Day 5: Haves and have-nots

I had the most amazing dinner. *wipes drool

But my day didn’t start on that note. This morning as I customarily checked my email, my face flashed a deep frown. A few months ago I had applied for a fellowship at a prestigious university in Amrika. I spent a whole month fussing over my SOP and all of that. I knew full well that my chance of winning this free education was very slim, but I gave it a shot anyway—'cause that's how I roll.

I finally heard from them this morning, regretting that they couldn’t give it to me. Something I knew all along, right? There was no reason to feign surprise or name call. (Which I didn’t. Ok, maybe a little, in my head.) I was heart-broken for a whole 10 minutes before someone complimented me on my new eye shadow.

Since last night’s dinner was a total bust, I didn’t have any lunch to take to work. Frankly, jam-roti didn’t do squat for my hunger when I was six, there was a fat chance it would now. That’s how idlis came to the rescue—and a lot of chicken curry and fried rice that my colleague had ordered.  

At my work station, I’ve pinned an elaborate calendar on my soft board which displays all my deadlines. It’s filling up too fast for my liking but I secretly love the high pace of things. It was mid-afternoon when I decided to make some dinner plans. I temporarily lack motivation in the kitchen so I couldn’t think of trying to whip up anything tonight. My friend recommended we try this seafood restaurant in Worli which sounded like it met our standards. (Read: very cheap, huge quantities, may or may not have wash-basin.)

I love eating at new places and always have. My extreme and single-minded love to devour anything that walks/crawls ends up leaving a dent, hole and forest-fire in my wallet. So this friend of mine (fellow foodie) and I decided to try as many cheap-but-nom-nom-nom eating places in Mumbai as we could. We’re very serious about reviewing these hidden-finds and have a Google doc as testament to our commitment.

Anyhoo, we had this huge mixed meat and fish thali, a large portion of prawns on the side, two extra helpings of very expensive neer dosa (we were warned) and a bowl full of kheema that was most likely Made in Heaven. We ended up paying exactly 200 bucks per person and thanked the owner for his service to mankind.

I had such a good time that I forgot to click a picture.

So what I’m really trying to say is:

1) Dressing up is a great motivator.

2) Make plans with people who will not pull your spirits down, or simply set out to explore your city.