Dr. Strangelove: Or How My Summers Has Been So Far

Written sometime in the month of May. Posted now.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the time for leaving the NCR behind and shifting base to the city of gold. It was the time for attending induction programs in full formals not because the occasion demanded it, but because the AC was too cold. It was the time for hunting around for a PG and then settling in with a kind friend who I had never met before. It was the time for home-made dosas and the cream of vegetable soup from the coffee machine at the office. It was the time for weekend movie marathons at IMAX rather than the customary midnight show at Priya or Saket. It was the time for being blown away by How to Train Your Dragon. It was the time for watching the most number of Hindi movies I have ever seen in a span of 2 months. It was the time for waking up at 7 am, and sometimes at 4 am, instead of 5 minutes before the 10 o’clock class. It was the time for Bombay… sorry Mumbai. It was the time for Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi. It was the time for the peak hour local trains and the early morning flights. It was the time for living out of a suitcase because unpacking would have taken more time than packing for the next trip. It was the time for buttermilk at Mahim and the Chicken Mayo sandwich at the airport CCD. It was the first time for a barbeque brunch and the last time I’ve messed with Chennai autowallahs out of my own volition. It was the time for dragging an unsuspecting friend to all the women’s wear stores and then filling up on juice rather than food. It was the time for the overfriendly, overhelpful concierge. It was the time for coming back to Bombay, the city with the twinkling street lights. It was the time for taking the midnight taxi back home, without worrying about making it in one piece. It was the time for getting high on alcohol for the first time. It was the time to realize that one man’s RHCP is another man’s Red Hot Chilli Peppers. It was the time for realizing that there is such a thing like “too clean shoes” and that it can be promptly rectified by people jumping on them. It was the time for starting with dinner at 5 Spices and ending it with some dancing at café Mondy’s. It was the time for discovering Natural’s tender coconut ice-cream, the chocolate brownies at Theobroma, the biriyani at Paradise in Hyderabad and the English breakfast at Good Man’s. It was the time for standing in line with the other interns for lunch at the HO. It was the time for realizing (painfully, at that) that just because something is branded, doesn’t mean it’s the best. It was the time to learn how not to shout back. It was the time to learn that there is still a lot to learn.