A Drive, A Traffic Jam, A Party, A Breakfast Meeting, A Wedding, A Dinner and A Drive Back

 The call came pretty later - I was uncertain about the trip until the last moment and like I do these days - push myself through my discomfort and headed off. 

Friday, 25th

An early start with Gaz who accompanied me one way - at 5 am - got us off to covering good ground in cool air and low traffic (there was still quite a bit of activity on the road). A quick stop at a small tapri after Zaheerabad for chai.

By 1030 we were past Solapur putting away some breakfast at Hotel Sunil. This was good time and we hit Pune by 2 pm. A crazy jam near Hadapsar made even more difficult by the BRTS system and its insane barricades delayed us by an hour else we would have been fully settled in by 3. After dropping him off at Deccan I drove off to Kothrud and dropped off the luggage at home. 

Called Parth and invited myself over for tea.

Chai past Zaheerabad

Parth, Maria and Manik Maushi

Tea and snacks with Parth, Manik maushi, who recently had a shoulder surgery, and Maria, and I was fighting off sleep. I bid bye and then called Milind.

Milind and Neelima

I dropped the car off at home and headed to Milind's by walk. He wanted to walk an we went on a short walk. Neelima was busy with her mother but I got to say hello to her. Milind and I went to the new park near Kirloskar Cummins and then headed back - some cold coffee, pav bhaji at Durga and we were good to go. He was also in the mood for a cold beer and we got a couple of Kingfisher and downed them at home. Despite the early start etc I could not sleep. It was hot. But I did manage to.

 Saturday

I woke up early and wrote a draft of my article for the column. Then I caught Milind on the walk and we went for a walk, had chai and returned. 

We picked up some idli and vada from the South Indian joint and went to his place to eat. After that I headed back home, showered, finished my article and got the house cleaned. My drive to Mumbai will be by cab - I don't fancy driving there. So cab it was.

A Traffic Jam

The expressway was blocked off. Apparently a chemical tanker had toppled over and the road was blocked off. The old Mumbai highway was jammed. People were turning back. The cabbie was also considering that option. We decided to try till the next point and so on and on. 

He was pretty resourceful so we actually made it through some zig zag way in and out of the expressway until we got through. It turned out that Suhita and Jayanth were at Kahndala which I passed and had no clue how to reach out. Never saw traffic choc-a-bloc like that. Cars and vehicles stopping etc. Anyway we made it out and I reached Mumbai, Bandra by 4.

Mother of all jams

I was even in a condition to do my coaching session with Hari. Then some work on the article and at 6, Suhita and Jayanth came. We had some tea and chatted.

A Party 

The party was at Miskil and Kabir's house at Oval Maidan. S, J and I left at 830, beat the IPL traffic and made it to their house y 9. No one had arrived but Madhav, their friend. Kabir gave me some interesting Goan rum which was really good. 

Khayal was busy trying out all sorts of food. Gary, Satya and Yashoda joined us and the party continued. 

Goan Rum

At 12 S and J decided to crash after trying a spot of food. I have an early morning breakfast meet tomorrow.

Sunday

I managed a decent sleep and got up on time. Piyush and Priyanka came up to Queen's Court by 730 and we headed off to Fort. Piyush grew up here so her walked me around and showed me all the sights - I had walked these roads before but I have no clue where and what we walked - but we clicked a picture at the Asiatic Society and went to Jimmy Boy, a Parsi restaurant for breakfast.

 I tried some Sali per Edu from Priyanka and ate my scrambled eggs and tried the masala cola and chai. Nice breakfast. They dropped me off at 10 after a nice chat.

Piyush directed this shot - location and how I was to approach him

Chat with Miskil

Miskil was up by the time I had showered so we sat down to chat. Their party wound up at 530 am! We chatted till lunch - most of the time being taken up by Khayal who entertained us. Some nice lunch and I was ready to go to the wedding at Haji Ali. Bid bye to Miskil and Ubered off.

A Wedding

The wedding was a small affair with about 70-80 people which was fun. I met Parag and Mamta and Esha and Siddhanth the groom and Chaitrali the bride.

Siddhanth, Mamta and Parag

 It was a nice Maharashtrian wedding. I had a petha tied on my head. Met Ajay Dharne and we chatted a long time. Spent time with Parag and left at 530.

Me with petha

 He asked me to come back for dinner but I told him I might not - I was pretty pooped. 

Dinner with Suhita and Jayanth

There was Yashoda at home when I went and then we chatted for long and ordered some food from the club. Suhita and I walked around the colony. Interestingly there is a road named after Suhita's father Yadunath Thatte in Pune and the road where they live is named after Jayanth's father, Vinayak Dharmadhikari. I crashed out despite the sultry heat. Have an early ride.

Monday - Ride back to Pune

J Pal picked me up early, at 545 am, and we drove comfortably to Pune. The vada pav was the highlight of the ride. 

In Pune I got off on FC Road and headed off home and completed my article and sent it off. I checked with Milind and he invited me home for lunch which was lovely. I spent some time with him at his old home and then went back to catch some sleep. Malay called and said we could meet for dinner. i packed up stuff and got ready to fill up gas and get the tyres checked. Off tomorrow. Milind said he would have liked to come but...

Dinner at Irani Cafe with Malay

Malay and I met at Irani Cafe Prabhat Road at 830 and tried their rice and kebab and berry pulao. I liked the fresh lime water best. We had a good time chatting about many things including money. We finally split at 1030. I had a long ride back tomorrow.

Me and Malay at Irani Cafe

Tuesday         

 Early start and off on a solo drive back home. It was a comfortable ride and I stopped at Hotel Sai Prasad after Naldurg at 1030 and then at Food Pyramid after Zaheerabad where they served the most wonderful natu kodi biryani. Then I drove in a leisurely fashion into town and was home by 330.

Food pyramid near Zaheerabad

Job well done!