Life in Delhi

Random drunking adventures August 19, 2006

Shortie, one of those people I just manage to pick up in my life, owed me a cheque for something I had done for her company. Of course, since I’m a sucker for money, booze and women, though that isn’t quite the correct order, I agreed to a date with Shortie at the Anupam complex in Saket (Suck-it?). Anyway, after disagreeable work delays in office where somehow I’m again becoming “Mr Go-To” whenever there is a crisis, which given that I work in a fortnightly is one week out of two. Cutting to the chase, after dealing with crazy traffic near Adchini and Suck-it itself, and fighting with three parking attendants, I finally made it to the complex.

I remember the Anupam complex as a fifteen year old kid, when there was one seedy moviehall, lots of seedy offices and a Nathu’s Sweets. Today, it looks like a jazzed up boulevard. Tens of eating joints, from the decidedly low-brow Micky-D’s and Subway to jazzy joints like Ruby Tuesday and Bennigans to nightclubs like Buzz and high-brow ‘fine dining’ joints like Azzurro. I ended up in the last named place.

Shortie wasn’t in the best of moods, and even though this was only the second time I was meeting her, I figure I’m one of the few people she can feel comfortable with. I like her, but since she is my younger brother’s age, I don’t know what to do. And the problem with the Fattie still persists, as in she doesn’t know how to quit me – more about that later. Anyway, I dodn’t have any plans of a scene with Shortie, just yet. She is too young to be oput through the rigours to mad-cap relationship/fling/affair. So, I thought, OK, tonight just drink and eat, nothing else.

Azzurro’s bar tenders mix fairly decent cocktails, this was my third time there and the place has managed to maintain a sense of verve, so to speak. The music was supposedly chill out, though I think the DJ didn’t quite realise that downtempo music needs to be played at slightly lower volume levels. Anyway, Shortie had a drink called an Azzurro, which like the name suggests was blue, and crammed with Vodka. I had something with a delightfully forgettable name which I don’t remember and which had oodles of rum. I added some Hommous and Pita with some minced lamb on top for starters. The Hommous was actually quite soft and not loaded with either Olive oil or chillies, like many other joints in Delhi.

However, the lack of a crowd at the place, given that food and drink aren’t too bad and that it was a Friday night was surprising. People it seems go to Suck-It just to chill and look at other people. The concept of fine-dining is Micky-D’s. So, after quaffing away at a cigarette, Shortie and I decided to give another place a try. Ideally I would have left Suck-It, but since Shortie was staying there and I really didn’t want to drive, Suck-It it was. And that meant a call between Bennigan’s and Ruby Tuesday. And it was the former.

Shortie wasn’t feeling too good, I think the boring company got to her by then. So, she didn’t eat much of the Chicken Platter, which other than the Broccolli was quite ordinary. Bennigan’s has nice beer but the food other than the burgers and sanwiches is ordinary, Ruby Tuesday’s food and drink is better and TGIF makes killer food.  But, I will give the place another shot if I find myself wanting a nice quiet place in Suck-it. All in all a fairly pleasant and not too expensive evening.
Anyway, I dropped Shortie home, and it now turns out that she is in a bad way. I have to meet another girl for coffee in the evening as well as deal with Fattie’s work crisis without calling her office names. Sigh! I really got to sort out my personal life.