Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Amethyt,Chennai!

That was a lovely evening!Really was!I had heard so much about this famous,historic restaurant cum coffee shop when I came down to Chennai from Bangalore earlier this year. Never got the chance(nor the appropriate company!)to go here.Finally,the opportunity came by,on this lovely,breezy August evening when one of my new friends agreed to wriggle out of her office and spend time together!

Well,I guess that was my first "little date" in Chennai!There is this wonderful lawyer girl I befriended a few months back in one of the online networking sites. And we hit it off rather famously right from day one!A friendship built over endless emails and sms' was about to fructify in personal interaction at one of the most famous joints in this big southern metropolis(I know this is sounding like a news report,but just for added flavour!).

I didn't know the route to Amethyst (am yet to explore Chennai in full measure!) and asked people in office.Got directions,with a few girls casting chuckles as they told me how to get there!Finally, left office at 6p.m. and got to the venue at 6.20 p.m. Walked around the building and digested the exotic ambience inside.The historic significance of the building(it was a Rajasthani king's palace once and had tons of photographs in the main hall even now).As I waited for my lovely lawyer friend,the carpets,the old bulbs,the neatly designed sofas,the terrific interior decor,the garden outside,the old walls.....ah....just struck me very hard!Never knew that such a lovely place existed in Chennai and thanked my friend for recommending this place for a special evening with a friend I was about to meet for the first time!

Eventually,as I was waiting in the main hall,my friend walked in and called me on my mobile.I didn't know it was her till I heard my name being called.Turned around and saw this incredibly busy looking girl,in a white shirt and cream trouser with a typical's girl's handbag tucked up under her arm, grinning at me!The reaction was instantaneous - we hugged each other.The reaction was more a thrill of having actually met in life,after such a terrific build up of friendship over the internet.And so began an evening of animated conversation, fun,tea,potato wedges,careers,choices,strength and weaknesses in relationships,number of men and women that each of us seems to be having in life, managing people, managing expectations, jobs, money,future, dreams, dream girl,dream boy,ex partners, parents....you name it!!At the end of it,I guess we pretty much realised that life is just too short to be spend cribbing,so may as well, have a blast while we are here on this planet!No point screwing up our presence in this Earth, between our arrival and departure from the planet!

One of the striking things of this evening was the fan above the sofa that we were seated on.It was incredibly long and dangling down and was noiseless in its rotation and air circulation, despite being so old!

As we left Amethyst,I think both of us realised that we had befriended each other for life.Great to make new friends,but even better to make friends whom one feels absolutely onself with!



Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Day of miserable bosses!

Went out with Ashwin,Zubin,and Gopal to Dynasty,a chinese restaurant in G.N.Chetty Road this evening.Had a nice, animated conversation about one of the bosses in office.Was laughing the entire evening as I kept hearing so many interesting stories about people's experiences with this boss.Hilarious value,but technically no great shakes!

Vidya couldn't make it to the dinner as she was chasing a mad deadline.Helped her out with a very complicated chart and finally managed to crack it!Got her beaming smile in return,which was more than enough!!!!Nothing like making somebody happy!Good,good,good! Had chilli cheese sandwich with Pranab earlier in the evening and couldn't take the spice one bit!Of course,Subhasini called in the afternoon and did all I could to cheer her up.Poor thing, was having a miserable time with her boss!Looks like it was a day of people tired of miserable bosses!!!Anyway,managed to firm up a time to meet her sometime soon! Managed to make her laugh at the end of the conversation!

That was not all.Got a call from Leena in Bombay as well.She was totally cheesed off with her work and had no inclination to work either!Sob sob sob..another person down the track driven up the pole by a boss!Oof...!Did my bit as usual to cheer her up and well,did manage to make her laugh a wee bit.Dunno if its a skill I have to cheer up these girls..but well,they sure do seem to warm up to me,and I am not complaining!

Went around Chennai in Gopal's car,picked up my bus ticket to Bangalore for the upcoming long weekend and talked till 11.30 p.m. with him.Just burst out laughing when I heard stories of client presentations,deliverables,deadlines,recruitments,promises,meetings(not turning up for them!),and the best of them all - wrong designations!!!!Hilarious...laughed my gut out!!!

All in all, a very interesting day,where people were fed up with their bosses and I did the 'pep-talk'.Good part is I got to talk to two wonderful girls and am going to meet one of them soon!!Hehehe,blame it on guy charm!