The last day of 2005 began with my mom shaking me up at 8:30 saying
she’s too lazy to make breakfast so I should quickly go fetch it from
somewhere. And if i delayed it would be troublesome for my diabetic
dad. Got set dosa and vada from Vasudev Adigas Food Line in Jayanagar
8th Block. Dosa was too salty but vada was good stuff.
Insight: The adigas chain of fast food restaurants was started by a
band of brothers. The eldest is supposed to run the Brahmin’s Cafe in
Chamrajpet while the other brothers have named the restaurants after
their surname. Now, one of them owns 5-6 restaurants so he has started
his own sub-brand “Vasudev Adiga’s” (including his first name!). Wonder
how the other brothers are taking this move. And the Vasudev Adigas in
8th block is better than the one on Bannerghatta road which is better
than the one in 4th block!
The rest of the morning was spent with my mom asking me to promise her
that I’ll never booze again and me trying to wriggle out of the
situation. After lunch at home, I caught up with Shilpa. It had been
two years since I had last met her so this was long awaited. Had a nice
long conversation about life, universe and all that, with a special
emphasis on “stuck up suckers”. She remains one of the two girls with
whom I can have an extended one-to-one conversation without ever
getting bored.
Insight: I’m simply amazed at her listening skills. I mean, in the
two hours we were together, she probably spoke for twenty minutes. And
it’s not that she’s dumb. She keeps peppering the conversation with
insights so as to keep it interesting. I could’ve gone on but both of
us had other appointments
I had 20 minutes to get from Banashankari 2nd Stage to the Forum so I
zipped on my bike. Reached there on the dot at 6:15. This quick ride
combined with the amazing preceding conversation meant that I was drunk
by the time I reached. Every passer-by in the 5 minutes when I waited
looked either like Anuroop or like Ashwin. Had some good coffee at
Javagreen and as usual good conversation. It was after a long time that
even 3 members of the “hophelezz gang” had gotten together in one
place. It’s tough now, since the six of us live in six different
cities/towns/villages. After an hour there, Ashwin had to leave for a
party. Anuroop and I decided to head to 4th block and got lost in the
bylanes of Maruthipalya or something on the way as we tried to take
some arbit shortcut. Finally hit 4th block, roamed around for some
time, ate street pani puri and masala dosa at UD.
Insight: There was hardly any crowd in 4th block. I remember being
there on 31st December 1999 and it was totally different then. The
streets were buzzing with people and there was hardly any space in the
restaurants. Wonder what has happened. Have people forgotten that
tomorrow is a new year? Or is it that there were no pubs in 99 and so
now most of the action has shifted there? Or is it that people have
suddenly stopped celebrating new year? Or have the programs on TV
suddenly become good?
L^2 party would be starting now. Will go out in some time. Hope to get the red bandana out again.
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Insight: It’s going to be a new year tomorrow! Balls to insights. Just go out and have a blast. And have a rockin’ 2006!!