“The end of an era”
Originally, the title I had thought up for this post was – “Bitter Irony”, but I decided to go along with The Devil’s recommendation. I shall come in time to the reason behind the titles.
The last 3 days have been tiring, very tiring, incredibly tiring! And I really didn’t do much, just rushed around campuses, sat for presentations, filled up forms and got officially inducted into my new company. (Am I the only guy who finds it weird that the noun-forms of both induce and induct is induction, just like how it is for deduction for deduce and deduct. If it’s just me, blame it on the stress!) Yesterday saw more than a typical FNU – Friday Night Unwinding – an acronym which I thought of a long time back, but never used it much because I wasn’t really unwinding much, given the fact that I just sat at home. But more on the FNU later and let me get back to the point about the titles.
I had applied for my broadband connection about 5 months back, amazingly pleased at my rare foresight of planning for the 3-month break between end of studies and work. The plans drawn out before a war look good and unbeatable until the war actual breaks out. After repeated calls to the BSNL office, I became convinced that I was never going to get my broadband. And had pretty much given up hope…when they actually came to my house yesterday and installed the thing!!! Two days after my holidays had ended. Ah…the bitter irony! The installation of the USB modem for the broadband means that the life of my Motorola modem that has served me so admirably, with not a hitch, for the past 8 years is over. As the Devil said, “It’s the end of an era!” :(
Back to the fnoo. We (Soldier, Akshai, Pramod, Devil, Inder & me) began with a game of bowling that was a very poor exhibition of our skills. The winning score of 118 by The Devil did no justice to any of our talents. To set the record straight, Devil has a highest score of 182, me a score of 181 in the same game and Inder in the high 170s. Probably the reason for this debacle was the inconvenient way in which the lanes have been built. I think the guys who were there at the alley would understand what I mean! :)
After the game, Pramod left under mysterious circumstances. How he managed to NOT get an auto from a busy place such as MG Road at 9 PM is beyond me. And this, after waiting for more than 15 minutes clouds the situation even further. All I can say is this – hope he succeeded in whatever the covert operation was. :)) The rest of us joined Pinto and Dhimant at an Italian restaurant called Sunny’s. The last time I had gone to a proper Italian restaurant was a long time back – to this place called Spiga’s – and the only thing that could have been blander than that fare is cotton!
The dinner was sponsored by Soldier, who is leaving us today to get back to Singapore and from there to his MBA in the USA. Staying for more than 2 hours in that place and not getting kicked out is a true testament of the patience of the hotel management. Even when the Devil was trying to get a last drink after all the lights in the place had been switched off, they kept their cool. The conversation revolved around many topics and, though a few were not the kind to be spoken in the vicinity of Gods, everyone had a great time – including the gods. Typical scenes during the dinner were:
THE MORTALS
Soldier: Wanting to recite his Amoeba jokes to us lot. Noting with a shrewd eye the chemistry that seemed to be brewing between the Devil and Inder and capturing the key moments.
Dhimant: Tried to keep pace with Akshai as far as PJs went. But his inherent “mugpotty” nature always introduced a bit of academia to all the jokes, which we were unable to decipher thanks to Ameya’s absence.
Pinto: Living to his undercover status image, he managed as low a profile as possible – a huge effort taking into account his size and conspicuous lack of trouser length. He also chipped in with the recommendations for the vegetarian fare – and I am real grateful for that.
Devil: Apart from the times when he wasn’t sharing something private with Inder, he enlightened us with names of movies that still haven’t made it to the IMDB. In fact, after the producer & director, only Pinto and Devil were aware of these movies. He and Soldier had an engrossing conversation, which would have made us feel at home – that is if our home had been in Singapore.
Inder: Smoked as many cigarettes as the number of words he spoke. Performed a miracle by going out to get a pack of cigarettes and returning safely without losing his way or taking the Anand Rao circle route.
THE GODS
Akshai: Constantly assessing the mortals with subtle tests of their character. Kept his cool and regaled us with jokes despite some unkind desecration by the drunker losers…oops, I mean mortals. Handled all questions on our religion with élan – particularly the one on drinking somapaana.
Chilli: As a god, I had the more docile of drinks, but was a bit more harsh in assessing the mortals – not that the results would be known until the Dissolution (pralaya). Just like the other god, was subjected to a lot of slander. More than anger, felt only pity for the ignorant ones. But I can wait…time control is just one of the many perks on being a god.
Overall, a wonderful dinner and one huge THANKS to the Soldier for that!
(I am glad that you didn’t come up with any new “Imagine if…” jokes)
The last 3 days have been tiring, very tiring, incredibly tiring! And I really didn’t do much, just rushed around campuses, sat for presentations, filled up forms and got officially inducted into my new company. (Am I the only guy who finds it weird that the noun-forms of both induce and induct is induction, just like how it is for deduction for deduce and deduct. If it’s just me, blame it on the stress!) Yesterday saw more than a typical FNU – Friday Night Unwinding – an acronym which I thought of a long time back, but never used it much because I wasn’t really unwinding much, given the fact that I just sat at home. But more on the FNU later and let me get back to the point about the titles.
I had applied for my broadband connection about 5 months back, amazingly pleased at my rare foresight of planning for the 3-month break between end of studies and work. The plans drawn out before a war look good and unbeatable until the war actual breaks out. After repeated calls to the BSNL office, I became convinced that I was never going to get my broadband. And had pretty much given up hope…when they actually came to my house yesterday and installed the thing!!! Two days after my holidays had ended. Ah…the bitter irony! The installation of the USB modem for the broadband means that the life of my Motorola modem that has served me so admirably, with not a hitch, for the past 8 years is over. As the Devil said, “It’s the end of an era!” :(
Back to the fnoo. We (Soldier, Akshai, Pramod, Devil, Inder & me) began with a game of bowling that was a very poor exhibition of our skills. The winning score of 118 by The Devil did no justice to any of our talents. To set the record straight, Devil has a highest score of 182, me a score of 181 in the same game and Inder in the high 170s. Probably the reason for this debacle was the inconvenient way in which the lanes have been built. I think the guys who were there at the alley would understand what I mean! :)
After the game, Pramod left under mysterious circumstances. How he managed to NOT get an auto from a busy place such as MG Road at 9 PM is beyond me. And this, after waiting for more than 15 minutes clouds the situation even further. All I can say is this – hope he succeeded in whatever the covert operation was. :)) The rest of us joined Pinto and Dhimant at an Italian restaurant called Sunny’s. The last time I had gone to a proper Italian restaurant was a long time back – to this place called Spiga’s – and the only thing that could have been blander than that fare is cotton!
The dinner was sponsored by Soldier, who is leaving us today to get back to Singapore and from there to his MBA in the USA. Staying for more than 2 hours in that place and not getting kicked out is a true testament of the patience of the hotel management. Even when the Devil was trying to get a last drink after all the lights in the place had been switched off, they kept their cool. The conversation revolved around many topics and, though a few were not the kind to be spoken in the vicinity of Gods, everyone had a great time – including the gods. Typical scenes during the dinner were:
THE MORTALS
Soldier: Wanting to recite his Amoeba jokes to us lot. Noting with a shrewd eye the chemistry that seemed to be brewing between the Devil and Inder and capturing the key moments.
Dhimant: Tried to keep pace with Akshai as far as PJs went. But his inherent “mugpotty” nature always introduced a bit of academia to all the jokes, which we were unable to decipher thanks to Ameya’s absence.
Pinto: Living to his undercover status image, he managed as low a profile as possible – a huge effort taking into account his size and conspicuous lack of trouser length. He also chipped in with the recommendations for the vegetarian fare – and I am real grateful for that.
Devil: Apart from the times when he wasn’t sharing something private with Inder, he enlightened us with names of movies that still haven’t made it to the IMDB. In fact, after the producer & director, only Pinto and Devil were aware of these movies. He and Soldier had an engrossing conversation, which would have made us feel at home – that is if our home had been in Singapore.
Inder: Smoked as many cigarettes as the number of words he spoke. Performed a miracle by going out to get a pack of cigarettes and returning safely without losing his way or taking the Anand Rao circle route.
THE GODS
Akshai: Constantly assessing the mortals with subtle tests of their character. Kept his cool and regaled us with jokes despite some unkind desecration by the drunker losers…oops, I mean mortals. Handled all questions on our religion with élan – particularly the one on drinking somapaana.
Chilli: As a god, I had the more docile of drinks, but was a bit more harsh in assessing the mortals – not that the results would be known until the Dissolution (pralaya). Just like the other god, was subjected to a lot of slander. More than anger, felt only pity for the ignorant ones. But I can wait…time control is just one of the many perks on being a god.
Overall, a wonderful dinner and one huge THANKS to the Soldier for that!
(I am glad that you didn’t come up with any new “Imagine if…” jokes)
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