Saturday, July 24, 2010

One rainy day in Bombay

After an insanely busy week of travelling across the country, my last vendor visit, planned unexpectedly, brought me to Bombay. Spending my last Friday away from home wasn’t a great idea but then Peepu and I synchronized our work schedules and decided to stay back in Bombay on Friday night and even spend some time with Vani and Nobbie.

Done with the visit by 2:30, Rachana and I decided to hang at a coffee shop at Bandra, catch up on work, send out emails and for most part, chat about everything- once again! Soon Peepu and Vani joined us and we all agreed Hard Rock Café for the evening plan. Rachana was going to turn up with her friends.

We went to Vani’s place and sent our last set of mails. Work was finally done by 11:00 pm- the promise of an evening with Peepu, Vani and Nobbie kept me smiling through.

Hard Rock was great! It wasn’t packed the way it usually is. Between several rounds of beer, their signature (and awfully unhealthy) nachos, occasional dancing, smoke breaks in the rain, we were a happy lot. Somewhere in between Peepu told me he got a good deal at the Grand Maratha and we could in fact stay the night there. That’s where we headed at night.

I don’t remember when I crashed but the next I saw the world was at noon today. Our flight wasn’t until 6:00 pm. The downpour in Bombay made heading back to Vani’s side of town difficult. In stead, we decided to laze around for a bit, and then head out to Bandra.
As I looked out of the window, the weather outside was simply beautiful! Very lazily we got out of bed, showered and checked out.

While waiting for the cab at the hotel, we sat down for coffee too. I ordered my new fave dessert- Panacotta (with Strawberry). Our cab arrived soon. Merely driving around the very green past of town, amidst very slow traffic and heavy showers, we managed to catch up on a tonne of conversation. During this time, we stopped at Aquamarine to buy me a pretty silver necklace. We couldn’t escape the rain! Wearing a white romper in this weather wasn’t the best idea but with Peepu with me, I didn’t care much.

We ate at Café Basilico. This time, the conversations were much louder since the sound of the heavy rain on the make-shift plastic roof overpowered every other sound. During this time, Peepu suggested I consider visiting California instead of NYC in the 4 days between NO and Virginia- yay for the new plan! Oh, and at Basilico, sitting next to us was Amisha Patel! Surprisingly, she is pretty! With no makeup on, and in a casual singlet with slacks, she looked absolutely stunning. P.S: So sad these beautiful people complicate their lives- I don’t like what I read about her anger management issues and family troubles.

Our day in the city ended with lunch- we set off for the airport soon after. Not comfortable with the stares at my hardly modest clothes, I pulled out a shirt to cover myself up. Peepu and I stopped at the book store. He bought, I looked. I picked up coffee from the airport cafe. The new airport is beautiful- the emptiness of it made it feel very private to us.

I’ve put down a lot of detail above. I can’t get enough of this one very rainy day. I got 24 hours with people I love an awful lot. It was easy and breezy. We are going through a turbulent patch on the flight. My hand is in Peepu’s. His nose is buried in his India today. I have music in my ears. Chor Bazaari from Love Aaj Kal- coincidence!!

3 comments:

The White Phoenix said...

so someone has suddenly become regular with blogging. Nice to read so many updates. And there's only one feeling that comes to me after reading your posts - Jealousy.
Give me a job like yours. So much of travel .. wow.
Enjoy every bit of "up in the air"

Anonymous said...

Naaaaaaice :)

Star People said...

Hey guys!

Yes, back to blogging. I realize I'm experiencing so much and don't trust facebook with the thoughts...

The travel is fun...and seriously, nothing like solo, aimless travel.
I'll keep you posted :)