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Here's the situation. You have slept off all of Saturday only to wake up at 7:30 p.m. You hurry to  a pal's place for chai. You've taken some of your clothes so she could pick what she wants for a wedding later this year. You play with her dog some. She's made ginger tea which is excellent. She drops you off at the Aundh Crossword. You blink at the vast array of Amitav Ghosh's books. You blink harder at the book that, maybe for the very first time, gave you a description of the kind of man you'd love or the kind of love you'd want. That was Tridib Das in Shadow Lines. And when I'd read it, it was one book in the English syllabus. A friend had given it to me and it wasn't really available to people who didn't study Literature. And now, there were so many many copies of it.

Whilst going through the other books, you get a call from another pal in Koregaon Park. We plan to meet. I walk back hurriedly from Aundh to Baner where I've parked my car. The breeze is so crisp and cool that I could bite into it.

I drive to Taj Land's End. We sit at the poolside and have this thing which I strongly recommend - an eggless, sugarfree Apple Pie served warm and soft. A glass of cold soy milk with loads of crushed almonds and sweetened with raisins, honey and flavoured with a teensy bit of saffron.

Around 2 we get bored of the place. We then go to Westin and park ourselves in some coffee shop where my pal has a plate of really scrumptious fish and chips and I eat a very gorgeous veggie burger. With thick stubs of golden fries.

We seem to talk for ages. Then I drive home around morning - some stress and tension inside me abating, some tiny bit in me hoping that work just may get better in the coming week. And feeling very grateful that I have this weekend and to just really relish this moment that doesn't come encumbered with a deadline or resistance or parched eyes or strained voices.

Last night, until wee hours of the morning, I dwelled in the now.

 

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