Greetings from Bengaluru

Date: 19th August 2005.

Day: Saturday

Time: 4:25 p.m.

Place: In front of Barrista on M.G.Road

The meeting was scheduled for 4:30 p.m. but I got there early in order to spot some nice chicks because apparently they are supposed to be plenty on M.G.Road. But all my birdwatching dreams went down the drain because Vidya was already there, even earlier than me. My chances were seriously numbered. C'mon, none of the chicks would give you even a sideways glance if you are already chatting up someone else. But I was more than happy to see her. It's been more than 6 years since the last time I saw her. And what wonders growing up does! She looks completed different now and the only reason I recognized her is because of her pics on orkut.

Moving on, while we were waiting I thought I saw Ms. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon walking towards us but I was really not sure. She had two old firangi men also in tow so I was really confused. Didn't even manage to say a Hi. Guess that will have to wait for the future.

Anyways next arrival was Anirudh. The official bad boy of 12 A is how I remember him. Anyways just as he goes of to park his bike, the chief guest of the day, Ms Akshaya Murali of Microsoft fame arrives. Guys, she looks terrific as always. After the usual round of hugging and hieeeeeeeeeees(girls tend to over-pronounce and extend such greetings), we decide to push off to Ruby Tuesday. Chiefly because they have a Happy hours offer on all beverages. It was a hot afternoon and we could do with some chilled beer. Akshaya had a breezer flavored with Raspberry I think(Yuck!) and Vidya didn't have anything cos it was some kinda religious week going on. What we had to eat is not important cos it was not much and it was passable.

What struck me most about our conversation was the spontaneity. It did not at all feel like 6 years since I had met all of them. Conversation just kept flowing. I was expecting some awkward pauses and stilled silences where no one knew what to say. But I was in for a surprise. We had such a wonderful time. We talked about Akshu's laptop gifted to her by MS with 2GB of RAM but it runs slow if there is no CorpNet.(don't ask what that means. According to me it was a crappy lappy.hey that rhymes!). Ani talked about the wonderful time that he had in Pune with all his friends and recollected the accident he had in his Dad's merc back in Muscat( I didn't know bout that one). We also came to know that Akshu actually shook hands with Bill Uncle.(pretty neat I must say). And then of course we talked about everyone's social life or the lack of it( in my case). Vidya who has been in Bangalore was the perfect tour guide. Damn the woman knew every place that we threw at her. I guess she's knows the whole of Bangalore like the back of her palm. In her 6 years I must say that is pretty impressive. I didn't get to see her scooty though, I wanted to check out the shade of pink that it was.

thats Ani and Akshu

thats vidya and me. see what a wonderful time we were having!

After what seemed like ages of chatting up, akshu's college friends arrived, we got shifted to a new table but the beer just kept flowing and the sutta boxes just kept getting empty. Anyways we left the place as soon as the Happy Hours ended to find grub and then head back to Ani's place for some more beers. Akshu and me being the 'Shakahari" types had to settle for a rotten Chana burger at KFC(never ever have it guys) while the others had Zingers, legs, wings and whatnot. Athyachaar I say. PETA listening!!!

Ani has just moved into his 1BHK in B'lore and all of us stormed in after getting thoroughly drenched in the rain( my bike had it's first feel of the rains of B'lore, poor thing, I blew dry it the next day). He has a very nice place and seems like I am going there every weekend. He didn't have a lot of furniture around and so we made ourselves comfy on his bed and waited till the rain gods were satisfied. Akshu had work the next day(MS makes people work on Sunday, so SAD) so she had to get to her cousins house. Vidya had already left before the rains cos she had a deadline. Me and Ani being the absolutely jobless folks had nuthin much to do. So I crashed at his place for the night.

It was a really great time that we had and I owe it to every one of them. It felt like a homecoming of sorts and suddenly I was happy in Bangalore. I had found people I know.

P.S.: Akshaya is getting a Xbox 360 gifted to her by MS. She also gets heavy discounts on them. I have already booked mine and so has Ani. If any of you are interested, go ahead.

Update: Harish is supposed to be coming to Bangalore this weekend and I just discovered that Nirmal is also here only. So I am looking forward to a wonderful time next week too.