6 months had gone by since I had allowed myself some respite. 4 months had passed since I had consumed the juice or the nucleus. I was just about finding that thin line between passion and cool objectivity. It was time for a break.
Bombay was everything and more- as it has always been. That Friday (the 19th) I checked my watch a few more times than usual over the course of the day. T was already in the maximum city living it up with a frenetic energy that would surprise anyone who knows her in D-town. Her excitement of jumping from one set of friends to another, one pair of shopped shoes to another and one exciting plan to the next had me smiling on the 6th floor of the climatically cooled environ of my india habitat centre office. I was also relieved with the knowledge that the creators would be together as I returned to the city of dreams for a weekend of unabashed relaxation. As I look back, we ended up doing a heck of a lot of things in the short period of time. I headed to the Blahs' right after landing in the now super cool bombay airport. A quick auto ride was accompanied by shrieks of ' get here fast' from a now 'well past her capacity 2 drinks' -T. It was going to be a long, fun night. Reunions with vesky, himank(an old @ friend) and ofcourse akhila along with a couple of jds were followed by a sprint down to HRC. Undoubtedly my favorite place in Bombay, the place was packed to the core. T's friends are an extremely warm and engaging bunch. I realized on this trip how lucky I was to be inducted into this 'scene'. Pure gems. When we finally wound up at the vintage, a bunch of us zipped off to a hotel in the vicinity for some midnight grub. There is nothing more pleasing than pulling off a 20 hour day in between cities with a club sandwich and comedic conversations. Plans had already started to get made for day 2.
Crashed at Niel's and woke relatively early on Saturday. His collection of nonsensical but inanely enjoyable magazines kept me occupied while he had his 4th dental check up in as many days. Note to self: take care of your teeth! The pain and suffering of future issues just isn't worth it (plus it's friggin expensive). We then proceeded to Bandra where T joined up for what was a brilliant and extremely filling lunch at Five Spice (we never miss this when we're in Bombay together, the last time around it was right after a crazy night with these guys and a gracious night spent at her place). The brilliance that is this restaurant can be defined by its location (across totos and at the descent of pali hill), its gargantuan (is that a word? is that spelled correctly? Do I look like I care?) servings and its relaxed ambience. The lunch was increasingly pleasing thanks to a huge reunion with old mc bro - aalekh. His stories from the modelling/acting world (aka tinseltown bombay) were enjoyable to say the least. It was good to see that he hasn't changed a bit :)
From Five spice, T and I split from Niel as we head off to meet with her gang and the much awaited tattoo experience. Now I'm an inked up grandmaster as you guys are well aware but the fact that she wanted one had me slightly jittery. Not because I dont think she can pull it off/handle it but because she does have sensitive skin and getting a tattoo needs to be a bit more of an experience. Needless to say this was mocked quite vociferously :P . T's best friend J took us to this big indian dude (ben?) who spoke like a crack dealer from ghettoville queens. He wasnt too convincing with the tatoo advice but it was the most entertaining 40 minutes of the day. I left in splits hoping that the next tattoo parlour would prove to be a bit more comforting, given the fact that the girls wanted to get inked in a place that didnt look like a 3x3 shanty with a delapitated dentists' chair in the centre. Proceeding back to bandra with 5 of us squeezed into R's redmobile, the conversations ranged from the inability of mumbaikars to speak in our national tongue and the uncelebrated qualities of trust company. R and I bonded like crazy over musical tastes the entire weekend. It never ceases to be a soul connection amidst people that found answers more often in an inspired riff rather than a textbook. The trip to avengers, a night at R's full of random card games and sneak peaks at India's best death metal band displaying their talent finally wrapped up around 4am. With a content *sigh* I fell asleep under the soft humming of the air-con and the delicate reminder of mumbai's oncoming monsoon outside my window. If there was ever an image of tranquility, it would be of a room full of friends - asleep in their knowledge of what they have, and whom they share it with.
Sunday went by in a blur. We woke up pretty late - greeted by groggy faces all around us. The plan was quickly made (thanks to A and T) to jet towards town for the awesome sunday buffet at Not Just Jazz. A perfect setting for the closing hours of my bombay getaway. R & I dropped the girls to A's houee, after which we spent an hour at Niel's as I packed my things. I felt bad about not spending more quality time with him but I knew he understood. Will be making it upto him this weekend when he's in town on work. Not just Jazz turned out to be filled beyond capacity so we decided to dine in the semi-outdoors Pizerria which proved to be excellent. We were joined by T's old school friends, one of whom is an up and coming south-Indian film actress. Loads of jokes, boisterous laughter and discussions around south vs. the rest of bombay ensued. I was not looking forward to this brilliant weekend coming to an end...
As the hours wound down, I slowly began extricating myself from the buzzy sense that was the weekend. J and I knocked a quick beer at a roomy (read empty) restaurant next to the gateway whilst T continued to lament on how she'd love to shift back to bombay someday - soon. She voiced this desire repeatedly on this particular trip. Whether it was having her closest friends in a proximity unmatched the previous 3 years or the sheer freedom of roaming unabashed along the winding streets close to midnight, I'll never truly know. When you love someone, even giving them everything sometimes seems inadequate. I found myself yearning just that little bit more too.
I boarded the delayed flight with a sense of bitter-sweet happiness. My terrible phone connection ensured that my goodbye message to T's gang ended up being delivered 17 times. It probably looked a bit desperate :) but I didn't care. I had to thank them for what was the perfect 48 hours after what seemed like a lifetime of sacrifice and toil.
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