A Weekend, A Festival, And Loads Of Fun

The only problem with strong winds in Varanasi is that they throw life out of gear and blow clothes out of the corridor and down on the grass below, which explains my fervent hunt for my Rupa Macroman. But all’s well that ends well, and I thank god for not giving me the good advice of buying spare clothes. Enough said about strong winds and underwears.

It’s approximately 11:30 pm now. I just visited a website which promised free live F-1 action. Obviously, when the page opened, they asked me to register and pay a few hundred dollars for the service. Anyway, it marks the end of an eventful weekend.

Diwali is the only time of the year when bombs don’t kill. I’m not fond of crackers, and certainly don’t like bombs. This shouldn’t be misconstrued as under aged aging (as people seeing my scantily clad head are wont to do)- I’ve always hated bombs. My last few Diwalis in Varanasi were not exactly fruitful. In the last 2 years I wasted time and money on Naach, Veer Zaara, and Garam Masala; redeemed that somewhat this time with Don.

20th October, Friday
The festivities began on Friday night with a trip to a Pizza joint. The last time I ordered a pizza in Varanasi, I remember staring down on a Tandoori roti with a topping of aloo and capsicum. What I thought was the hair of an old woman turned out to be grated cheese. The pizzas here though, were quite delicious. We sat in the balcony, facing the Ganga. Anand, Rahul, and I pigged on Vatica Special Pizza and a mouth-watering apple pie. We were the only Indians there. But a million insects hovering around the streetlight and a few thousand lazing at the puddle kept reminding us we were still in Varanasi. I’ve always held Anand Kashyap in high regard, and after advising me to try Bob Dylan, he’s done absolutely no harm to his image. I really love The Times They Are A-Changin and Tangled Up In Blue.

21st October, Saturday
The weekend started early with a Mock CAT at 8:30 am. Obviously, I didn’t bathe before the test. And when I later went to bathe, I realized 1) that for the 7th time in the last week I forgot to buy a new soap. The old one already looks like an ant’s shoe, and my body is a little bigger; 2) that for the 4th time in the last week I forgot to buy a new shampoo. I’ve been pumping the life out of that poor bottle, and given the unspeakable service it does, I deserve to treat it better; and finally 3) that the water was COLD.

Abhinav, Dhishan, Sanjeev, and I proceeded to watch Don in Varanasi’s only Cineplex- called KCM; won’t be surprised if it expands to Kashi Cinema Mandir. We were there an hour early. We sat in an air-conditioned Café (it’s not easy to find an Air Conditioner and a Café in the same compound in Varanasi) and delighted at the prospect of spending an hour there without ordering a thing. An authoritative hand placed a menu on the table, one thing followed the other and before long, we were digging into 3 sundaes.

The movie was quite entertaining. The locations were breathtaking, the background score was pulsating, and the storyline was more intriguing than Serena Williams’s hair. The acting was decent too, with Shahrukh Khan almost succeeding in breaking out of his mould. His dialogue-delivery was contrived at times, but on the whole, it was a refreshing break from his Hey-hey-hey (to be repeated 10 times with a gap of 0.1 seconds between every 2 recitals) roles. Priyanka Chopra was really hot, as was Kareena Kapoor. Isha Kopikkar played the role of not making her presence felt to perfection. There were too many songs and that marred an otherwise fast-paced film. I haven’t watched the original but a learned few said the story departed from the original in quite a few places.

At the interval, it seemed the entire hall was emptied into the toilet. There was a long queue with men shuffling uncomfortably awaiting their turns. Being one of them, I must say I empathized with them. Also, given the oomph quotient in the movie, I can’t promise that all of them were waiting to just answer nature’s call.

We dined at Kashi Chaat Bhandar and followed it up with paan. I’ve decided to eat paan more often, now that it’s time to say goodbye. On the way back I decided to buy a pair of shorts or run the risk of wearing the same pant day and night for one week straight. Upon our return, Abhinav and I went to attend a Diwali Puja in Vikalp’s room. The puja wound up at 9 but our gossip went well past midnight. It’s been long since Murali, Ravi, Vikalp, and the two of us gossiped, and we had a terrific time bitching and trying to check if alcohol had illicitly entered Abhinav’s system.

22nd October, Sunday
Sunday was a lot lazier. Dad’s call woke me up, lunch put me to sleep, and corridor-cricket woke me up again. I bowled with a lot of vigour and little success.

With expenditure rocketing in the last 2 days, I decided to make it a hat-trick and we proceeded to Rahil for dinner. We followed that with ice-cream and a round of meetha paans. I don’t spend too often, but when I spend it’s like a running nose- flows till it drains out.

Speaking of draining out, I’m exhausted. I’m supposed to study for tests beginning on 26th. Kind well-wishers remind me that CAT is on 19th November and that it takes more than 97 percentile to get calls from the IIMs. I agree, but please leave me alone till tomorrow. Let me spend the night with Bob Dylan playing in Winamp and mosquitoes playing closer to the ear. If I find time, I’ll post a review of Don, but if I don’t, you can go watch the movie.