Three fish-eaters (two all-seasons and one selective)

One of my very good friends, Amey Athavale, is leaving for Bangalore on the 14th to sell bread, milk, cheese, butter, and whatever else the portfolio of Britannia offers. He has this desire to eat fish. So we decide to meet up. Another dear friend of ours, Anay Dhoraje, fresh from giving the CFA exam, also joins us.

We meet up at college and immediately start our ritual. Whenever we are with Anay, we inevitably pick on him. I and Athav immediately start on him, his hairstyle, on why he chose not to vote, why he thinks Turkey is a better country than India (Anay, that sucked coming from you) and so on.

We walk till Marine Drive and admire the glorious sunset, the healthy ladies out for their evening walks, and talk in general about our future plans. Athavale declares that he is not the kind of guy made out for relationships or commitments. He boldly declares that he will not marry. I second that…I mean not that I don’t want to marry but I can’t see some girl agreeing to waste her life on me.

We all decide to send our children once they turn 18 on world trips to further their carnal education. Boys will be sent to Pataya and Amsterdam, while girls will be sent to Manali or London at best. By the way, all this comes from Amey.

Then, we make the train trip to Bandra during which most of the talk is centered at TCS bashing – an inevitable topic once two TCSites get together.

The hotel chosen for dinner is Highway Gomantak. It is a very well known hotel amongst Maharashtrians for fish. We let Anay choose the dishes for us. The sad part is that he has to eat a Special Veg Thali. Why? Because today is Tuesday and he does not eat non-veg on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

We question him on his logic and wisely he chooses not to spar with us. He simply does so because his mom told him to do so. We have a hearty dinner and then sit outside on the kattha to do some idle chit-chat.

The parting is symbolic. At the signal outside the hotel, we all go separate ways. The image still lives in my mind…three friends parting, each going their own way to fulfill their own destiny.

But we shall meet again…after all not partings are forever.