Time Flies By

A girls night out with an old friend and a couple of pretty young things. The friend remains a swinging single. After many days of attending baby showers, kid birthday parties I am hoping that this might provide some respite from the grown up world. These parties are fun but they also consist of being followed around by kids. Kids,who though very cute insist on calling me aunty and want me to fix them a meal without any further directions. What does a 2 year old eat? A cheese sandwich? Mushy vegetables? Milk? Soya biryani? So I am hoping with girls night out these women will rub off on me and make me cool again. OK so I was never cool but at least make me a younger me.

Pretty Young Thing - Oh, I love your highlights. Nice colour.

Me ( hoping to impress her) - oh its not colour. I use henna. It also cools the scalp and conditions the hair.

Pretty Young Thing - Oh ( Loooooooooooooooooooooooooong Silence)

My mother uses that. She really likes it.

Me (sigh)

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Movie night. Love Aaj Kal. Nice breezy movie. Waiting for scene where the beautiful people make stupid decisions/sacrifices because of culture, values, parental pressure.... Nope. Maybe an Indian culture speech, come on. I need to roll my eyes at these beautiful people on screen. What does it say about me that I can relate to mainstream cinema? Does not mainstream cinema lag behind the youth by a decade? Does that mean I am a decade behind the times already? Sigh

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Garage band playing at an ice cream parlour. Their song list extends back to the 70s, 80s and also features recent hit singles. The ice cream is great, the band is also very good.

Hep Acquaintance - So did you recognize any of the songs?

Me - Hmm not really I am very out of touch.

HA - What about Job Bon Jovi.. He was from your time right?

Me - Yes (Sigh)

As dated as Jon Bon Jovi...Need I say more?

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.