..."four giggles and a bhai (part 3)"...

... who would have thought that with bridges crumbling over and roofs falling like bungee jumping, we will be able to host the Commonwealth Games on time... the key word is 'on time' ... the ability to host the Games was never questioned, it was the never ending delays and corruption and all that was giving all the jitters to all of us... or atleast to those who cared and bothered about their own reputation... after all we are now connected to lot more people who in-turn are connected to a lot more people spread across the world... it's not that the local politicians will face the axe, it's the 'image' of the country that was at stake ... and thank god (or was it the Army?) we made it a spectacular event and not only that... the news just came in that we have won another gold...

... but then this is not a CWG news update... this is my blog and i am in the middle of a story... and if u have come this far without noticing the titles of the posts (highly unlikely!) ... i must say it for the record that this is the third part of the story of my dinner out with NikkiZ... and of course along with three of her colleagues ...

... it was almost a deja-vu ... me driving to Sayaji after office to meet NikkiZ ... except for one crucial thing... the roads were empty and so the drive was smooth... and while i was waiting at the lobby, i was glued to the flat screen LCD... with some news channel repeating over and over and over again the Ayodhya verdict... and then she arrived... dressed in red kurta and matching sandals... and with the longest-happiest-hi-on-the-earth i cudn't care what was blaring on the TV...

... we went back to her room and chatted away for a while... and then arrived 'Green' and 'Grey'... so called because they wore such colored clothes later in the evening! duh! ... and after brief intro i returned to the room while the ladies walked away... and then enters 'violet' ... i never knew she was 'inside' ... so we had tea and some cookies and then we were off to the MG Road...

... as i mentioned earlier... i cudn't memorize the route to MG Road... so my best bet was to reach up-to the nearest point and follow the road signs... but then road signs in pune are like engaged employees in an IT company... our trip started pretty good... the Mumbai-Bangalore highway provides one of the best route for that unwinding driving pleasure... enough turns to keep your steering wheel oiled...

... and then the confusions started mounting and then i lost track!... NikkiZ came to the rescue and wud roll down her side of the window at almost every corner of the road... and then on one such occasion we turned from the 'one way' and there was a gang of policemen waiting for their share of kill... i was asked to 'pull over' and talk to the 'sahib' ... NikkiZ: "what are you doing? just drive away!... do u want me to take the wheel and drive?" and with four pretty ladies and totally lost me ... not to mention my language handicap AND it was the 'verdict' day so policewale will be 'extra' vigilant!!! ... i stepped outside murmuring "i have never done this before!"

..."so u want to pay money? fine!" NikkiZ was NOT helping on this one!... while i was arguing convincing the thug like tthulla that i am not used to this area and i was asking for directions... guess what? violet came over and took my side! ... actually i was surprised! i wasn't expecting any of the ladies to step outside and i was getting very upset... i mean VERY upset... but then the senior tthula simply responded "aage jaa ke left turn" to violet's continuous query "hume MG Road jana hai!" ... so there was a hush and we returned to the Vista and continued...

... few more turns and then we arrived on the MG road... and then violet's memories came rushing back... "there is a mall somewhere here"... "where is the barista?" (or was it CCD?) ... "Dorabji's??" ... i felt like a deer in the headlights! ... and then we *finally* reached the SGS Mall... eggaxtly opposite to the Dorabji's! ... jai ho!