Oct: Not just Gandhi jayanti....priti also arrived from UK. landed at 6:15 am, only got in touch with us at 5:45 pm...leading to some confusion and chaos regarding evening plans. Ekta, priti n i ordered dinner from pizza hut and ate while watching scrubs.

Going to bbay on 8th evening for a long weekend....looking forward to it!!!