Angst In My Pangst

Went to K-Circle after a long time yesterday, missing out on a talk on Extreme Threading in our office. Actually, it wasn’t my fault, I was busy debugging some stuff and I realised that I was already half an hour late for the lecture. Could have gate-crashed and slept through it, but OK, I thought I could utilise my time better.

The quizzes were ok; one of them was good ( this being the only quiz in recorded history that had a question on a time-travel paradox called a “jinn” ), the other was pretty easy. And yes, was Brain of the week this time. A lot of people were missing, though. Anil and Dhaaji have left for their respective IIM’s. That’s two good quizzers gone, and guys, I must say I will miss you. I had fun quizzing with both of you. Here’s to two of the greatest Sports quizzers I have ever met!

Me and Arun, after a lot of debate and heated discussion, decided to go watch The Matrix Reloaded. Then we decided we better have dinner first and then watch the movie. Walked into the restaurent in the Sangeet complex, saw the prices on the menu, and walked out in very dignified way, citing reasons ( “A friend will join us in about 15 minutes, we’ll go out and make some calls and then come back.”), though I don’t think the waiter fell for it.

Then we decided not to see the movie, and walked all the way to Rashtrapati Road trying to figure out where to have dinner. Arun, of all people, turned out to be a Potter-freak, and a Potter-freak of the worst sort. I mean, any guy who remembers the colour of the bedsheets that Dumbledore provided to the Hogwarts student, when the dorms aren’t safe anymore – has got to be….ahem….no comments. (it’s purple bedsheets ), by the way )

Went to Seventh Heaven at Panjagutta, discovered that there was a half-hour wait time involved. Went to Hunt pub instead. The DJ tried his utmost to make our short stint there miserable, playing such brain-numbing classics like Kaliyon ka Chaman ( mixing it with, of all things, Shakira ). Then he decided to appeal to the rawk-loving Hyderabadis in the pub. Started by playing timeless stuff like Smoke on the Water and Sultans of Swing, and bobbing his head in time to the music, I guess his way of “getting into da groove”. I can’t believe he gets paid for doing this.

Pretty soon, he decided we had enough of Classic rock, and went back to playing Laila O Laila remixes.

We did not leave a tip.

Dinner at Minerva cafe. Soft ARR instrumentals being played by Tabun Sutradhar on a dinky Casio. Or so it sounded. More Harry Potter esoterica. Quiznet anecdotes. I remember a point when I realized I was laughing too loud, and everybody was looking at me. Instead of going our seperate ways, I asked Arun to come over home, and leave the next morning. Which he did. Had a long, soothing conversation with Suzanne Vega and Radiohead in the background, before it was lights out.

Vanessa Carlton’s A Thousand Miles sounds like a tribute to A.R.Rahman. Some parts of it remind me of Nanpadum from Duet.

Mons is away on a lunch invite from a colleague, so I am stuck waiting for the evening, when me and Sasi go to Koti and check out low-priced cds. I hope I get to hog some panipuris today.

I also need to prepare a quiz. Am conducting it next Friday at K-Circle.