The nite that the great return to Mumbai trip was conceived.
It was a regular Friday evening. Was lunching at Mainland China when Ronak gave me a buzz.. Turned out that he was in B'lore for the evening on a field visit and he wanted to catch up. Being the gracious host that I am and also generally wanting to catch up with the Mumbai scene, we made a plan to catch up at LOR.
Accordingly, got back home by 7 from work, and went to LOR at 8. Left word with Nikhil and Kochhi to join us. Abe was in Pune so i expected it to just be the 4 of us. After a few beers and catching up on some legendary Mumbai happenings including the sacking of Happy Singh, the 80 bangings in Bangkok by a team of 5, Nikhil and Kochhar walked in. A few minutes, Chetan walked in with the special guest for the evening, Vinod GM! True to GM's impeccable style, he made his big entry spouting off a one-liner.. There was no Hi, no Hello, but straight.. "Dude, don't ever fkg get married!".. :)
After that the beer obviously flowed, GM and Ronak started competing in some beer bottoms up challenges, where GM kept up his legendary status. Ronak and me started discussing some happenings in Mumbai again, hearing which, Kochhar expressed his long pending desire to see what Mumbai was all about. Being in a very happy state of mind, I immediately suggested that we make a trip to Mumbai to which Kochhar agreed. One phone call to Venzel, and the plan was all set. The great Mumbai trip was on!
Meanwhile, Ronak begun to feel the after-effects of competing with the great GM. That didn't stop us however from doing 4 canons and then going through 2 rounds of shots as well! By then, everyone was on cloud 9 and there were no safe designated drivers left. Having left LOR, we waited down for a good 45 minutes to clear our collective heads. Following which, Nikhil, Pavan and me walked up to Sony World to spot whether the cops had set up a barricade which luckily they hadn't.
We left LOR immediately. As luck would have it, as soon as we reached the signal, the cops were erecting the barricade. We managed to get by in the nick of time, just before the blockage was up. Having reached home, we immediately felt the need to connect with Mumbai to inform of the great plans. Hobri Mana and The Ziggster were duly contacted. And a parallel conversation took place on our cell phones for the next 20 minutes drawing up the bones of the plan. In the midst of a lot of swearing and abusing.
Plans having duly being delt with, the party continued in the sitting room. Chetan begun his legendary 'Channu radio' as Nikhil terms it. Thankfully, I promptly fell asleep with Pavan, Nikhil and Kochhar bearing the brunt of the radio since GM had already moved off to la-la land.
In the morning, when I woke up, I was lying on my bed. I have no re-collection of how I got there! My last memories were sleeping, lying down on the floor. That part of the night remains a mystery to me!
and thats how the plan for the great Mumbai trip was conceived!
It was a regular Friday evening. Was lunching at Mainland China when Ronak gave me a buzz.. Turned out that he was in B'lore for the evening on a field visit and he wanted to catch up. Being the gracious host that I am and also generally wanting to catch up with the Mumbai scene, we made a plan to catch up at LOR.
Accordingly, got back home by 7 from work, and went to LOR at 8. Left word with Nikhil and Kochhi to join us. Abe was in Pune so i expected it to just be the 4 of us. After a few beers and catching up on some legendary Mumbai happenings including the sacking of Happy Singh, the 80 bangings in Bangkok by a team of 5, Nikhil and Kochhar walked in. A few minutes, Chetan walked in with the special guest for the evening, Vinod GM! True to GM's impeccable style, he made his big entry spouting off a one-liner.. There was no Hi, no Hello, but straight.. "Dude, don't ever fkg get married!".. :)
After that the beer obviously flowed, GM and Ronak started competing in some beer bottoms up challenges, where GM kept up his legendary status. Ronak and me started discussing some happenings in Mumbai again, hearing which, Kochhar expressed his long pending desire to see what Mumbai was all about. Being in a very happy state of mind, I immediately suggested that we make a trip to Mumbai to which Kochhar agreed. One phone call to Venzel, and the plan was all set. The great Mumbai trip was on!
Meanwhile, Ronak begun to feel the after-effects of competing with the great GM. That didn't stop us however from doing 4 canons and then going through 2 rounds of shots as well! By then, everyone was on cloud 9 and there were no safe designated drivers left. Having left LOR, we waited down for a good 45 minutes to clear our collective heads. Following which, Nikhil, Pavan and me walked up to Sony World to spot whether the cops had set up a barricade which luckily they hadn't.
We left LOR immediately. As luck would have it, as soon as we reached the signal, the cops were erecting the barricade. We managed to get by in the nick of time, just before the blockage was up. Having reached home, we immediately felt the need to connect with Mumbai to inform of the great plans. Hobri Mana and The Ziggster were duly contacted. And a parallel conversation took place on our cell phones for the next 20 minutes drawing up the bones of the plan. In the midst of a lot of swearing and abusing.
Plans having duly being delt with, the party continued in the sitting room. Chetan begun his legendary 'Channu radio' as Nikhil terms it. Thankfully, I promptly fell asleep with Pavan, Nikhil and Kochhar bearing the brunt of the radio since GM had already moved off to la-la land.
In the morning, when I woke up, I was lying on my bed. I have no re-collection of how I got there! My last memories were sleeping, lying down on the floor. That part of the night remains a mystery to me!
and thats how the plan for the great Mumbai trip was conceived!
