Happening People in a Happening Place....

Sunday morning .. ok Sunday just before noon.. three people push off their underwear washing for sometime later.. and walk out to have lunch from some cheap place.. Fort Cochin.. sounds like home.. maybe there'll be Fish Fry.. its been forever since Fish Fry and Cochin.... So the place is shut down.. no probs.. we'll walk till we find some other cheap place... After half an hour of searching for cheap places in the heat.. we settle for mediocre (expensive when you're broke) place.. Spend another half an hour choosing the most economical dishes from the menu card... But its hard to resist descriptions of rich creamy sauces and sauteed mushrooms and grilled in red wine and that sort of crap... ok.. successfully stretched lunch for two hours.. now what? standing outside the restaurant looking at each other and then at the road and trying to think of a place to go to.. Anywhere other than Forum (on a weekend? No way!).. after another half hour of contemplation and giving directions to happening people in happening cars who need to go to happening places but don't know how to get there (aaargh!).. we walk to the nearest baskin robbins... and sit there trying to lick the ice cream as slow as possible so they don't throw us out... coz they have the luxury of a TV there... Channel? Very Happening.. 'Zee Cinema'.. Movie??? 'Saajan Chale Sasural'... Do we ask them to change the channel? Not when we're through with our ice creams and risk being thrown out.. Ok.. so we'll just sit here and watch Govinda manage two wives.. What??? Ok.. No probs... we can do this.. Ok.. one of us can't.. She's staring at us like we're nuts.. watching a Govinda movie at Baskin Robbins on a Sunday afternoon for lack of anything better to do... But looking at her is making me sleepy.. I look at the other one.. Oh, he doesn't care.. He's absorbed in Karishma calling up Tabu over the phone and saying, 'Divya behen.. Mujhe lagta hai Aapka pati Mera pati hai'!!! WHAAA???? Interesting.. Poor Karishma behen looks .. distraught? Not really.. I guess its not too much trauma to suspect you've got the same husband as 'Divya behen' .. So Tabu invites Karishma and her husband Govinda over to lunch (for which Tabu's Govinda hasn't turned up) and tells her that she'd dropped a candle on her husbands thigh the previous night so if they've got the same husband.. they've got to have the same thigh!!! Dont' ask me how but Karishma doesn't find the same thigh... (she drags him into a bedroom at somebody's house and takes off his pants).. Govinda leaves and returns in very very Govinda clothes as Tabu's guy.. strips.. shows a burnt thigh to everybody but Karishma who's finally covered her (perpetually wide open blue) eyes in typical Indian woman fashion and by then the two of us enjoying the movie are dragged out by the one who isn't.. Fine!!! where to? Shopping.. The girls agree.. the guy groans.. We pull him into the auto and put him in a corner of Fab India looking through magazines.. Two hours and we're done.. Once again.. no plan.. we're sitting there wondering where to head next.. Its felt like that all day.. the only time we've been smiling was probably inside an auto coz we're headed somewhere or moving without effort.. Ugh! Ok.. Lets go see a movie.. Which one? The only English one left to watch is probably 'Things to do before you're 30'.. Fine.. where's it playing? Closest place is PVR.. (gulp) Forum? Hmmmm.. Ok.. Whatever .. its for a movie.. not to 'Hang Out' and be part of the weekends-at-Forum gang. We're in an auto again!.. Yipppeeee.... 'Things to do before you're 30': sold out!! UGH!! Who on earth would want to watch THAT? What next? Back to alternating between moping around bored and looking at people walking by bored and looking at each other bored.. Now we're not even asking questions? Its all understood.. The question in a Raised eyebrow.. The answer in a shrug.. the consensus in a sigh.. Do we give up? Its almost evening.. The same movie is running at INOX.. All the way there for THAT movie?? Ok.. we've got nothing better to do.. In an auto again!!! And seriously by now we're all really happy in the auto.. talking and laughing about how its defenitely going to be Sold out at the INOX and sure enough after half an hour's traffic jam, haggling with the auto driver and going up all the escalators ... its sold out.. and no.. there are no other funny english movies.. Hmm.. REX? Ok.. We all know there's a Hindi movie playing there.. but we've come this far.. lets walk.. atleast we'll reach Brigade.. and then we can be part of the crowd that does weekends-at-Brigade.. :) Paani puri in front of Rex.. and then.. we're weekends-at-Barista... Are we going to order? Not yet.. No money... So lets just sit.. and.. ummm... talk? Thank God for glossy newspapers.. Three of us reading three copies of the same paper.. All these pictures of people wearing skimpy glittery clothes with coloured hair and glasses of something posing for pictures.. And there's all these comments about how what they're wearing went out of fashion two minutes back.. and WHAAA??? WHo cares? People who have nothing to do on a Sunday I guess.. Atleast we have something to talk about now... Its getting late.. we should probably get home coz there's not much money left to pay for the autos if they start charging double... But.. ummm.. we can't possibly leave without ordering anything.. we've been sitting there reading the paper for hours.... So we order.. Pay through our teeth.. and count out coins to make sure there's enough to get back home.. Walk to an ATM? Not today.. And by the time we're in the auto again... we're smiling.. Dont' ask me why.. Its been a nice day...