Hafta Vasool

Hey fellas...

Sometimes I wonder whether you all are really interested in reading all that I rant about... or whether you just land up here and go through the posts on my updates coz you have nothing else to do...

Whatever the reason, that’s not gona stop me from telling you all that I’ve been up to!! ;-)

The latest is I’ve visited this awesome place called Toons - Café Down Under, which like the name suggests is “under” Wonderland (I’m not talking about some fictitious Alice in Wonderland locale; there’s this complex called Wonderland in Pune Camp, and if you haven’t heard about it despite being in the city, then you know how bad your local guides were).

So, well, I’ve heard about this place numerous times before; but never went there for two reasons. One, the folks I spend my time with prefer to go someplace else, and two, the café belongs to my dad’s friend, so I didn’t quite know how safe it was for me to hang out there. I finally set food inside... and came out high and joyful...

Toons has an Apache kinda ambience (if you've been there), and they serve beer and snacks in a very non-stylish and in-your-face way. Which is it’s greatest charm. Youngsters drop in for some booze and soccer (cricket, if there’s anything big going on) and the rock music fills in the gaps amazingly well. The place is frequented by rock enthusiasts, so you tend to see shabbily dressed people, their skin pierced all over, their hair falling in tangles across their face. And some decent people also, like me, for instance. Hehe.

I spent a lovely Saturday evening there, though the queue is pathetic, and you need to wait anywhere between 45-120 minutes to enter the restaurant, leave aside find a table and chairs. The owner must be minting money like anything, boss!

You can now test me on my knowledge (just the names) of beers... I’m not sure whether they’re strong or mild or what, but here’s a few for GK sake... Foster, Tuborg, Kingfisher, Budweiser, Carlsberg, Cannon, London Pilsner (which my mate said is pronounced “Pisner”; is that right?!!) I also dunno much about the terms “fermented” and “draught”, but well... I’m not doing a Ph.D. on this subject anytime soon...

I also learnt quite a bit about the IPL, thanks to a patient buddy. As I’ve already told ya, I’m not too keen on the game and the jargon, but I’ve got the basics of the event that’s happening at South Africa at the moment. Test me!

There are 8 teams, I dunno the exact names, but the geographical locations are Punjab, Rajasthan (Royals), Delhi (Daredevils), Mumbai, Kolkata (Knight Riders), Chennai, Bangalore, and... (shit, I forgot the last one!! Can I cheat a bit? No, I won’t. Gimme a second...) Ya! Got it... Deccan something. Yippeeeee!! (All perfectly named, right Sibs?!)

To tell you more about the places I’ve been to over the weekend – count in Garden Court, Dorabjee (can’t pass a Sunday without their large Frappe!), Pizza Hut (was dying to eat the Mushroom sauce Fusilli Pasta there; love the Ebony Ivory dessert, too, but was overstuffed), Smoking Joes (for their SJ Special pizza that has chicken in all forms and shapes – including salami, chunks, sausages... yummm!!)...

And hey, before you start thinking that I’ve done nothing but hog throughout the 2 days, leme mention that I also went to Landmark and bought 2 books – Twilight (finally) and the Anatomy of Deception by Lawrence Goldstone (it’s got to do with medical blunders and ethics) .

Super holiday! (No, I wasn’t celebrating anything... Or maybe I was... celebrating the joy of being myself!) I sure did not enjoy some parts of it... like sleeping on the hard floor and bathing without a shower/mug. No child’s play, sirree, and Anuja’s neither. But hey, what’s a little trouble as compared to an excellent getaway!

The curtains on this weekend fell in an equally wonderful way. You remember I told you about this bhajan sabha that my mum had planned? It went great, the bunch of women who sang did a marvelous job, and the snacks from Rajdhani were superb as well. I was munching on the corn patties (they looked like cutlets to me) as I ran around the house doing odd-and-ends, and I relished the Mango Rasmalai the next day at work. Ohh, and I enjoyed meeting the people, too! It’s fun to meet my parents’ gang – they laugh and say all types of crazy things, and just bring the house down with their merry mayhem!

I’m missing going to the cinema. Wonder when the clash between movie-makers and theatre-owners will end. No movie has released over the last 2 weeks... Calm down you guys! And reach a compromise soon... The box office can’t do with this kinda hush.

GTG people. See ya soon!

Love,
Princess