Amdavad had a new face this weekend. An otherwise monotonous workaholic life in a dry state of boring-ness and gujju-ness, turned into a rather interesting one when my friend Shishir from Bombay decided to grace this village with his presence on the weekend. I guess, god felt pity on me and my silly brochure which I am racing against time to finish before the 2nd of October so that I can make it to Sunaina’s wedding. Having been threatened by my boss that he would cancel my tickets if I don’t finish my work, I had put everything on stake for this brochure.
Symptoms of brochure madness:
• Fevers in the morning due to the pressure
• my office’ so-called-friends turning their backs against me for being too buried in my work without giggling and gossiping with them
• my designer and I on a cold war
• my bosses thinkin she is too cocky cos I look so sullen all the time
• my family thinkin I am not too involved in the family
All this because I was buried under piles of work, nearly impossible timelines and a boss that loves to make ‘changes’ until he gets the perfect brochure out of my nimble hands and nervous heart.
And suddenly there was sunshine! Courtesy, shishir mishra, popularly known as Rohtak. Mican, friend, bad driver. ;0) He announced his arrival to amdavad and we planned to meet at shambu- a happening coffee adda of amdavad. 4 Micans gathered up and the first cigerrete was out already! Niraj, pooja, shashin and I wondered why we never met like this before. We have been here in this shanty town for a year, slogging in our mundane existence. Pehli kyon nahi mile hum, yaar!!
From Shambu, we took off to Rajpat club to do garbo! Alpa and I being in western wear were thrown out of the ring. But the Micans that we are, we all danced outside the ring, where the audience was glaring at us. Not that we were the saroj khans and shiamak davars of Navratri, but that we did what pleased our hearts. This included dance steps that emulated dev anand, manoj kumar and even mithun chakravarti. Soon the apprehensive, gossipy crowd realized who the real losers were. Everyone started imitating us and there were more and more garba dancers outside the circle.
Soon we were bored of the outer circle. So alpa and I simply jumped the wall and had a ball! After the garba fever, my limping feet and my faithful santro took us to Mcdonalds and CCD to fill our stomachs. If this wasn’t enough we decided to go on a long drive. My limping feet gave away and niraj took the reins in his hand. I mean the steering wheel! We had reached a dark, lonely, secluded bridge in the middle of the highway! We stopped over and stared at the night sky! Never seen so many stars! Niraj’s imagination also sighted UFOs in the night sky. (No, we weren’t high on anything!) The cigarettes were out again. The night air was chilling and the music from the car was appealing.
Here comes the best part. A police van pulled up near us and asked us what we were doing there at that hour. We said: Gandhinagar se aayen hai, aaram kar rahen hai. He sniffed through the water bottles and checked every nook and cranny of my car. The look on his face when he couldn’t find any alcohol was supper for the night! We went home laughing!
The next day, thanks to my brochure again I was late to pick the motley crew up and drive around to mica. Shishir failed the driving test, but what do u know, I failed it to. Then Michael Schumacher- Shashin Garach came to the rescue. The mica visit was short yet nostalgic. Beautiful lanes that drove us to our alma matter, the old tank we used to climb, oh dear silver oak, kachnar, the mess- and the best of all CHOTA! Cigarettes again and this time I had to beg for it were savored under the tree at chota that still has a broken tyre-swing hanging on it. We paid our respectful visit to Roxy- mica’s own pet german shepherd who seemed to be growing old and missing PAT. We took Thakur kaka’s blessings and Shashin took us to the railway station in record time! As the train took off, we said bbye to shishir and I promised him a blog post. So, here it is. But it was so much more amazing than it sounds on this post. If these many cigerettes weren’t enough the remains of us had the remains of the cigerretes at the riverside outside Café Natrani.
Sunaina, I am comin to your wedding, I promise. And all the micans in amdavad, we shall now keep making each weekend a special one like this one was! Ahoy!
