Of Past Haunts(loves)

Last week was convocation day in college. Had to give it a miss though as I was not in town. So decided to collect the degree certificate today, in the hope of seeing myself finally having achieved the status of a GRADUATE, some fifteen months after I had passed out of college! Unfortunately the concerned person was having his lunch, hence I am still not in mine own terms a graduate.

The time earned thus was quickly diverted to make a couple of calls to old loves and haunts. Love being an emotion (for me) restricted so far only to books, music, movies, food and a couple of other unmentionables and not the fairer sex (apart from the familial subset) as might have been thought of by you my discernible reader. Though I did come close to exploring it.......

The first stop was made at SK Bakery, on that colourful road named after a certain Markham. Two lime juices (sweet and salt) downed faster than I can type this last word, and a quick exchange of gossip about the alma mater with the Malayalee owner later, I parked my bike outside the Kerala Beef Stall near Johnson Market. Though Khazana with their delectable beef biryani and vonderful veal kebabs called out, time constraints, made me dash to Mecca Cafe for that timeless brew of Sulaiman Chai. Lime pips bobbed up and down tickling the lips till they were left low and dry at the bottom of the cup, their services completely used up.

All this brought back memories of the numerous discussions we had at Mecca and SK topics ranging from the latest cover of the Rolling Stones magazine to Britney's tonsured head. All the jokes cracked, laughed at loud and cut short by the killer stares to maintain decorum from the maitre de at Mecca. All the classes missed, all the ego clashes, all the last one rupee coins pulled out to pay for the chai, juice, samosa, et al.

The sepia tinted smoke clears in a flash. The memories remain......