Mumbai Masti

Well, thanks to my mama's son (Chikoo) getting married in USA in October and having his reception and hungama in Mumbai in december, we headed out to Mumbai, boy, was it fun! First off, the meeting of the entire family and the fun that goes with weddings, even the Satyanarayana Puja and the Marathi lunch after that was enjoyable. But the best part was the weather - non-sweaty, cool and pleasant Mumbai was a treat.
But, this apart, our meeting Ranga's 14 school friends was a riot, starting with coffee at the Jean's shack at Bandra to getting sloshed at Firangi Paani, off Linking Road, the hip pub was a blast, with all of us getting a stich in our side, from laughing like crazy. The warmth and camaraderie between school friends is so much fun. You would've thought partying till the wee hours would've satisfied everyone, but no, another get together was scheduled, this time at a friend's place in Andheri. Toshu was not allowed in as he was underage but went to KFC for dinner, which mollified him and he went back to the hotel.

After literally falling into bed from exhaustion (we were up since 3am that day as we had taken the first flight out from Bangalore), at our hotel Executive Enclave at Pali Hill Road, Bandra, we were up a little late, after breakfast, settled down to watch the cricket match, which was abandoned due to a bad pitch and soured everyone's mood. Got ready to meet one of my school friends and walked up to Global Fusion, a Sino-Thai restobar, an oasis of visual delight in jaded Mumbai, in the heart of Bandra (believe it). A beautifully done up oriental rstaurant, where we are offered from the ubiquitous soup to exotic sushi, we spent a delightful 4 hours, and after that staggered back to our hotel, weighed down with bags with stuff bought at Linking Road. Another beautiful time spent with a wonderful friend. Toshu had a wonderful time, making up for what he lost the previous night!

Just relaxed for an hour and we were dressing up (which is itself a rarity in Mumbai!) to attend my cousin's reception. Off we all trouped to Crystal Springs, a beautiful venue at a church compound and everything looked like a fairy tale. After wishing Chikoo and his bride, and earning the ire of my uncle for leaving mid-way, we took off for Andheri, where we pulled off another late nighter. Every friend and spouse had made it to the party and the fun and laughter just kept going on and on...we finally decided to leave as again we had an early flight to catch back to Bangalore.

We've returned, tired and pleasantly surprised how when we meet school friends the intervening years just melt away and life starts again from where you last left it, even if it was a quarter of a century ago or more! That's life - go figure!