Nostalgia in Noida (Noida Memoirs 2)

As Bakhshi (known to us as “da Boss”) picked me up from Adobe, as I said earlier I was not in a great mood. But as we chatted, I felt the camaraderie as it was yesterday in Manipal. Suddenly we were like the 2 roommates back in Manipal, chatting away on every damn thing under the sun.

We reached Joy’s place. I had not met him in sometime. We were comrades in arms, having written a technical paper together, apart from being team mates in Quizzing and all those awesome fun events that go on in college.

Meeting him, Aseem and Arjun brought back memories of Manipal and suddenly it was Nostalgia for me in Noida. After a nice dinner, we drove all through town in Arjun’s car and came back home by 01:00 am. It was bloody hot then too (about the same heat as there would be at noon in Bangalore). Then we settled down with the in-famous “Pai’s Tail”, a cocktail invented by my dear friend Mr. Sudhir Pai, being a concoction of “Mango Juice and Dry Gin”…. This went on till 4 am and a lot of trippy photos came out as a result of this.

Da Gang
(Top : Bakhshi & Aseem, Bottom: Joy & Arjun)

Da Party

Here are those very trippy photos that came out that night at Joy's balcony

"Da Boss"

"The Rod of Fire"

"The Question of Life"
"Da Zombies"

"Pi** of Fire"

Next day, having woken up at 11, we proceeded to a breakfast at a local South Indian restaurant, Sasta and Tikau (Cheap & Good) and great to wear out that hangover. Then, off to Delhi and this time on Boss’s car. First stop, “Flavors” at the Defense Colony… It was a small and crowded Italian place. Awesome food. Tasted what a real pizza is and the Lasagnas and Pastas were great too. Washed it down with some tasty mousse & ginger lime. Yummy !

At Flavors
(L-R : Arjun, Me, Joy and Gurjot Singh Bakhshi aka Boss)

Then we hit the IHC (India Habitat Centre), taking photos were Rang De Basanti was shot. We went in for an exhibition on the first war of Indian Independence, the “Revolt of 1857” and it was quite stirring to the mind. Then off to a film festival where we searched for a ticket but in vain….

At IHC (Me, Joy & Arjun)

The RDB Spot

I wanted to see the new and famed Delhi Metro Rail, so off to C.P (Conaught Place, now called Rajiv Chowk) to ride the metro. You are not allowed to take pics in there, but as a true Indian, I managed one pic and a video. The Metro experience was really great, reminded me of Lanka’s comment that “It is better than the New York Metro”, and Joy vouchsafed it to be better than the London counterpart too… So we came out of it with our heads held high…

The Metro Station at CP

The Delhi Metro

The temperatures were also on a high and we needed to cool off, so we headed to the Statesman Building, where there was a bookshop cum coffee shop called “Oxford”, only to find that the A/C works only till 6 pm and we walked in at 6:15… So off again after a cooler at Oxford. We were half way to the next destination , when Arjun found out that he had left his favorite goggles there. So back again to Oxford through the winding delhi roads and after a nice jog through the streets, we finally got it back.

At Oxford

Arjun with his fav Goggles
( which he almost lost... )