The days they make me float and the nights they make me fly

Just had a cup of delicious peach n passion fruit yoghurt and a piece of toast. Feel like a human again.

After a Gorilla’s Fart, Vishal’s Kiss, Mr Mesh, B-52 and three Roses later I had turned into an airy fairy being. Oh how we danced the night away at Mambo’s a after a stopover at Cocktails & Dreams – my favourite bar in Goa. It is right in the heart of Baga, next door to Mambo’s. All those above mentioned cocktails were downed there, one after the other of course in no particular order.

Now let me recommend the Gorilla’s Fart to you. It is a banana drink flambéed to perfection. This is how it was presented to me. Vodka (and some other spirit which I am a bit erm about) poured into a small martini glass with three slivers of banana floating in it. Next the cute waiter comes in the picture. He lights up the drink and while a blue flame hovers over the drink, he makes you slurp it down in a go. The sexy touch is him spooning in the slivers into your mouth.

Now instead of pouting and licking it up and doing the siren act, I was doing the goofy one trying to prevent the slivers from falling apart outside my mouth.

A bit of a recap before I proceed further about the drunken glories of airy fairy being.

A few months before, on one good day, a group of my friends decided that we would be there in Goa for the year end. Surprisingly everybody fell in with the plan. I mean you do know that when there’s a group planning an outing, party or anything really, there’s always the odd one out pleading their way out…

All tickets were booked. Though three of us, C, N and me, first would spend two days in Bombay and take the Volvo to Goa.

Then came the security alert which changed things. Family and friends started warning me over and over again. I thought about it actually even before the alert was set off -- about Goa being one of the prime targets for bastardly buffoons.

What made me determined not to cancel my plan was that otherwise these people would win. In their business of terrorizing. It’s a business after all. Literally, a bloody business.

Ah, I digress.

Things were a bit iffy with my friends. I even got upset with C when she kept telling me about the beach parties being banned. I told her, ‘If you want, you can back out.’ Both of us were miffed with each other post that statement of mine. But hey both of us finally made it.

N had to cancel her ticket cause she says her office cancelled her leave the day we were taking our flight.

On Christmas eve therefore, bleary eyed I set out with our group for Bombay. They took the next flight to Goa while C and I stayed back in Bombay as was our plan. She went with her friend to Andheri and I took off to my former flatmate’s place in Lower Parel. Since E was not in her apartment, not even her hot pant wearing flatmate, I was left on my own. Not that I minded it at all. I am such a loner anyway.

That day I rested, mooched around the apartment, ordered a salad and napped.

Don’t you just love that feeling about being on a holiday?

In the evening, I took the train to Andheri to a college friend’s place in 7 Bungalows. At some point in time, he says the place was supposed to have had just those many bungalows. Hard to imagine what it has given way to. A concrete jungle…Now catching up with college friend was good till he tried some amorous stuff. I put him in his place well. I mean he was this very good friend of a guy I liked a lot in college. I couldn’t have done otherwise.

The night though was spent with a date in Firangi Paani in Andheri itself. He was cute and shy. And also younger (I either seem to be meeting men who are in their late thirties or those in their early twenties of late). But he was mighty chivalrous -- a wonderful change from people I usually meet.

As the night wore on, he lost that shy touch to him too. There were those usual questions about past relationships and things gone awry and what one looks for in a guy. Now the boy was in earnest. He came up with pretty predictable stuff but to give him his due he wasn’t boring. Let’s see where that goes.

At the end of the night in Firangi Paani, I loved the chocolate liqueur and Bailey’s shot we downed. In between I had told him I wanted to wind up the night with chilli ice cream from Bachelor’s on Marine Drive. But I had the feeling that he had forgotten about it. So was kinda disappointed till he bought a bottle of wine for us on the way back to Lower Parel. And then he said, “Hey the ice cream’s left!” I was super happy then.

The chilli ice cream was had. Was it hot! You must try it and tell me if it catches your fancy. It tastes very good – ala that fatty and milky taste. Then it suddenly hits your throat every moment it slips down.

Wasted night. But nice night.

The next day was spent with C and her friend who is a great street shopper. I love street shopping, so she was my favourite person at that moment. Flip flops, pretty sandals, chic flats, nice lingerie and even a summery bed sheet (the previous night I was so drunk I kept a hot pressure cooker full of popcorn on E’s bed sheet and lifted it to find a round black mark on it) – after that lot we sat at this small eatery in Linking Road called Just Around the Corner. The salad bar was commendable. I mean even C, who is a veggie, had a whole lot of options.

I also met an old school friend at the station from where I took a train back home. That was the night we left for Bombay in a Volvo from the Andheri highway.

That was one journey that started out with giggles and more giggles and yet more giggles when a man and his girlfriend –both of whom were dopeheads – got onto the bunk atop us. Hold on…it was not us who were doing the odd girly giggle. It was them.

Oh how they giggled after they had drawn the curtains. It made everyone squirm in their pants. It made us giggle too till it got pissing off.

In the meantime, I was popping peanuts at an alarming rate. I finished a big pack and got onto another one that was jeera flavoured. It was compulsive munching that refused to be given up on even though it was not exactly my favourite flavour. I guess it was the lack of something to do (the lights were too weak to allow me to read, the conductor took it upon himself to get inspired by C playing music on her mobile phone and started playing corny ones on his own, I didn’t feel like plugging in the headphones). So I was hankering for dinner which finally was some omlette at a small dhaba. Yeah sounds exciting right?*grimace*

While sitting at the dhaba we noticed these three guys – attractive but cocky – hanging around. One of them was particularly weird in light of the fact that he kept going to one of the seats in the place and kept sitting, lying down and putting his legs up in the air. Definitely did not look like yoga to me.

In the middle of the night we were suddenly woken up by the sounds of extensive puking. Something tells me to stop poking my head of curtains in Volvos next time. Because this time when I suggested the guy (that same one of the weird postures) to ask around for some anti-nausea pills, it behove that I also agree to his friend asking us to exchange seats. They were right at the back. Which was really uncomfortable and the air conditioning vent was right above our heads. I froze that night. Nonetheless next morning when the guy thanked me, I could not help pointing out to him that he had motion sickness and that he should have carried appropriate pills with him. His reply made me know that he was probably one of those youngsters who have just started working and decided to bloom with their new-found economic independence.

Saturday morning we were in Panjim. And then delivered by friend S, a casino manager in a five star in town, to his apartment in Miramar. It's very nice -- his place that is. Clean and well done up.

Thereafter started our Goa sojourn. Which I think I will write about in my next post. It’s time for a power nap before we hit the beach.