So, Sagnik and I wander into Crossword, slightly furtively because Bridalbeer isnt with us (and without beautiful young woman certifying non-desperation we look a little too prowly for comfort) and sit at a table upstairs. We know Ranajit Dam is going to ditch, and yes, he claims hes too busy watching dogs fight to turn up. So we keep sitting, doing the casual banter (while watching, eye-cornerly) thing. And slowly bloggers start crawling out of the woodwork; JAP sidles in from a corner, Teleute and Starting to Blue emerge from behind a pillar (destagged blogmeet, praise the gods) and suddenly Im harassing the management for more chairs – Rimi, Bakers Dozen, Kanti, Fishhater, and have I left anyone out? Much fun, after that – discussion veered from karate to incest, cartography to bestiality, ragging to QMs Who Must Not be Named, Sandman to Janice, Kees-Bhargins to Beyonce, and ended in top-floor shawarmas and taxis.
Having a surprisingly social time in Cal actually, largely thanks to Bridal and Sagnik (and ignore the rest of this post if you werent in school/college with me) and also bumped into, randomly, The Letterhead, Bismallah of the Bangla Butt, Pocket Teesta, the lady who makes Broto go Whoa, Erudite MBA trainers, Crossword store owner, SuSuMan from school (now married), Mr. xPC, and, in bizarre Cal-returned Bollywood encounter, former classmate Shayan Munshi and ex-VJ Pia (whose Winston Churchill-lookalike baby niece is a recently-acquired friend in Delhi) doing the fashionable thing at Forum. The benevolent goddess Rukmini was also encountered over sizzlers at Peter Cat.
This is about as many people as Ive met over one year in Delhi. Would normally never have posted so detailedly, but am trying to get back at Arjun and Vijay for calling from Bombay surrounded by people and making me feel even more hermit-like than usual.
Update: The social juggernaut rolls on – met Bini, Momo, his friend Indra and Simon in a marathon session at Coffee Day. They dont make conversationalists like this anywhere else in the country, the last three/four days have shown. And am seriously considering sheep-farming in New Zealand. If I could just work for WETA while doing it. Will see.
Samit Basu 
Now I wish I’d gone.*sigh*
Posted by Srin | August 21, 2005, 6:32 pmand the cigarettes?
😀
Posted by Teleute | August 21, 2005, 6:40 pmwhat cigarettes :)?
Posted by samit | August 22, 2005, 2:32 amummmm…why have you been deleting my comments? gobechara manush that I am, I’m sure they were perfectly harmless.
Posted by the still dancer | August 22, 2005, 5:07 amBheri maach low moral ish-tandard. Hwot eej all theesh danshing in publeek pless only?
And hway-ting phor oldaar pipples to libh pharsht sho pay-rent’sh jenareshaan not ophended?
So tell all …
J.A.P.
Posted by J. Alfred Prufrock | August 22, 2005, 6:34 amI doubt samit will want to ‘tell all’, japda.But waiting with bated breath nonetheless. 🙂
Posted by Laura | August 22, 2005, 6:47 amif samit tells all, then it would be fun…wouldn’t it.
Whats this about someone dancing in a public place. Looks like I missed a lot of action.
Posted by Shobhik | August 22, 2005, 11:01 amSamit, leave IE, get Mozilla Firefox…its better, faster and more secure than IE.
Most cafes in Cal should have Firefox. How are you connected to the Net in Cal?
Posted by Shobhik | August 22, 2005, 11:03 amkp: evidence of spending too much time with doctor friend.
JAP, Kanti: Sorry, no dancing in public happened, and its kind of weird that you two, the only other males present apart from Sagnik(who was there till the end and will bear witness to perfect decorum, non-dancing etc), are asking.
Posted by samit | August 22, 2005, 4:11 pmhey, there was dancing on the chairs. there was there was. ask teleute. and check my blog for the meet cartoon please, and pardon this selfish PR of my blog.lol.
Posted by #3tiYo>B_shyo> | August 22, 2005, 5:05 pmerr..O mighty duck, I have eyewitness accounts which I unfortunately can’t reveal. And dear fish hater has seconded me, I see. So apoplectid assertions may kindly be retracted and all that. I have also been asked to tell you that if you do not remember dancing then you were doing so..err…unconsciously. Which perhaps would make matters more grave
Posted by the still dancer | August 22, 2005, 5:16 pmi bought and read ur book.hilarious.too much terry pratchett,though.
made a blogger account just to be able comment on ur blog.
why dont u do the blogmeet thing in delhi?
i am sure many people wud be interested.me included.
Posted by tgo | August 22, 2005, 5:35 pmtgo: glad you liked it.
rest of you: discussion is closed.
Posted by samit | August 23, 2005, 2:47 am