Of dates, strings, and generous hosts

Life has come a full circle. It seems as if I am back in the Infosys days, looking forward to weekends and finishing off the Friday work as fast as possible. In fact, I used to be surprised at my own capacity to do work on Fridays in those days and that is something that surprised me this Friday, too. I finished off almost the entire presentation that is due for next week and that, too well in time to go back to the PG at 6, with quite a few suggestions on how to make the best of my weekend.

The remaining part of Friday was spent without doing much that can be counted. Most of the time went into trying to find if there was anything worth transferring from Anurag's laptop into my own...I did find some good songs and a few utility software applications but nothing worth the salt...well...till of course, I came across Super Mario...quite a good attempt at re-creating the original, this one made me all nostalgic and made sure that Friday night was real late.

As is evident from the late Friday night, there was hardly anything that could have got me up on Saturday at any time before 11. And so it was that Saturday was spent sleeping but for the date that everyone has been teasing me about.

The fact first: my project guide (who is, by the way, in her mid thirties and mother of a kid who studies in Grade 5) was kind enough to invite me out for lunch so that I do not bore myself stiff as on the last weekend.

The fiction: my good friends here, who have a lot of free time from their summer training at this company (the pack leader being Sandipan), have been making it sound like the date of the century with the story of Murder being re-written and my being lucky and what not...for God's sake, she is as good as my aunt and had asked me out in that sense, too but what the hell...tongues won't stop wagging...no, not even in this case.

Anyways, Saturday lunch it was to be and as I stood at Karunamoyee waiting for her car, Sunita, my project guide (or sub-guide, if you prefer) came along with her mother and uncle in an Esteem and picked me up for what later turned out to be a decent evening. We went to a place called Swabhumi which has been created as an amalgamation of markets in the traditional Indian style. Rajasthani craft, Delhi's Meena Bazaar and a lot of other traditional markets of India were replicated in Swabhumi, the place also carrying within itself, an open air theatre (which, fortunately, was playing some good Hinglish theatre when we went there and I spent quite some time watching the play, rather regardless of the three other people with me but then, theatre does that to me).

We had some light lunch (it was too hot for anything else) and then made a move to Sunita's maternal home, a house, which she told me, was 150 years old. The typical Bengali decor, the typical Bengali atmosphere, and the typical Bengali people and their hospitality greeted me as I got to comparing the house with my own at Buxar (which must be close to 150 as well if ages are considered). However, the two houses are as alike as they are different. With artificial ceilings and damp interiors being common, the houses were different in the way they were lived in, each speaking volumes about the generations that have made the place their home for all these years.

The evening out with Sunita ended with some Luchi (I confused it with Leechi and agreed to it as soon as she asked me...it actually turned out to be pooris) and simple Aloo curry with sweets...a second lunch but then again, by that time, a lot of water had passed under the bridge and I was feeling that I had started sharing a decent rapport with Sunita and her family with jokes, confidences being shared and the atmosphere being pretty informal.

As I moved out of her place to go on to the metro station at Jatin Das Park, came the event of the weekend. I got down at MG Road and called up Arnav to find out the location of the guitar shop that he was supposed to take me to. With him being busy on the weekends and the weekdays being too full to take time out before the shops close their shutters, I decided that it was time that I took the matters in my hands and that is what I did. I took a taxi down to the place near Park Street that Arnav told me about and after two closed shops, I came to this place that deals specifically in guitars and with Arnav on the phone to help me out, I got myself an accoustic Hobner Guitar. I hope to make the best of my stay here and the relatively free time that I have to get an entry into this instrument and the rest, of course, is going to be shaped by further efforts and regular practice.

Sunday was not without its own share of events, either. With Asif making his entry into the PG (on the fourth and the last empty bed in our room), I had some good time talking to him and more than that, listening to him speak about his struggles since his father passed away and how he made it to Wipro after a long list of efforts unrewarded and failures unwarranted. In the meanwhile, Rajesh and Sandipan called me up to fix an evening out. With both of them in two opposite corners of the city, I had to choose between them and I chose to go out with Sandipan as that meant being able to meet the IIMK seniors who might not be available the next time. I just hope that Rajesh understood and did not take it the wrong way.

Finally, when I did go out to Park Street, a second time over the weekend, there were no IIMK seniors (too busy doing nothing, I guess) but instead Sandipan's girl friend and his friend/ex-colleague with his girl friend. As I made my way into Magnolia (a decent eat, by the way...close to Barista's..opposite The Park Hotel), I wondered if I will be the odd one out but as it turned out, the evening was just right...with food and drinks on Sandipan's friend (he said that I was a guest and was not supposed to pay the first time...good chap, that...I liked him from there on...two generous hosts in two days, I must be getting lucky) and conversation flowing too (at times in Bengali but then I have begun to get some hang of it, anyways), I had a decent time.

Today should not be too hectic because generally Mondays at job are spent procrastinating and in all probability, apart from doing the needful, I shall be doing the same...procrastinating, that is. Also, too many days have gone by without movies and if I am to get my quota of two a day, I got to do something fast...real fast. The guitar lessons should also kick off from today and that will need some time, as well. I just hope that my room mates at the PG will find me tolerable for the next few days as I sit tuning my guitar, tormenting them with the amateur string pulling.