Weekdays 15th - 19th April - VJ, Bade Miyan n the usual office routine..

The rest of the week followed the predictable routine. Wakeup – Workout – Egg fast – (No) Work at office – Dinner experimentation – Catching up with old friends. The VJ alias Vijay, aka roll no 88, aka the 40% contributor to the B-Tech degree had come down to Mumbai. The Piyush khan, aka roll no 89, aka the 60% contributor to the B-Tech degree decided to meet up with him. (I know this might sound nonsense to many, without the context being properly laid out). As usual, the dude ( The word has lost its charm nowadays with even the most ordinary and boring of persons addressing each other ‘ dood ‘ . The word means “A kind of dandy; especially, one characterized by an ultrafashionable style of dress and other affectations.”) – yes this guy was a real dude, dooder than the coen brothers’ dude Lebowski – oozed class n elegance, coming in a Land cruiser with his mate from Air India.

Next hour or so was spent inside Gokul, a resto-bar, when we travelled back in time n regaled (or bored I m not sure) the great pilot from Air India with our engineering exploits. We chose the place because it reminded us of one of our favourite hangouts back in Cochin. The value for money provided by Gokul was amazing – decent ambience, 3 Rotis n Chicken Tikka fry, 3 pitchers, all this for 570 bucks. Certainly a niche one in Colaba, amidst the Leopolds n Mondegars.

Bade Miyan, on the other hand was the most upscale “thattudkada” (road side restaurant) I ve ever been to.

It has a very diverse clientele coming from various parts of Mumbai, people from all strata of the society. I could witness the bonnet of the cars multi-purposing as dining tables. I could also see a version of “ Brand Casting” in action. The quality of service offered was directly proportional to the brand of the vehicle in which the person drove in. Luckily we had a land cruiser…

I could finally decide on my top 3 thattukada dishes after the dinner. In no particular order they are:

· Quail Egg curry from a thattukada near my home
· Bheja fry from Bade Miyan, Mumbai
· Dosa + Chicken fry from Rappai’s , Cochin

Another of the weekdays was spent with VJ, Neha and Praveen at Phonex Mill shopping mall, which ended with a dinner savouring some delicious Marathi dishes , at the same time eating one of the worst squid dishes I ve ever had. This was one of the rare occasions when the experimentation by the food junkie turned out to be a failure. But this won’t deter me, After all exploring the unknown is the only way to know the unknown and redefine the horizons of unknown and unchartered territory….

In between all this, 10 AM to 6 PM everyday was being utilised (questionable..Still I ll stick to it) to hone the skills required to survive in the corporate world that’ll unquestionably become intertwined with my life in the near future.