The Mediterranean Saga
I had never been to a Mediterranean Restaurant before.Never before had i tasted dishes with funny names that I could hardly spell.This was my first..!!It all happened on last Saturday.
After a week long hiatus we finally agreed to meet up at Zoe,Indira Nagar on Saturday 6.30pm to celebrate Seena's b'day.This one line action item though it sounds simple was formulated after a weeks negotiation.With this one event I made the discovery that
"its always tough to plan things with female event managers".Well.. in this case it was Ms.Merin and I was her accomplice:D.
Seena's b'day was on the 23rd.Since 23rd being a weekday, the scope of a b'day bash was ruled out.Merin being her room mate and who claims to be Seena's 'kudos mate' :D, volunteered to organise a grand b'day treat for Seena.
I was @ barista doping my nerves with the drag of Classic, when Merin came up with the suggestion of Moccha as the hangout place for Seena's b'day .My face turned to a grin.I felt like asking her "Dude are you fucking serious..??".Moccha the name that is synonymous with
HOOKAH..!!.For a minute I imagined myself sitting there on the roof top of Moccha with the chocolate flavoured calean by my side.For those who don't know what a hookah/calean is -"its an oriental tobacco pipe with a long flexible tube connected to a container where the smoke is cooled by passing through water."
I was damn elated,its been nearly six months since I have had a feel of hookah..
But my elation didnt last long. :(
Merin had been to that place before and she was more interested in the coffee shop on the ground floor of moccha than the smoky hookah place upstairs and she was planning to host the party there on the ground floor..!!
"Da its a bit expensive over there.The last time we went it cost us 500 for four people.All we had was four glasses of fruit juice." she said
Fuck..!! I couldn't digest the scene of me spending 100 bucks over a glass of fruit juice when i could get a Hookah for an extra 100.And how will i stay focused on the table seeing the some lucky morons smoking upstairs above me.!!
That marked the end of the Moccha plan.
Since my thoughts were biased by Hookah,I suggested Paramount Roof Top,since that was the alternate hookah paradise in bangalore.And I was damn confident that she was unaware of that. :D.
"If we can get a corner table for 10, it would be fantastic.The view is superb.Its a damn cool place to be." I said
But.. my Hookah dreams were abnegated by her reflex query"Is it mandatory to order Hookah if we go there.??"
Fuck. How the hell did she know that..!!
"Err..its not mandatory its at your disposal" I said.
"Ok .. in that case we will fix Paramount" she said.
God.. this is going to be a bigger torture than Moccha ground floor.There the Hookah accessibility was a floor above and here the accessibility was the adjacent table!!.I was bloody doomed.
Merry Merin the event manager prepared a list of the guests for Saturday night.She did her best to get the cell phone numbers of Seena's classmates.She presumed that Seena was unaware of the plot.:D. The day and the venue was informed to all the delegates.
On the eve of the event ie on Friday she came up to me and said
"Da the thing is couple of my friends have been to Paramount roof top lately.They said like.. the place is too smoky and so they had to leave.I think its better that we shift the venue."
"Dude do one thing we will go over to the place once and check it" I replied.
"Yea that would be fine" she said.
Since Merry Merin being a workaholic,she failed to step out of office on time to catch 201-R Volvo to Paramount.
Worried Merin was on the verge of a breakdown when she called up Saturday morning;the place wasn't finalised.Luckily Nilesh bai came to the rescue suggesting Zoe the Mediterranean Restaurant at 100Ft.The venue was fixed finally.By 12pm on Saturday,I got an sms notification from Merin with the venue details and the reporting time.
Since on Friday I received a personal invitation from my Manager for his daughters birthday,I told Merin that I'd be a bit late for the party.I had ordered the b'day cake at Cakewalk but I forgot to mention that it was to be made without egg.Event manager Merin
however made a call to Cakewalk and changed it to eggless.It was all finally set.
Riddi dropped me at my Managers place at 6.30
"Dude be here.I will be back in 5 minutes.Keep yourself busy on the phone with X ;)"i said
"Man don't keep me waiting for long" Riddi replied
"No dude.Don't worry my watch is perfectly running on time :D" i replied back
By the time I stepped out of Managers flat after his daughters b'day party it was 7.20.By this time I had ignored 5 calls and 4 text messages from Riddi.I was right my watch was running perfectly on time I had kept him waiting outside for a little more than 5 minutes err.. approximately 50 minutes.
We hurried to the Zoe,lucky enough to find the last three pieces of the chocolate cake reserved for us.The guests had arrived and the cake cutting and smearing was over.. :(
A fancy menu listing the house dishes was passed on to each of us.Since I had trouble spelling those names in the menu,Ms.Dependable Merin who had been to Mediterranean Restaurants
before ordered Venitican Grilled chicken for me.The name sounded sumptuous.
The silent soothing ambience of the Zoe transformed to a college clamor,loud laughs and camera flashings since it was a reunion of a group after a long time.
I was in a discussion with Rahul bai when my mobile flashed a text message from Raph
-:Dude there was a slight confusion in the cake delivery.
Its not egg less!!Will that be a problem?
I was sitting couple of chairs away from him.So I texted him back
-:It won't be a problem unless you announce it now on this table.
we will make a public announcement in my blog.Howzat ??:D
We exchanged 'keep your mouth shut' glances with eachother and resorted to the gossip session.
The Ventician Grilled chicken was there in front of me in ten minutes.Though the name was lengthy, it took hardly 5 minutes for me to gulp the last bit of it.God .. it was a nutritional privation in terms of quantity.But I was lucky to have had a 'hands on' all the dishes that were ordered that night since I was at the first end of the table.
Cheers and Thanks to all the folks who graced the occasion with their presence and Credits to Merin, the event manager.Hope that she continue to practise her event management skills and that too on her CREDIT..!!
