TURQUOISE CHILL

I've been noticing this hoarding for a while now apart from some others. My reason for the picture is the creative is awesome and so it should be. Considering the fact that Raghu Rai has clicked these pictures especially for this campaign and they're autographed by him. The other reason is that the coming 'soon' is taking too long. The hoardings have been up for two months already. And finally is there room for another operator? Vodafone, Airtel, Reliance Smart, Reliance Mobile, Tata Indicom, BSNL beware.

On Saturday night I had a reception to attend and after making a brief appearance there, we headed out to Some Place Else. Second night in a row, but for a good reason though; Indian Ocean was playing. I had missed them the last time and got the feeling that I would miss their performance this time around. But as luck would have it we made it just in time. They were supposed to start at 9pm or so the poster said, but only stuck their first note at about 11 pm. Thank you for maintaining Indian Standard Time. At the entrance I was stopped and asked to a pay a cover. The joys of power dressing, people think you’re loaded and can extract money. I refused and then the manager had to come and let me in. So we pushed and shoved our way in and hooked up with some friends near the bar. Indian Ocean was now into their second number and the rest of the night was a musical treat. They belted out Jhini, Maa Rewa, Hille Re and Bandeh among others and had the crowd singing along. At one ...

Last evening I went to Some Place Else to meet a friend who was leaving Kolkata and wanted to listen to Hip Pocket for the last time. So we met up at SPE and I have to admit, though Hip Pocket did goof up on a track, they have just mastered Pink Floyd and Dire Straits and a whole lot of other stuff. I couldn’t believe it when they kind of fumbled on one of my all time favourite songs and one that they play so well called Get Back by the Beatles. Anyway the evening went on and we heard them out and were joined by several more friends. The band stopped playing and the program was to move over to Roxy and then maybe come back for the next band that was playing a little later. But then the DJ played a series of really nice Disco tracks from way back when disco was disco, and transported me back to the days or afro hairdos and bell bottoms and shiny disco balls. We stayed on till he completed playing those tracks and then moved to Roxy after paying our tab. On the way out I wanted to c...

After celebrating my father’s birthday and having dinner at home, we headed out to Some Place Else. I was a bit surprised that the place wasn't buzzing with people, but that was good. The entry was controlled with a cover for non-regulars. We walked into the place with the Saturday Night Blues Band playing some awesome music. There were people in the crowd keeping the Christmas spirit alive with their red reindeer horn caps and some with red and white Santa hats. The band even broke into some Christmas songs. Christmas day was one of celebration, but for me it was a day of sadness, we got news of the passing of a very dear and close relative (Dida) of mine. The day was spent in preparation for the funeral which would happen the next day. The news was sad yet we were happy that the suffering was over. Not to say that it was an auspicious and nice day for one to finally meet the maker.

The fun thing about Mandarmani is the vast expanse of sand and the timid ripples of the sea that wash over the beach and one can wade in the water, ankle deep to great distances. So we spent our day on the beach and apart from the tu-tuk ride and chasing the red crabs, we watched fishermen bring in their nets with their catch. It was fun to see them pull out the fish and other seas creatures from their nets. I even ventured taking some in my hands. By late afternoon, we decided to check out of Mandarmani and head back to Kolkata. The drive back was eventful especially when we were taking the narrow dirt road out. The road was so narrow that at one point and oncoming tractor, though I had warned him aptly managed to bump into my car. My poor Swift nearly got the entire rear bumper yanked off from the right side. I was furious, but nothing could be done and after pushing and prodding, we managed to get it together, so that it would hold at least till we got back to Kolkata. (The follo...

Once back from the beach, we ordered some beer and food. I insisted on Kingfisher Premium Lager or Kalyani Black Label and the attendant insisted that Haywards 5000 or Kingfisher Strong were better. Anyway we settled for food because the 4 beers ordered didn’t arrive as they had to be bought from outside. We had Kasha Chicken, Dal, Roti and Salad for lunch and decided to catch some sleep as we had been driving since dawn. We settled for some Pepsi instead of the beers and then caught some zzz’s. When we finally got up later in the evening, the sun had set and it was near pitch dark outside. We went for a slight stroll on the beach followed by a couple of games of carom in the recreation/gym room after which we got back to our room and got down to the business of Drinking. We had carried a bottle of Rum and a Bottle of Glenfiddich. Oh and the Beer had also arrived; Kingfisher Strong. He had won his way. There was no way we were going to drink strong beer, so we started with the Fid...

We walked out all attired for fun and frolic on the beach. OK let me tell you that this isn’t the kind of beach that you’re going to find Baywatch kind of bikini-clad girls or the surf and sand. It’s a wide beach between the water and us. And the sand’s not the sandy kind but more of fine clay like type. Of course that’s what makes it hard so that cars can traverse the distance on the beach right up to the resorts. So as we strolled towards the water, we came across a local transport vehicle called a tuk-tuk. It’s basically a tricycle goods carrier with a diesel motor and the back is used to ferry people instead of goods. The driver told us he’d take us to the end of the beach if we paid him Rs. 200. We drove a hard bargain and brought it down to Rs. 100 for the four of us and hopped on, two on each side with our legs dangling over the sides. The tuk-tuk, and now I realise why they call it that, because the motor sounds exactly like that, took off and we had the lovely sea breeze bl...

I still remember the last trip to Mandarmani quite vividly and the trouble we had run into over there. But that didn't stop me from going back to the calm and serene beach. We had made the plan for a while, but it was crystallized once we made an advance booking and to my surprise it was the same place I had stayed on my last visit. So we left on the early morning of 22nd December. Early as in at about 6.30 am we finally were on our way. It didn’t take us too long before we were on the Vidyasagar Setu and paying the Rs. 10 Toll at the Toll Plaza. Once past the Toll Plaza I was glad to see that the Kona Expressway had been repaired and the drive from there to the Mumbai Highway was much shorter than I expected. I missed the turn off left to get on the Mumbai Highway due to some really thick fog and got onto the flyover, which took us on the opposite side to the Delhi Highway. But a few hundred meters down I took a u-turn and we were back on track heading towards Kharagpur accordi...