Saturday, May 21, 2005
Maach-bhaath khaabe?
SIMPLY yet eloquently put by the most reverential of food lovers – the Bengalis – the query ‘maachbhaath khaabe?’ contains layers of cultural sub-text. For these temperamental, passionate men and women from Sonar Bangla, bhaath (rice) is less a source of sustenance, and more a symbol of abundance, and thereby, emotional security.
In short, the Bengali cannot be separated from his bhaath. And thus, any sign of dwindling rice provisions in the bhandar ghar (store room) will have the superstitious housewife saying quickly that the rice is increasing, hoping to avert impending bad luck by saying the opposite of the truth... The Bengali’s love for maachh (fish) is in a softer vein, though just as ardent.
MUCH FUSS, MUCH ADO Coming to the daily nitty-gritties, it is the man of the house who throws himself into the task of selecting the fish of the day, expressing many opinions loudly and forcefully at the machher bazaar... such as the questionable weight of the bhetki, which should be a whopping eight kilos at the least. Lively argument and some sharp haggling ensure the most spirited rui and koi fish, and on good days, the silvery ilish... Such is the obsession with fish, it would be sacrilege to suggest that any part be discarded – the head is either fried crisp, or cooked into a flavoursome stew with vegetables and daal.
Even a regular, everyday meal always follows protocol. First, the bitter shukto (a mix of veggies with a dominant bitter note provided by bitter gourd, or the bitter leaf of the wax gourd), then rice and daal (usually the popular laal saag, using the leaves of the red spinach). Ghonto has the vegetables cooked to a soft mush, and topped with a little milk. Tele bhaja comes next, which has either onion rings, sliced eggplant or the ubiquitous potato, dipped in a tasty lentil batter and fried in mustard oil. The golden mustard oil, once stored in row after row of zinc-lined tins, next to enormous terracotta jars of rice in the bhandar ghar; continues to give Bengali cuisine its biting, sharp flavour, along with mustard sauce (kasundi) and the magical paanch phoron spice mix.
Then comes the much awaited fish course, which could be the wonderful bhaapa ilish, which has cut pieces of hilsa mixed with a mayonnaise-like paste of ground mustard seeds, mustard oil, red and green chillies, turmeric and salt; wrapped in an airtight package of banana leaves and cooked along with rice. The fish stays moist and tender while allowing the simple spices to permeate to its very core.
Every course is served individually, and a little portion of rice spooned on the plate in perfect consonance. The kosha mangsho, an outstanding roasted mutton dish, is an option to a second fish course. About now, an ambal or chutney appears. And then there’s the sweet finale – payesh or mishti doi.
It's good to be Bong.
(anon fwd)
Some links for you to check out our recipies:
http://www.sos-arsenic.net/english/cooking/cooking.html
http://milonee.net/bengali_recipes/intro.html
In short, the Bengali cannot be separated from his bhaath. And thus, any sign of dwindling rice provisions in the bhandar ghar (store room) will have the superstitious housewife saying quickly that the rice is increasing, hoping to avert impending bad luck by saying the opposite of the truth... The Bengali’s love for maachh (fish) is in a softer vein, though just as ardent.
MUCH FUSS, MUCH ADO Coming to the daily nitty-gritties, it is the man of the house who throws himself into the task of selecting the fish of the day, expressing many opinions loudly and forcefully at the machher bazaar... such as the questionable weight of the bhetki, which should be a whopping eight kilos at the least. Lively argument and some sharp haggling ensure the most spirited rui and koi fish, and on good days, the silvery ilish... Such is the obsession with fish, it would be sacrilege to suggest that any part be discarded – the head is either fried crisp, or cooked into a flavoursome stew with vegetables and daal.
Even a regular, everyday meal always follows protocol. First, the bitter shukto (a mix of veggies with a dominant bitter note provided by bitter gourd, or the bitter leaf of the wax gourd), then rice and daal (usually the popular laal saag, using the leaves of the red spinach). Ghonto has the vegetables cooked to a soft mush, and topped with a little milk. Tele bhaja comes next, which has either onion rings, sliced eggplant or the ubiquitous potato, dipped in a tasty lentil batter and fried in mustard oil. The golden mustard oil, once stored in row after row of zinc-lined tins, next to enormous terracotta jars of rice in the bhandar ghar; continues to give Bengali cuisine its biting, sharp flavour, along with mustard sauce (kasundi) and the magical paanch phoron spice mix.
Then comes the much awaited fish course, which could be the wonderful bhaapa ilish, which has cut pieces of hilsa mixed with a mayonnaise-like paste of ground mustard seeds, mustard oil, red and green chillies, turmeric and salt; wrapped in an airtight package of banana leaves and cooked along with rice. The fish stays moist and tender while allowing the simple spices to permeate to its very core.
Every course is served individually, and a little portion of rice spooned on the plate in perfect consonance. The kosha mangsho, an outstanding roasted mutton dish, is an option to a second fish course. About now, an ambal or chutney appears. And then there’s the sweet finale – payesh or mishti doi.
It's good to be Bong.
(anon fwd)
Some links for you to check out our recipies:
http://www.sos-arsenic.net/english/cooking/cooking.html
http://milonee.net/bengali_recipes/intro.html
Monday, May 16, 2005
The Birthdayest of 'em all
Sunday was a busy day for us. We were supposed to meet with Happy at Shopper's Stop to help him buy a wedding gift for his colleague, but that was not to be. But we woke up a little earlier than normal anyways...
Today, Elvareen had planned on throwing a party for a few friends at our place. I busied myself by clearing out the living room and the kitchen. Did the dishes and put things away. You know the drill. My maid has been gone for about 18 days now, but we are managing.
At noon, with only half of the work done, we headed off to our dance class. Our instructor reminds me of a turtle... but he has managed to make a wooden person like me dance. After 2 hours of doing that, Tricia and I headed off to InOrbit to go look for a gift for Elvareen. We picked up a tshirt and a board game for her and headed to the food court with Althea for some well deserved subs.
We headed back home and I continued where I had left off. At my role as a house maid... which I apparently seem to fullfil quite nicely. I had the house almost all ready when Sri walks in, soon to be followed by the Al-Thea and El-Vareen, the Arab Terrorists arrived.
I quickly ushered people into our bedroom, where Tricia was was just rousing from her powernap. I did my job of making 6 pots of fresh coffee, south american stuff... excellent. We were about 8 people now and after the coffee, hunger pangs were striking people. So, my favourite snack was ordered... momos. What are momos? Tibetian steamed dumplings. It was polished off at the speed of light... now you see them, now you don't.
We pulled out El-Vareen's gifts, which she graciously accepted. One of them was Pictionary, one of my favourite board games. But this is one game I cannot scream "One Dollaa", like in Monopoly.
Then started our legendary night of drinking. We started with a bottle of Champagne, which El-Vareen and Tricia opened. They popped the cork so fast, that all the boys looked quite fearful.
By now we had Tricia, El-Vareen, Al-Thea, Sri, Joker, Chief, Ashish, AshuP, Afshan, Mehzabin and yours truly there.
After the champagne, I brought out our cherished bottle of Tequila. My old friend and nemesis Jose... Jose Cuervo. We did shot. 3 shots each. People were feeling warm and friendly. Tricia and Ashish were the only ones who were teetotaling.
After that I made Kryptonite. This potent stuff can make superman go weak in the knees. Let me tell you about this drink. Vodka, Kiwi pulp, Lemon, Pineapple, ice and water. Now you blend everything and serve in a tall glass. We also had beer with everything. I passed everyone my most favourite beer in the world. Black Butte Porter. This beer is made in Bend Oregon and has an after taste of coffee. Very dark, very creamy, very good. Plus we had our staple Kingfisher beer.
We were listening to some pretty good music. I had made a compilation of the top 100 rock/metal of April-May 2005. Nine Inch Nails, Monster Magnet, The Used, Velvet Revolver, My Chemical Romance was the music being played. But since people had never heard that music before, I changed it to one mp3 CD I had made with some of my favourite songs over 50 years.
Soon, Al-Thea decided that her system needed to purge all the booze and that she did. But that did not stop the rest of us. We drank some more. Suddenly we heard "Bohemian Rhapsody" being played. We decided to scream out the lines. Not the best idea when you are piss drunk... but we had a great time.
It was about 2:30am when people started getting tired, so we started shutting things down. I cleaned up as much as I could and headed to bed.
Let the good times roll!
Today, Elvareen had planned on throwing a party for a few friends at our place. I busied myself by clearing out the living room and the kitchen. Did the dishes and put things away. You know the drill. My maid has been gone for about 18 days now, but we are managing.
At noon, with only half of the work done, we headed off to our dance class. Our instructor reminds me of a turtle... but he has managed to make a wooden person like me dance. After 2 hours of doing that, Tricia and I headed off to InOrbit to go look for a gift for Elvareen. We picked up a tshirt and a board game for her and headed to the food court with Althea for some well deserved subs.
We headed back home and I continued where I had left off. At my role as a house maid... which I apparently seem to fullfil quite nicely. I had the house almost all ready when Sri walks in, soon to be followed by the Al-Thea and El-Vareen, the Arab Terrorists arrived.
I quickly ushered people into our bedroom, where Tricia was was just rousing from her powernap. I did my job of making 6 pots of fresh coffee, south american stuff... excellent. We were about 8 people now and after the coffee, hunger pangs were striking people. So, my favourite snack was ordered... momos. What are momos? Tibetian steamed dumplings. It was polished off at the speed of light... now you see them, now you don't.
We pulled out El-Vareen's gifts, which she graciously accepted. One of them was Pictionary, one of my favourite board games. But this is one game I cannot scream "One Dollaa", like in Monopoly.
Then started our legendary night of drinking. We started with a bottle of Champagne, which El-Vareen and Tricia opened. They popped the cork so fast, that all the boys looked quite fearful.
By now we had Tricia, El-Vareen, Al-Thea, Sri, Joker, Chief, Ashish, AshuP, Afshan, Mehzabin and yours truly there.
After the champagne, I brought out our cherished bottle of Tequila. My old friend and nemesis Jose... Jose Cuervo. We did shot. 3 shots each. People were feeling warm and friendly. Tricia and Ashish were the only ones who were teetotaling.
After that I made Kryptonite. This potent stuff can make superman go weak in the knees. Let me tell you about this drink. Vodka, Kiwi pulp, Lemon, Pineapple, ice and water. Now you blend everything and serve in a tall glass. We also had beer with everything. I passed everyone my most favourite beer in the world. Black Butte Porter. This beer is made in Bend Oregon and has an after taste of coffee. Very dark, very creamy, very good. Plus we had our staple Kingfisher beer.
We were listening to some pretty good music. I had made a compilation of the top 100 rock/metal of April-May 2005. Nine Inch Nails, Monster Magnet, The Used, Velvet Revolver, My Chemical Romance was the music being played. But since people had never heard that music before, I changed it to one mp3 CD I had made with some of my favourite songs over 50 years.
Soon, Al-Thea decided that her system needed to purge all the booze and that she did. But that did not stop the rest of us. We drank some more. Suddenly we heard "Bohemian Rhapsody" being played. We decided to scream out the lines. Not the best idea when you are piss drunk... but we had a great time.
It was about 2:30am when people started getting tired, so we started shutting things down. I cleaned up as much as I could and headed to bed.
Let the good times roll!
Monday, May 02, 2005
Durshet: A rustic resort
The weekend of Preethi's wedding, all of Tricia's colleagues were at Vashi. Ignatius suggested that they leave the city for a break. Everybody was quite excited at the prospect.
My first thought was to take these people to Savewadi, in Gholwad, but it was full as always. I had heard of a resort/retreat near Khopoli somewhere. After some digging, I found the number for "Nature Trails, Durshet". It sounded perfect, but it was perfect for winter. I said... what the heck, lets go anyways. I called them, they had a few dorms. I reserved it for 10 people.
Nature Trails told me that they will not make a reservation unless we pay the whole thing in advance. You know how badly off we are, so I managed to scrounge a few rupees around and pay the blood suckers. heh heh... kidding.
Tricia couldn't wait for Saturday morning. I really wanted to ride, but as it turn out, I am a shadow of the man I used to be. Tricia made it very clear that, if she drives, so will I. My Monarch was left behind to collect dust.
I made my special drinks. My drinks have been popular since 1990. People have been doing it like on the discovery channel for 15 years now and counting. The drinks have been legendary in 4 continents.
We left, picked up AshuP(*) from Andheri East, headed off towards to Bandra to rendezvous with Mahipal, his wife Pareen, Happy and Joker (**). After quick introductions, we headed off. As always, Bombay's streets, were filled with the usual crazies. People driving badly, all over the road... but Tricia persevered and got us most of the way there. She stopped for a bag of chips and some water. A little later, we caught up with Happy and Joker, at the Khopoli turn. The directions were quite simple and we got there in another half hour.
We drove in, and parked. The sun was bloody beating down on us. We took quick showers and headed off to the most god aweful lunch ever. Plus it was sooooo hot. Even our dorm rooms were like blast furnaces. All of us lay in hammocks and napped for a bit.
I woke up, threw a few rocks at Tricia, who did not stir, so I looked for less vicious animals. I found Ashu who was also up. We decided to throw a brick at Happy. Unfortunately, he stirred just seconds before we heaved it on his chest. We started our motorhead talk and very soon, Pareen and Mahipal beat a very hasty retreat.
It was about 4pm then and we decided to run into the cool pool. A small pool, a reasonably clean pool, but a pool none the less. We changed into our swim gear and were like little kids for the next hour or so. We left soon after some kids came to play.
Along came our evening chai... YES SIR! We were living on the edge. In a little bit, we invented a new game called Pingminton. A fun, fast and catchy game. What you do is grab ping pong paddles (bats/racquets), a badminton shuttlecock and start playing. We had a bloody blast. We even played some carrom. I always played outdoor games as a kid, so carrom wasn't a strong point... eventually Tricia wanted to hang out with us, so we left the games room.
We chatted for a little while. Finally, after 6 hours of sleep, Pareen woke to see us. Then we realised why she had been sleeping all this time. With company like ours, we can put owls to sleep.
We pulled out my magic drinks and ordered some fries. We were getting a bit of buzz and the conversation too was pretty good. In a little while, we moved onto the lawn and watched the stars. I recognized a few of them. Rock star was one, Porn star was another one, Boeing star was another one... among a few of the heavenly bodies we could see.
Soon, the rest of the group arrived, after being lost for 2-4 hours. Immediatly, we wend and had dinner, a hearty meal of meat and rotis. As soon as we sat down, the lights went out and Althea true to her personality started screeching like a banshee. Amusing. There were similng faces, that were frozen in a rictus of revenge.
Happy and Joker took Mahipal and wife on their bikes and thundered off on an important mission. A mission to increase our blood alcohol levels. After a few vodkas , bacardis and beers, we were ready to take a bit of a walk. Brave Althea decided to take the lead, all the while, piercing the quiet night by screaming her lungs inside out. Evlareen might have screamed too, I was deaf in one ear by the end. We were walking in pitch darkness, walking down some unending steps to a geography unknownst to us.
All the while, the boys spoke of Panthers, snakes, lions, tigers, frightning the piss out of everybody. Pareen was nice and happy after a few beers and Mahipal was being overcautious, which is ok... After we got back to the lawn area, we drank a bit more and hatched an evil plan to breaking into the resort kitchen and stealing some meat...
Tricia headed to bed at about 1am but the rest of us continued on. After another couple of hours, I too was exausted and headed off to bed. We were on the second level of the bunk bed. I climbed in, but could barely sleep.
Woke up at 6:30am and another one of Tricia's colleagues Mehzabin also showed up. I was told that Ashish & Niki headed to bed soon after me. JD, took his car, with Althea, Elvareen and both Ashus. headed off to the highway, played music full volume and started dancing. A little while later, they saw an ambulance or something to that effect and all jumped back into the car and high tailed it back to the resort. Too bad the panthers didn't chase them for a while, and even worse there weren't any cops there too. It would have made for a better story.
The next morning, after Mehzabin showed up, we drank our chai and then played 2 solid hours of Pingminton. AshuP and I were a great winning combination, beating EVERYONE, so like ever good thing, people protested and we took on other partners. I had Elvareen and we started beating everyone. After another few games, Ashu and I teamed up again, but we lost two straight games to Elvareen and Althea. Sucks, but life must move beyond Pingminton.
We headed off to the pool and took a volley ball with us. We played for quite a while, keeping ourselves very cool. The management started the artificial waterfall... fun fun... Mahipal passed the ball to me and unfortunately, that was the one moment, I took my dark glasses off to wash them. The ball hit me on my injured thumb. Ouch! My shades were totalled too... heh heh. Soon, we were told that we needed to get breakfast or we'd have no food till lunch.
We headed off to the dining area... breakfast was served. They had idlis and medu vadas. I was trying to futilely convince people the previous evening that AshuP with his motor hips, punches the holes in the medu vadas. Sick, but true. ;-)
We headed back and we sat around the hammocks trying to wash away the taste of the oily medu vadas with good hot chai. Elvareen and I started playing some simple dumb charades. Eventually we pulled out the Monopoly boardgame and started playing. We played for a long time. I had the most amount of property and the least amount of cash. I spent the last 10 minutes in Jail to avoid going bankrupt. Tricia slept right through it. Ashu threw things at her, to no avail.
Then came the defining moment of our dining experience. We had lamb and chicken cooked for us. Now, please understand, I am the kinda guy who munches on green chillies with meals, without blinking an eyelid. This stuff was just pure dynamite. Killer stuff. We could barely eat. I tried really hard considering little animals had been slaughtered for us, but the chef won that round.
We were really hot again, so we jumped back into the pool. This time we had much fewer people. Just Niki, JD, Ashish, Mahipal, Tricia and I. Mahipal arranged some Vodka and lemonade, which he and I shared. We hung out and chatted for a bit... Soon it was time to leave... but we had a 110k ahead of us to drive, and my antibiotics were slowly wearing off. I could barely think straight.
We took the classic leaving pictures and headed back on the road. All the three bikers had pillions. Ashish had Pareen, Ashu had Elvareen and Happy had Althea. Mahipal was in Mehzabin's car and Niki was driving JD's car. We met up near Panvel, where the right people went to the right vehicles and we split up in different directions and speeds.
As soon as I got into the car, I was concerned about Tricia's wallet. It was nowhere to be found. We called the resort, all our friends to see if anyone knew where it was. Nothing. I wasn't sure if I'd even brought her wallet along. I drove back to Bombay, with Tricia riding shotgun since her wallet wasn't in the car. Everything was looking really wierd to me, since the medication had completely worn off and my fever was back with a vengance. I was driving on empty and on automatic. Finally, we got back. We dropped AshuP, Mahipal and Pareen at Fame Adlabs and we headed home.
We found the wallet in Tricia's office bag. I had a couple of mangos, the medication and was kinda comatose for about 10-15 minutes. I knew, I was feeling terrible since "Boys Toys" was on Discovery and I could not stay awake!!!
We went to our room, turned to Tricia's favourite technological marvel, out airconditioner, switched it on and went to sleep after a quick shower.
A fabulous weekend with some great people. What will I remember from this weekend? Well... Pingminton, banshee screeches and a slightly drunk Pareen :-D Happy days!
--
* AshuP - Tricia's Colleague
** Ashu Joker - Our heir of Juker Wadi
My first thought was to take these people to Savewadi, in Gholwad, but it was full as always. I had heard of a resort/retreat near Khopoli somewhere. After some digging, I found the number for "Nature Trails, Durshet". It sounded perfect, but it was perfect for winter. I said... what the heck, lets go anyways. I called them, they had a few dorms. I reserved it for 10 people.
Nature Trails told me that they will not make a reservation unless we pay the whole thing in advance. You know how badly off we are, so I managed to scrounge a few rupees around and pay the blood suckers. heh heh... kidding.
Tricia couldn't wait for Saturday morning. I really wanted to ride, but as it turn out, I am a shadow of the man I used to be. Tricia made it very clear that, if she drives, so will I. My Monarch was left behind to collect dust.
I made my special drinks. My drinks have been popular since 1990. People have been doing it like on the discovery channel for 15 years now and counting. The drinks have been legendary in 4 continents.
We left, picked up AshuP(*) from Andheri East, headed off towards to Bandra to rendezvous with Mahipal, his wife Pareen, Happy and Joker (**). After quick introductions, we headed off. As always, Bombay's streets, were filled with the usual crazies. People driving badly, all over the road... but Tricia persevered and got us most of the way there. She stopped for a bag of chips and some water. A little later, we caught up with Happy and Joker, at the Khopoli turn. The directions were quite simple and we got there in another half hour.
We drove in, and parked. The sun was bloody beating down on us. We took quick showers and headed off to the most god aweful lunch ever. Plus it was sooooo hot. Even our dorm rooms were like blast furnaces. All of us lay in hammocks and napped for a bit.
I woke up, threw a few rocks at Tricia, who did not stir, so I looked for less vicious animals. I found Ashu who was also up. We decided to throw a brick at Happy. Unfortunately, he stirred just seconds before we heaved it on his chest. We started our motorhead talk and very soon, Pareen and Mahipal beat a very hasty retreat.
It was about 4pm then and we decided to run into the cool pool. A small pool, a reasonably clean pool, but a pool none the less. We changed into our swim gear and were like little kids for the next hour or so. We left soon after some kids came to play.
Along came our evening chai... YES SIR! We were living on the edge. In a little bit, we invented a new game called Pingminton. A fun, fast and catchy game. What you do is grab ping pong paddles (bats/racquets), a badminton shuttlecock and start playing. We had a bloody blast. We even played some carrom. I always played outdoor games as a kid, so carrom wasn't a strong point... eventually Tricia wanted to hang out with us, so we left the games room.
We chatted for a little while. Finally, after 6 hours of sleep, Pareen woke to see us. Then we realised why she had been sleeping all this time. With company like ours, we can put owls to sleep.
We pulled out my magic drinks and ordered some fries. We were getting a bit of buzz and the conversation too was pretty good. In a little while, we moved onto the lawn and watched the stars. I recognized a few of them. Rock star was one, Porn star was another one, Boeing star was another one... among a few of the heavenly bodies we could see.
Soon, the rest of the group arrived, after being lost for 2-4 hours. Immediatly, we wend and had dinner, a hearty meal of meat and rotis. As soon as we sat down, the lights went out and Althea true to her personality started screeching like a banshee. Amusing. There were similng faces, that were frozen in a rictus of revenge.
Happy and Joker took Mahipal and wife on their bikes and thundered off on an important mission. A mission to increase our blood alcohol levels. After a few vodkas , bacardis and beers, we were ready to take a bit of a walk. Brave Althea decided to take the lead, all the while, piercing the quiet night by screaming her lungs inside out. Evlareen might have screamed too, I was deaf in one ear by the end. We were walking in pitch darkness, walking down some unending steps to a geography unknownst to us.
All the while, the boys spoke of Panthers, snakes, lions, tigers, frightning the piss out of everybody. Pareen was nice and happy after a few beers and Mahipal was being overcautious, which is ok... After we got back to the lawn area, we drank a bit more and hatched an evil plan to breaking into the resort kitchen and stealing some meat...
Tricia headed to bed at about 1am but the rest of us continued on. After another couple of hours, I too was exausted and headed off to bed. We were on the second level of the bunk bed. I climbed in, but could barely sleep.
Woke up at 6:30am and another one of Tricia's colleagues Mehzabin also showed up. I was told that Ashish & Niki headed to bed soon after me. JD, took his car, with Althea, Elvareen and both Ashus. headed off to the highway, played music full volume and started dancing. A little while later, they saw an ambulance or something to that effect and all jumped back into the car and high tailed it back to the resort. Too bad the panthers didn't chase them for a while, and even worse there weren't any cops there too. It would have made for a better story.
The next morning, after Mehzabin showed up, we drank our chai and then played 2 solid hours of Pingminton. AshuP and I were a great winning combination, beating EVERYONE, so like ever good thing, people protested and we took on other partners. I had Elvareen and we started beating everyone. After another few games, Ashu and I teamed up again, but we lost two straight games to Elvareen and Althea. Sucks, but life must move beyond Pingminton.
We headed off to the pool and took a volley ball with us. We played for quite a while, keeping ourselves very cool. The management started the artificial waterfall... fun fun... Mahipal passed the ball to me and unfortunately, that was the one moment, I took my dark glasses off to wash them. The ball hit me on my injured thumb. Ouch! My shades were totalled too... heh heh. Soon, we were told that we needed to get breakfast or we'd have no food till lunch.
We headed off to the dining area... breakfast was served. They had idlis and medu vadas. I was trying to futilely convince people the previous evening that AshuP with his motor hips, punches the holes in the medu vadas. Sick, but true. ;-)
We headed back and we sat around the hammocks trying to wash away the taste of the oily medu vadas with good hot chai. Elvareen and I started playing some simple dumb charades. Eventually we pulled out the Monopoly boardgame and started playing. We played for a long time. I had the most amount of property and the least amount of cash. I spent the last 10 minutes in Jail to avoid going bankrupt. Tricia slept right through it. Ashu threw things at her, to no avail.
Then came the defining moment of our dining experience. We had lamb and chicken cooked for us. Now, please understand, I am the kinda guy who munches on green chillies with meals, without blinking an eyelid. This stuff was just pure dynamite. Killer stuff. We could barely eat. I tried really hard considering little animals had been slaughtered for us, but the chef won that round.
We were really hot again, so we jumped back into the pool. This time we had much fewer people. Just Niki, JD, Ashish, Mahipal, Tricia and I. Mahipal arranged some Vodka and lemonade, which he and I shared. We hung out and chatted for a bit... Soon it was time to leave... but we had a 110k ahead of us to drive, and my antibiotics were slowly wearing off. I could barely think straight.
We took the classic leaving pictures and headed back on the road. All the three bikers had pillions. Ashish had Pareen, Ashu had Elvareen and Happy had Althea. Mahipal was in Mehzabin's car and Niki was driving JD's car. We met up near Panvel, where the right people went to the right vehicles and we split up in different directions and speeds.
As soon as I got into the car, I was concerned about Tricia's wallet. It was nowhere to be found. We called the resort, all our friends to see if anyone knew where it was. Nothing. I wasn't sure if I'd even brought her wallet along. I drove back to Bombay, with Tricia riding shotgun since her wallet wasn't in the car. Everything was looking really wierd to me, since the medication had completely worn off and my fever was back with a vengance. I was driving on empty and on automatic. Finally, we got back. We dropped AshuP, Mahipal and Pareen at Fame Adlabs and we headed home.
We found the wallet in Tricia's office bag. I had a couple of mangos, the medication and was kinda comatose for about 10-15 minutes. I knew, I was feeling terrible since "Boys Toys" was on Discovery and I could not stay awake!!!
We went to our room, turned to Tricia's favourite technological marvel, out airconditioner, switched it on and went to sleep after a quick shower.
A fabulous weekend with some great people. What will I remember from this weekend? Well... Pingminton, banshee screeches and a slightly drunk Pareen :-D Happy days!
--
* AshuP - Tricia's Colleague
** Ashu Joker - Our heir of Juker Wadi
