Unrequited Love.

RESTAURANT: Bombay Talkie, New York City
ON THE MENU AS: Unrequited Love
PREPARATION: 2½ ounces of gin, a half-ounce of sugar syrup infused overnight with saffron, and 1½ ounces of sweet lime juice; shaken with ice.
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Also,

Affections lent, never returned. Oft forgotten (harmless), sometimes not (toxicity- high).

Prologue

Not that today's post has anything to do with love. The only reason why it is here is because- I woke up this morning, mouthing the phrase "Ramya and me". I don't know if it was love, but if it was it certainly wasn't (?) unrequited. And then that mail was in my box. From Sibia in NYC. The drink he had last night. In NYC. Seemingly unconnected yet to me vaguely so. NYC, Love, possibly unrequited.

Prologue Ends

Last night Ghosh called. Actually, lets call her Tua. Reasons later. Which was quite a surprise. Had gotten home late from a client do. Bowling, booze. No babes. Then had a paan to shut up a particularly insistent guy. That did it. As I walked back home, I realized that I was definately going to be sick. But I had underestimated my cosntitution. Years of abuse have given me guts of steel. Ahem.

So renewed, and brimming with confidence over my digestive capacities, I decided to call Tua. No response. Then a particularly teary Mom called. And instantly figured that I had been out drinking on a week day. Weekends are ok (after much consternation), but weekdays??? (Have you forgotten your roots, your culture, which family you come from? Your dad seldom drinks and your grandad probably didn't know such stuff existed... so on). So teary eyed Mom, blamed this bachanaialian turn of events in my life to ... well any guesses? Single state of mind and body (?).

There's a background. Two days back, I had a rare weekday visitors- Sharma and wife in tow. And while we planned a Sunday trek (more on that too!!! Later), Mom happened to call. And asked what I was up to. And I replied. And she burst into tears!!! Even Vikram is married. I wondered - So what's wrong with that- musn't have been very difficult, considering that he had women latching on to him from every available appendage, while we were in college. But that appeared Ma was apparently depressed. Kya karein!!! What to do???

So after Ma's call of yesterday, suitably sobered, but still quite sick (stomach churning, mouth sickly sweet from diet coke and meetha paan), I decided that Tua is never going to call me (probably doesn't like the way I look or the shoes I wear. Perhaps my nose is too oily, or that i don't do something substantial for a living, could be anything, na?) , so Ma... I shall have to take my wares elsewhere. And when such a heavy weight descends, such responsibility, I have found that the best solution is to sleep. Watched a movie for a bit (can't recall which one) and then slumber took over. Woken again by the phone ringing- and braced myself for another verbal offensive from Mom. But surprise surprise... Its Tua. Well, the call progressed. Quite well. And it was almost as if we'd left a conversation mid way last night and just, well, carried on from there. That's the thing with Sags- they are so predictably unpredictable that people around are often seen pulling their hair out in anguish. One is enough, but two is deifnately not good company. Points discussed included relative merits of Greece and Portugal as regards the earning potential of expat Indians, my view on the Euro and then INR (Idid warn her that my I often don't share market views with people who I don't expect will have reciprocal levels of interest), monsoons and weekends out of town.

Tua is nice, but she is also out of town, this weekend.

Epilogue

So why the switch from surname to pet name? First I told her about her being on my blog. And residing there as a certain Ghosh. Her reaction had only a hint of remorse - not at being here, but at the choice of names. And then we had an exchange of e-mails on bengali pet names- which she was quite excited about, and mentioned that she while she quite agreed with the predicament, she felt that she was blessed with a particularly nice one. Hence Tua.The first rule of sales, if it doesn't cost anything, just play to please. Applies.

The trek- Well we have this club in office which organises treks in the Sahyadris during the monsoons. My favorite destination is Garbhett. It is this table top plateau near Matehran which is lashed by rain or surrounded by mist for most of monsoon. But this year Garbhett has been pushed back. And I really wanted to go. So have rounded up 11 people for the same- this Sunday. There is a problem- which is men. We have only two men and 9 women and am trying very hard to find security in male numbers.