Two men, a car, and Freedom-V

A rather ponderous friend of mine has recently acquired a car. He uses it wisely, for all the right things, including transportation. One fine day, or rather, night, he decided to go on a longish drive. As usual, I was the only one awake, and probably the only one willing. A brief telephonic conversation ensued.

Me: Hello??

Ponderous Friend: Hey, what's up?

Me: Err..nothing really..watching American Idol.

P.F: Huh??

Me: Yeah..really!!

P.F: Right. Wanna get some chai??

Me: Sure!!!

P.F: Cool...pick you up in half-an-hour.

This is usually how most of our roadtrips begin. We start of by deciding to just go drink some tea, drift along the roads lazily, make fun or bitch about randomly selected people, and that usually ends up in a rather long trip. This one was no different. We began by finding a tea vendor on the road to the National park. We sat down for a bit, overheard some software pros chat about life and how to foil a customer's mainframe, discussed each other's lives for a bit, and then decided to hit the road. The initial plan was just to go a few kilometres down the road and then turn back. However, as we went on, I began to remember paths that I used to bicycle down during my youth. Memories from long long back came flooding along, and we decided to go in pursuit of a busstop with a rather funny name..and from there to see if I could remember the road that led to the BDA complex.

After that, it was as if the road itself was speaking to us...inviting us to venture just a little further....teasing...coaxing..cajoling..not that we needed much convincing.....gladly we followed the invite. Onward and onward we cruised, with gentle music playing over the car stereo, until we reached the top of the road, and looked around us and saw the spectrum of lights of the various houses spread over the valley. An individual connect-the-dots style puzzle, for each to connect and play along...making your own shapes, figures, figurines. My thoughts were running along those lines when my friend turned around and said how this view reminded him of his hometown, and of younger and simpler days. That set us off on another quest to find another stretch of road that I was sure existed, but road signs were going against us. After several turns, retractions, a wait while a train went past us (still thrilling, no matter how old you are), we finally reached that fabled road, thereby proving that I was indeed right. Again, we turned a corner, came to the top of the hill, stopped the car, and watched an even bigger spectrum of tiny lights indicating houses as they stood, some clumped together, some slightly apart, and some standing completely aloof, solitary light-houses. The silence all around us, the calm, slightly chilly cold 4am air brushing through our hair, we stood there. Stood and looked around, each lost in his own thoughts. Atlast, daring to breask the silence, if only for a moment, I ventured, " The city sometimes is beautiful, isn't it?" He turned, looked at me, took in the view all around us, and said, "Yeah! It's got it's moments."

And so we stood there, each one allowing his thoughts flow freely, for almost 20 minutes, before a dog's howl somewhere in the distance brought us back to our senses, and we decided to move back. As we were heading back, as if to cap a truly memorable trip, we literally raced the sun, watching it make it's way in a graceful arc, (we lost the race, but the view was worth it). Finally, as the rest of the world was awakening, he dropped me back home and went back on his own way. Thus ended our journey.

I wish I'd taken some pictures of the tapestry of lights, or the sun making it's way from it's lair to it's rightful perch high in the sky. I couldn't, but sometimes, the best pictures fail to retain images the way a powerful memory can. I can't speak for the both of us, but for me, as long as I can rationally think, that view above the Nagarbhavi Hill will remain one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen.

Cheers and good notions

V

An Ode To Fruit (or lack thereof)- By V

This post was inspired by a certain remark to the Resident Evil. The Monolith may feel free to take credit for the inspiration, should he want to. That said, as usual, this post is by V..yada yada yada..etc etc etc..and so onwards.

A new restaurant has opened up near the Monolith's house. On my return from the hometown, he suggested lunch at Lychees. Now, having no idea what the hell it was, I was understandably confused. Lychees?? Aren't they a kind of fruit?? Well, it so happens that that is also the name of the new restaurant. He said it was fairly nice, and easy on the wallet. That was the selling point. And so we ventured there. Now, this "restaurant" is more like a patio diner, spacious, sunny, and cheap. It also offers the eater the choice of a Kfc style crispy chicken and something known as a Zinker, which is awesome. I definitely recommend you try it.

But, I digress. I did not intend to submit a newspaper review on the restaurant. We were shown to our seats, and a little man with a notepad arrived to take our orders. I felt the need to have something to drink. I hunted for a fresh lime soda, and now finding it, I asked the waiter whether he had any. He paused for a moment, and then said that he did. Excellent. So may I please have a fresh lime soda?? Sweet??

Pregnant Pause.

Waiter looks at me.

I return the look.

Waiter looks at the Monolith.

The Monolith looks at me.

The spotlight suddenly being on me again, I repeated the order, thinking that there was something wrong. One Fresh lime soda, Sweet. Simple, tasteful and quenching. He couldn't not get it.

Waiter looks at me.

Uh oh.

Still looking.

Still looking.

Finally, something moved. He turns to me and says, with great thought, "Two."

"No no, One. ONE. " (holding up fingers to demonstrate)

"Two!"

"ONE!"

Another pause. He sensed that I wasn't understanding what he was saying. The linguistic barriers seemed to frustrate him as much as they were frustrating me. So, he went and explained the situation to his superior, who rapidly came by and informed me that we could order two because once he opened a soda bottle, it wouldnt be prudent to let half of it go to waste.

Problem solved.

However, I must make a mention. The said waiter has now become a rather good pal of ours, and makes it a point to wave at us whenever we go past, and serve us extra carrots whenever we are there. So say hi to Noful the next time you are at Lychees, courtsey me and the Big Boss as he calls him.