Night life
Nothing much has been happening in the last few days. The day before yesterday, we were looking through old photos and my report card from Mother's Pet, the kindergarten school I went to. All my test sheets and drawings were attached in the file. Some of the "art work" was really funny. I had [and probably still have] a habit of being stingy, so I used one tiny area of the whole sheet to draw a very small car, lol.
Anyways, we had planned to go out to Café Coffee Day in the evening and even called my cousin-aunt Nafisa to get dressed and come to Shantinagar. Then we canceled the plan and told poor Nafisa to change back.
My cousin Munira stayed the night because it was another cousin, Zahabiya's last night in Nagpur. The next day [i.e. yesterday] she was going to leave for Puna [or Puné, alternatively] where she's a student. So five of us cramped into one room and tried to sleep peacefully. My nose was blocked and my throat was scratchy so I didn't get much sleep.
The morning was spent lazily. In the late afternoon, We bid Zahabiya goodbye and Abeer accompanied her to the place where she was to board the bus to Puna. Meanwhile, in Shantinagar Lubna, my brother and I played table tennis. I suck so bad at that game [at least against Lubna and my brother] that it's not even funny.
In the evening yesterday, we got dressed and after a long wait, finally left home for Sanjay Uncle's place - they're our family friends. His son Arjun turned 19 a few days ago so he was taking Abeer, my brother, his own brother Chirag and me out to some place called Zinq.
Well, it turns out that the some place called Zinq is a drinking establishment.. uh, a bar. And also a restaurant that serves Chinese, Italian and Indian cuisine. Though, do we really care about food when there's alcohol around, hmm?
Ok, I'm talking as if I gulped down a few, but I didn't. Nada. Abeer, Chirag and I were the only non-drinkers at the table. The others - my brother, Arjun and Arjun's two friends, Nishchay and Manal - were all sipping, tasting and gulping their margheritas and glasses of Signature whiskey with coke. I had asked for a decent coke and the waiter conveniently forgot that because hey, who cares about silly pansies who want soft drinks when you have manly, macho men having hard drinks at the same table?
The waiter himself was a little tipsy, I think. He was mind-blowingly clumsy. Arjun's friends had ordered a platter of smoked meats [pork, ham, chicken and the lot].. when the waiter brought that, he tipped over the bowl of dip and it some dip landed on Manal's jeans. When Nishchay told him off, the waiter smiled widely. That wasn't it.. every time one of the drinkers ordered a drink, the waiter brought ice with the drink. While putting ice into the drinks, the waiter managed to drop a minimum of one ice cube on the table. And then smiled.
Oh, and Nishchay, Manal and Arjun were smoking too. Chain smoking. Arjun wasn't smoking so much, but he was sitting right next to me and the A/C was blowing air in my direction so all of the gray smoke from Arjun's cigarettes was blown into my face. Ah, the joys of passive smoking! *throws up on the side* Ashtray after ashtray after polished silver ashtray was brought to our table to accommodate all the cigarette butts.
Then Manal got a bit drunk and gave Chirag a puff of his cigarette. Nishchay told Arjun about that and Arjun being the big bro got pissed with Manal for doing that. They drunkenly argued over a few stupid puffs of smoke.. "I don't want him to get addicted" .. "But he's just here to have a good time" .. "I won't let him smoke" .. "But he's just here to have a good time". I can't describe the whole conversation here, but Abeer, my brother and I were "thoroughly enjoying it", in my brother's words.
The end of the night was the grandest thing that has happened to me in Nagpur this time around. The cops came. Well doh, it was 00:50 and the bar-cum-restaurant was still hosting a bunch of drunk youngsters like us, and also a few oldies. We were on the first floor and our table was the only occupied one on the floor. A middle-aged cop came upstairs, brandishing a wooden stick that they use to hit rioters and generally disobedient people with. For a second, I was scared. I was underaged and sitting in a bar. But then I remembered that I had a fake ID that said I was 18 years old. Plus, I hadn't had anything to drink so even if they checked my blood for alcohol [which I'm 159% sure that the impoverished police force of Nagpur would NOT do], they wouldn't find any traces of alcohol in it. And hey, this is India! They don't check you for anything. And if they do check [or pretend to check, at least], you can slip them a bill of appropriate value and they'll happily leave you. In fact, this cop was very respectful which made me laugh.. when he came upstairs to our floor, he ordered us very politely, "Aap log please neechay utar jaiyye" [You people, please go downstairs]. 'Aap' [respectful form of "you" in Urdu and Hindi] and 'please' is not something you can or should expect from employees of the Indian Police.
What a night! Poor Arjun was being so considerate and kept slapping my thigh now and again and saying, "Danu! I'm feeling so bad.. you're not bored are you?" Straight boys will never understand what it's like to be in the company of such cute drunk men!
Anyways, we had planned to go out to Café Coffee Day in the evening and even called my cousin-aunt Nafisa to get dressed and come to Shantinagar. Then we canceled the plan and told poor Nafisa to change back.
My cousin Munira stayed the night because it was another cousin, Zahabiya's last night in Nagpur. The next day [i.e. yesterday] she was going to leave for Puna [or Puné, alternatively] where she's a student. So five of us cramped into one room and tried to sleep peacefully. My nose was blocked and my throat was scratchy so I didn't get much sleep.
The morning was spent lazily. In the late afternoon, We bid Zahabiya goodbye and Abeer accompanied her to the place where she was to board the bus to Puna. Meanwhile, in Shantinagar Lubna, my brother and I played table tennis. I suck so bad at that game [at least against Lubna and my brother] that it's not even funny.
In the evening yesterday, we got dressed and after a long wait, finally left home for Sanjay Uncle's place - they're our family friends. His son Arjun turned 19 a few days ago so he was taking Abeer, my brother, his own brother Chirag and me out to some place called Zinq.
Well, it turns out that the some place called Zinq is a drinking establishment.. uh, a bar. And also a restaurant that serves Chinese, Italian and Indian cuisine. Though, do we really care about food when there's alcohol around, hmm?
Ok, I'm talking as if I gulped down a few, but I didn't. Nada. Abeer, Chirag and I were the only non-drinkers at the table. The others - my brother, Arjun and Arjun's two friends, Nishchay and Manal - were all sipping, tasting and gulping their margheritas and glasses of Signature whiskey with coke. I had asked for a decent coke and the waiter conveniently forgot that because hey, who cares about silly pansies who want soft drinks when you have manly, macho men having hard drinks at the same table?
The waiter himself was a little tipsy, I think. He was mind-blowingly clumsy. Arjun's friends had ordered a platter of smoked meats [pork, ham, chicken and the lot].. when the waiter brought that, he tipped over the bowl of dip and it some dip landed on Manal's jeans. When Nishchay told him off, the waiter smiled widely. That wasn't it.. every time one of the drinkers ordered a drink, the waiter brought ice with the drink. While putting ice into the drinks, the waiter managed to drop a minimum of one ice cube on the table. And then smiled.
Oh, and Nishchay, Manal and Arjun were smoking too. Chain smoking. Arjun wasn't smoking so much, but he was sitting right next to me and the A/C was blowing air in my direction so all of the gray smoke from Arjun's cigarettes was blown into my face. Ah, the joys of passive smoking! *throws up on the side* Ashtray after ashtray after polished silver ashtray was brought to our table to accommodate all the cigarette butts.
Then Manal got a bit drunk and gave Chirag a puff of his cigarette. Nishchay told Arjun about that and Arjun being the big bro got pissed with Manal for doing that. They drunkenly argued over a few stupid puffs of smoke.. "I don't want him to get addicted" .. "But he's just here to have a good time" .. "I won't let him smoke" .. "But he's just here to have a good time". I can't describe the whole conversation here, but Abeer, my brother and I were "thoroughly enjoying it", in my brother's words.
The end of the night was the grandest thing that has happened to me in Nagpur this time around. The cops came. Well doh, it was 00:50 and the bar-cum-restaurant was still hosting a bunch of drunk youngsters like us, and also a few oldies. We were on the first floor and our table was the only occupied one on the floor. A middle-aged cop came upstairs, brandishing a wooden stick that they use to hit rioters and generally disobedient people with. For a second, I was scared. I was underaged and sitting in a bar. But then I remembered that I had a fake ID that said I was 18 years old. Plus, I hadn't had anything to drink so even if they checked my blood for alcohol [which I'm 159% sure that the impoverished police force of Nagpur would NOT do], they wouldn't find any traces of alcohol in it. And hey, this is India! They don't check you for anything. And if they do check [or pretend to check, at least], you can slip them a bill of appropriate value and they'll happily leave you. In fact, this cop was very respectful which made me laugh.. when he came upstairs to our floor, he ordered us very politely, "Aap log please neechay utar jaiyye" [You people, please go downstairs]. 'Aap' [respectful form of "you" in Urdu and Hindi] and 'please' is not something you can or should expect from employees of the Indian Police.
What a night! Poor Arjun was being so considerate and kept slapping my thigh now and again and saying, "Danu! I'm feeling so bad.. you're not bored are you?" Straight boys will never understand what it's like to be in the company of such cute drunk men!