Wednesday 1 April 2009

Old Friends

This last weekend I met a very old friend. P lives in Canada and intended to come to New York City for a few days to celebrate her birthday. The plan was to meet for dinner and a night out in New York City.

P and I had been friends from school. We were close friends in school but after that unlike the women in Sex and City who ended up living in the same city as their best friends, life took us in different directions. Soon we barely found ourselves in the same country let alone the same city. Also unlike the women in Sex and the City only one of us was fashion forward and owned clothes as expensive as her car or for that matter a car that was not bought on Craigslist.

So though I was looking forward to meeting her, I was also a little apprehensive. P and I had kept in touch over the phone and we had great conversations. We were still good friends at least over the phone. And I was worried that if we met and "went clubbing" things would change. The last time I went clubbing was to check out a club in New York City near Times Square that played Himesh Reshammiya and Punjabi talli numbers. Needless to say I loved it but also needless to say P would not touch that club with a 10 foot pole. Also the "last time I went clubbing" was over 2 years ago. I would like to pretend this is new and that I painted the town red when I was younger but sadly though long nights might have involved a bottle of wine and some merriment, clubbing was beyond me.

So I was worried that the meeting would change things. I liked having a friend who I have known forever and who has known me for long. So armed with a gag gift bag that belted out a Yiddish number when opened, I went to join the birthday celebrations at her hotel. 

When the door opened I was greeted by not one fashionable, beautiful woman with lovely, expensive taste but three. I was soon elbow deep in Burberry shawls, high heels, and sexy party clothes. The women had gone shopping in New York City and had loved it. Since I am the kind of local they turned to me with questions about where I shopped. To their credit when I mentioned the 9 dollar dress I had bought at some random store in NYC there was only a slight amount of surprise expressed ( They were pretty and gracious). After that when the showed me the bounties of their shopping expedition they preceded every item with " So have you heard of Coach/Gucci/ Burberry?".  Again I could only see the slightest relief on their faces (very gracious women). 

But I had no reason to worry. Some old friends stay friends. We could still talk like we did when we were 17. I had put on a brave front about the whole clubbing thing but I think P knew that I was a fish out of water.  P did my hair, lent me clothes and let me believe that I fit in ( I didn't !!).  P looked lovely and after much makeup which did nothing for me apart from embarrass me but made the three women even more glamorous we headed out for dinner and fun. P also held my hand through the mad crowds in clubs. Early in the evening I noticed P guarding the vegetarian appetizers ( I am the only vegetarian). She was making people put back the avocado sushi even as they were going to stick it in their mouths. 

After that sweet, silly gesture I was completely relieved. She might be a successful girl with glamorous clothes but she had made one friend too early.

The recipe for this post is Poha. It is the simplest recipe but is perfect breakfast/snack food. Husband adds ginger and skips any chilly powder and relies only on the green chillies for the heat. 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

oye..you met 'P'!! How nice..wish I was there too :)

stringOfPearls said...

that would have been great. We should do a get together some place new.

A Woman Second

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