I suck at networking. It is a fact that I am not proud of, but I am comfortable with it. It takes a lot for me to step out from the comfort of my home to meet a friend. However there are times when I make exceptions.
When Shraddha expressed interest to meet Butts and me, I decided to go for it without any second thoughts. Powai, 7th may for lunch it was! After some online research, we zeroed in on Cafe Mangii. The menu looked good and the reviews were positive. Some back up options were also discussed, in case we didn’t get seats in Mangii. Butts also ensured that we reserve a table in advance, which we did.
I hitched a ride with Butts and we reached the place 10 minutes before time. Shraddha was running late, which wasn't a surprise. So in went the boys to checkout the ambience (crowd) and to kill time. First impressions weren’t great. The place was not well maintained, the china on our table was old and unclean and temperature in the restaurant was on the higher side (and this wasn’t due to to crowd ;)). Luckily, the table next to ours was occupied by two good looking ladies. During such times, Butts starts showing off. He started talking about water issues in India and the reasons behind the debacle. I too chipped in with few questions to keep the conversation going. By the look of it, the gals were getting impressed.
I didn’t want to drink alcohol during the day as I had another evening plan lined up. Butts decided to go for peach iced tea and I picked a cooler (before ordering I didn’t know why it was called she is a peach. It was a mix of peach, apricot, apple and orange). When the drinks arrived, it became evident why it was named so. I have never had such a sissy looking drink ever. To make it worse it tasted like shit. To top that up, the ladies seemed no longer interested in us (a guy having tall, slender, decorated glasses with orangish pink liquid isn’t exactly what a girl desires). Butts’s iced tea was not good as well and we started having second thoughts about the place. This is when Shraddha walked in. She looked gorgeous and fit at the same time, which I feel is an extremely difficult thing to pull off! Pleasantries were exchanged and after another disappointing drink, we decided to move out of Cafe Mangii. Its time they named it Cafe Bhangii.
Shraddha suggested Pizza Express which was close by and we were there within 10 minutes. We ordered two salads and one pizza (Butts took 15 minutes to select the pizza, and I made a mental note to use this sometime later). The food arrived quickly and disappeared even faster. The salads were great and the pizza was fantastic. Our conversations were hovering around current lifestyles, job schedules, responsibilities and chores. Everyone seemed to be in the same boat w.r.t. professional lives. We had jobs that were paying us well, but the sense of accomplishment was missing from our professional lives. Soon we started discussing folks from college. Shraddha started taking names of random folks and I was at a loss of words as I didn’t even recollect most of them. She seemed well connected to many people and had managed to stay in touch with them over Facebook. Butts recollected all the girls that Shard named and it for me this wasn’t a surprise. Butts has always been a ladies man and has a long list of admirers (some of them imaginary though) from college.
We discussed college events, fun incidents, professors and the gala time we had during college. I could sense discomfort as both of them tried not to steer the conversations towards a specific person. That is what good friends do, they lookout for you, but its been a long time and I am OK with it.
The discussions actually brought forth tons of memories that were locked up in the deep corners of my mind which I thought I had forgotten about. That is what such meetings with close friends do. They help you reconnect with your past. And there is so much joy in doing so. We laughed a lot, gossiped and also did the usual gyaan throwing at each other. It was as if, we were back in college and life was only about fun. Where the worries were restricted to passing or failing in exams. Aah..such good times!
It amazes me the distance Shard has covered in the last 15 years. From a naive fresher in college to a successful professional and the mother of a child. The best part is that she hasn’t changed a bit in all these years. How difficult is that!
This is how I network. And believe me, there is so much joy in personal networking!
Facebook can kiss my ass.
No comments:
Post a Comment