The Trivandrum Diaries - Day 1

 Trek down memory lane

 Mony and I worked together in IDBI circa 1994 which appears like a lifetime ago..three decades ago. He was fresh out of his studies - a rank holder in CA - and joined from Trivandrum. I had completed my MBA, joined Bharath Petroleum as a trainee officer in the east travelling Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, then worked with ITW Signode as a Sales Officer from Pune travelling the western and central regions and then the South and finally landed in IDBI Mumbai. We were part of a new division called the Business Development Division - those were the days post-liberalisation and everyone felt liberalised. It was the second most glamorous division after Merchant Banking division and we shared the same 14th floor in IDBI Towers, one of the two WTC towers at Cuffe Parade. 

IDBI circa 1996 - Ravi, Raj, Sati, Lekha, Shobha, Krishna, Mahender, Prashant, me and Mony

There were two other souls like us - Parag Paigankar, the taciturn Mumbaiite, and Mahender the sharp reparteed Haryanvi,and we all got together pretty quick. Mony had played club cricket in Trivandrum, Parag had playedVizzy Trophy for Mumbai University which would qualify for first class cricket in most other states and I had played a bit of cricket myself. Mahender hated all sports and most things in general. Anyway, we had some good times in the three years we spent there - chai at 1130, lunch together and a walk below around the WTC towers at lunch.Slowly we added Friday evening walks to Cafe Mondegar or Alps for a couple of beers, and roti / butter chicken at Baghdadi matches for IDBI Times Shied in which all of us (minus Mahender) played.

Ravi, Raj, Sati, Lekha, Shobha, Krishna, Mahender, Prashant, me and Parag

As bachelors, Mony and I would hang out together - either at his place in Mulund - or my place in Nerul - and ponder over life with a vodka and some Jagjit Singh in the background on rainy days, finishing off the evening with some delicious hot rice, dal and some fantastic podi his mom would send for him - can still taste those meals. 

At the airport - coffee and my book

Over time we all kept in touch, met when we could, and still remain in touch. Parag was already married and had two kids when we met, Mahender got married while we were in Mumbai, then I did and then Mony. I quit IDBI first, getting a transfer to Hyderabad in 1997 and then quitting in 2004. Mony got a transfer from Mumbai to Pune and then moved to some foreign bank in Bangalore, and then joined the Bank of Muscat in Muscat. He would come to Hyderabad often  - I remember at least a couple or more occasions and stayed with us. Even in Pune when I would visit Pune. And it was Mony who reached out after my first book got published in 2008 or so and we were all back together again.  

The Trivandrum Diaries - Day 1

Meeting Mony - at Elliot's beach

For years, Mony would talk of a road trip together, and he would specifically say we should do a road trip with his close childhood pal Easwar from Trivandrum who is an accomplished cricketer and a writer and a free spirit. Mony would always say that he felt we three were kindred spirits, and we would dream about it. Once in recent years, Mony made a trip to Hyderabad just to meet me and we again thought of this road trip. And finally, a couple of months ago, he said he was coming to India and we should fix up the road trip and I said give me the dates and we are on. And so it got fixed up. Plan was to get to Chennai where he would be visiting his in-laws and where Easwar already was stationed with his family, and we three would drive down to Trivandrum, with a break in Tirunelveli.

And so I booked my ticket on the 28th of May, an early flight at 7 am, so I could catch up with old friends Lalitha and Anil Menon, Krishna and Chitra, and hopefully Asha if she was available before meeting up with Mony in the evening. 

I got to Chennai later than expected due to some technical issue which kept the flight stationed in Hyderabad for way longer than we would have liked - and what should have been 830 am arrival became 1030. Anyway, tooka Uber and went and met Anil and we chatted together for a bit, had a nap, had a lovely lunch. I had not met Anil, another free spirit - one of the topmost - since he had his stroke and was pleased to catch up with him. We recounted crazy nights of years ago in Hyderabad with loud rock music and lots of booze! Meeting Anil had been top of my mind for a long time, having met him, I headed off to meet Krishna and Chitra. Had a nice conversation about this and that, ate some nice upma and drank some coffee and then Mony came to pick me up at about 430ish.

Twilight 

We headed to his place in Adyar, dumped our stuff, went to a crowded Elliots beach and after a nice dosa at the Adyar junction, headed back to the flat to sleep.

Early exit at 530 tomorrow.