Sometime on May 23rd, I received a call from Priti bhabhi regarding a get together for Mama and Mami on June 7th. It was sudden but I was super excited to go. It would be after a long time that I would be able to meet so many family members.
Kashyap was going to come from Pune and this was the 1st time in a while where we didn't have our families with us. It felt like old days where we could hand out a little.
I reached couple of days early on Friday. As is always the case, Bharati mami had made all my favorite things - Rotli, bateta nu rasa vaadu shaak, cut mango etc. I am always amazed as to how she always remembers all that I like. I never have to ask...anything I desire is always there.
I sat with Kanu mama for a while that day discussing politics, finance, environment & whole gamut of issues. When I was young, I used to write postcards to Mama. It was partly to improve my English writing. I used to get the postcards back in red ink and I used to hate it. In hindsight, I am happy he got me mad enough to improve my English writing. It helped me not only in my high school days, but also in Composition class as well as writing Project Reports in college.
In the afternoon, I was to go with Paritosh bhai, Bhabhi and Amey for lunch. I went to the clinic. It was quite swanky, clean and most importantly, cool. It was HOT outside. Since Bhabhi was busy with patients, I spent good 2 hours with Paritosh bhai talking about education, politics, our thoughts on management etc. I was elated to be able to spent so much time with him since I have always held him in high esteem. His speech is measured and you can see the compassion in him come to fore when he talks about his patients and when he spoke to an intern at his clinic who could not come the previous day & forgot to call. I will cherish those 2 hours.
We ended up going to Ovenfresh restaurant in Dadar that day. Awesome ambience & food! They had all kinds of delicious food - Indian, Italian, Mexican etc. I hogged on Quesedilla.
Kashyap was planning to come that night & Paritosh bhai decided we will go to a movie called Dil Dhadakne Do. fter dinner, Kashyap & I walked down to Aurora. It was an absolute disaster of a movie. I actually was hoping that movie would end at interval. By the time the movie ended, it was 12.30am and both of us walked back. I love Mumbai life....still alive that late at night. We wanted to have an ice cream but could not find a shop that served the one we wanted.
It was extremely hot the next day. Kashyap & I were to go to Mulund to meet Mami and Bhabhi. We decided that train would be the best bet since bus will take quite long to take us there. We boarded a local Thane train. It wasn't crowded, partly because it was a Saturday. We reached in about 25 minutes & took an auto to Mami's place. Mami might be short of breath but not short of humor for sure. She still retains the old wit and some masti :) We were going to be there for couple hours but ended up staying for a lot longer. Bhabhi made us a mint sherbet which was to die for. I ended up having 2 glasses of it. After about 1.5 hours, Mami got a bit tired and went to rest for a bit. Meanwhile, Asmi, Puja, Bhabhi & both of us ended up having a feast (tons of Gujarati snacks) in the room. 2 hours of talk....complete fun!
That night was something else. We had Chinese for dinner & then had the best Kulfi one could ever find anywhere. 1st Kashyap & I ended up going to Mama & Mami's room. Manish joined a little later. A/C was on and we started reminiscing the old days when we were kids & used to visit Matunga. We remembered playing cards, saying 12th adhyay of Gita, Ba's room etc. It was a nostalgic trip. After that, Kashyap held his almost 2 hour comedy session. I cannot reveal more than that. It was total dhamaal & Mama hitting sixes with his wit from time to time, added to the fun we had.
The next day was the function. We were to be at the hall at 11.25am. We left with Manish and reached there before hand. The entire Pune gang minus Sheetal was there. I hadn't seen them in 7 or so years so, it was so cool to catch up again. Everyone is still the same - fun to be around!! There was a Haasya kavi that was called who was making everyone laugh while we waited for the chief guests - Arvind Mama & Mami. Paritosh bhai had invited all their friends to the function. There must have been about 100+ people there. Once everyone had arrived, Mama/Mami were brought in much to their surprise. They definitely were surprised & met everyone. It was good to see them although Mami hasn't been keeping well for a while now. They sat in the front row enjoying the Kavi. We sat in the back bench commenting of complete inane stuff :) Paritosh bhai thanked everyone for coming & expressed his gratitude.
After the function, there was a photo session, almost like a Marriage reception. Interesting twist here was that once each guest got their photo taken with Mama & Mami, they got the picture to take with them in a few minutes. It was a great memento. We went down to lunch after this. My eyes would not move beyond Bevdi rotli & Mango ras. I think I had about 4 vatkas of Mango ras. I don't know what else was there. I did have butter milk, which I can have even on a full stomach. Mami seemed a little tired by the end of it and I saw here rest after climbing about 4-5 steps.
Kashyap & I decided to leave around 2.30pm since I had a flight after a few hours. We walked and had a paan. It was a huge paan which took me 3 bites to finish. It was a paan to die for. When we had almost reached home, it started pouring. These were the 1st showers of monsoon. We had to call Manish because it was pouring down.
Before I leave, I know I have not mentioned Manish, Kavya and Bhabhi. Both Kashyap & I have always looked up to him. We have discussed lot of things over the years & this time also it was no different. Seeing Kavya growing into a wonderful lady is heartening to see.
With that came to an a short but thoroughly enjoyable 3 days. It was time to go back home to Deepa & Abhinav.
Kashyap was going to come from Pune and this was the 1st time in a while where we didn't have our families with us. It felt like old days where we could hand out a little.
I reached couple of days early on Friday. As is always the case, Bharati mami had made all my favorite things - Rotli, bateta nu rasa vaadu shaak, cut mango etc. I am always amazed as to how she always remembers all that I like. I never have to ask...anything I desire is always there.
I sat with Kanu mama for a while that day discussing politics, finance, environment & whole gamut of issues. When I was young, I used to write postcards to Mama. It was partly to improve my English writing. I used to get the postcards back in red ink and I used to hate it. In hindsight, I am happy he got me mad enough to improve my English writing. It helped me not only in my high school days, but also in Composition class as well as writing Project Reports in college.
In the afternoon, I was to go with Paritosh bhai, Bhabhi and Amey for lunch. I went to the clinic. It was quite swanky, clean and most importantly, cool. It was HOT outside. Since Bhabhi was busy with patients, I spent good 2 hours with Paritosh bhai talking about education, politics, our thoughts on management etc. I was elated to be able to spent so much time with him since I have always held him in high esteem. His speech is measured and you can see the compassion in him come to fore when he talks about his patients and when he spoke to an intern at his clinic who could not come the previous day & forgot to call. I will cherish those 2 hours.
We ended up going to Ovenfresh restaurant in Dadar that day. Awesome ambience & food! They had all kinds of delicious food - Indian, Italian, Mexican etc. I hogged on Quesedilla.
Kashyap was planning to come that night & Paritosh bhai decided we will go to a movie called Dil Dhadakne Do. fter dinner, Kashyap & I walked down to Aurora. It was an absolute disaster of a movie. I actually was hoping that movie would end at interval. By the time the movie ended, it was 12.30am and both of us walked back. I love Mumbai life....still alive that late at night. We wanted to have an ice cream but could not find a shop that served the one we wanted.
It was extremely hot the next day. Kashyap & I were to go to Mulund to meet Mami and Bhabhi. We decided that train would be the best bet since bus will take quite long to take us there. We boarded a local Thane train. It wasn't crowded, partly because it was a Saturday. We reached in about 25 minutes & took an auto to Mami's place. Mami might be short of breath but not short of humor for sure. She still retains the old wit and some masti :) We were going to be there for couple hours but ended up staying for a lot longer. Bhabhi made us a mint sherbet which was to die for. I ended up having 2 glasses of it. After about 1.5 hours, Mami got a bit tired and went to rest for a bit. Meanwhile, Asmi, Puja, Bhabhi & both of us ended up having a feast (tons of Gujarati snacks) in the room. 2 hours of talk....complete fun!
That night was something else. We had Chinese for dinner & then had the best Kulfi one could ever find anywhere. 1st Kashyap & I ended up going to Mama & Mami's room. Manish joined a little later. A/C was on and we started reminiscing the old days when we were kids & used to visit Matunga. We remembered playing cards, saying 12th adhyay of Gita, Ba's room etc. It was a nostalgic trip. After that, Kashyap held his almost 2 hour comedy session. I cannot reveal more than that. It was total dhamaal & Mama hitting sixes with his wit from time to time, added to the fun we had.
The next day was the function. We were to be at the hall at 11.25am. We left with Manish and reached there before hand. The entire Pune gang minus Sheetal was there. I hadn't seen them in 7 or so years so, it was so cool to catch up again. Everyone is still the same - fun to be around!! There was a Haasya kavi that was called who was making everyone laugh while we waited for the chief guests - Arvind Mama & Mami. Paritosh bhai had invited all their friends to the function. There must have been about 100+ people there. Once everyone had arrived, Mama/Mami were brought in much to their surprise. They definitely were surprised & met everyone. It was good to see them although Mami hasn't been keeping well for a while now. They sat in the front row enjoying the Kavi. We sat in the back bench commenting of complete inane stuff :) Paritosh bhai thanked everyone for coming & expressed his gratitude.
After the function, there was a photo session, almost like a Marriage reception. Interesting twist here was that once each guest got their photo taken with Mama & Mami, they got the picture to take with them in a few minutes. It was a great memento. We went down to lunch after this. My eyes would not move beyond Bevdi rotli & Mango ras. I think I had about 4 vatkas of Mango ras. I don't know what else was there. I did have butter milk, which I can have even on a full stomach. Mami seemed a little tired by the end of it and I saw here rest after climbing about 4-5 steps.
Kashyap & I decided to leave around 2.30pm since I had a flight after a few hours. We walked and had a paan. It was a huge paan which took me 3 bites to finish. It was a paan to die for. When we had almost reached home, it started pouring. These were the 1st showers of monsoon. We had to call Manish because it was pouring down.
Before I leave, I know I have not mentioned Manish, Kavya and Bhabhi. Both Kashyap & I have always looked up to him. We have discussed lot of things over the years & this time also it was no different. Seeing Kavya growing into a wonderful lady is heartening to see.
With that came to an a short but thoroughly enjoyable 3 days. It was time to go back home to Deepa & Abhinav.
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