saturday night

my roommate wolfram and i thought we were going to retire early after our long day shopping saturday. we were finishing up dinner at 21.30 when kai and brenden showed up. of course, they were going out and of course we had to go with them.

we first went to a private house in frazertown (across the city) for some wine and other assorted beverages, and were already tipsy when we reached 1912, a bar and lounge on mg road. 1912 serves cocktails by the pitcher. one pitcher of mojito and 840 rupees later, i was drunk.

in my inebriated state, i found myself for only the second time in my life attracted to a woman. the french sophie was cute, sassy, and intelligent and i began to hit on her with reckless abandon. of course the magic ended (for me) when she freaked out after she thought she had lost her bag, but actually hadn't. it's probably just as well; otherwise, i might have ended up making a fool of myself, or hurting her later.

the second remarkable event at 1912 occurred while i was impersonating an indian beggar harassing brenden. i moved my hands to my mouth, expressing hunger, and began to poke him when he did not give me money. i of course invaded his space, as beggars do here, but crossed the line when i grabbed his crotch. whoops, i got a bit too into the role.

upon leaving 1912, wolfram, kai and brenden headed to club x while i joined a small group at a nearby restaurant, mostly because i thought i might be interested in one of the guys who was there.

several of us continued to a spot on mg road where tea is served at one's vehicle. just as we had ordered, a police van showed up to harass everyone and disperse the crowd. we of course drove further down the road to another tea-serving spot. the tea was delicious and, at 3.00, a welcome pick-me-up.

i left the tea group, taking an auto-rickshaw to club x. of course the bouncers made entry difficult, as i was not accompanied by any girls. i insisted that i was meeting friends inside, and the thugs eventually relented ... but charged me 500 rupees for the priviledge of entering. (i would later discover that my friends paid only 150 each.)

the ignominious gender discrimination did not end there, as i was refused entry to the dance floor, which was designated for "couples" ... until some friends were able to round up a female friend. of course, later, when the girls had were off the dance floor and i was dancing alone, a bouncer physically ejected me from the floor. >:-o

the best part was during the ride back home. at around 6.45, we came to the scene of a serious accident. two cars and a bus had collided, and a huge crowd had formed around the vehicles. most of the crowd was barefoot. they were stepping on shards of glass from the cars' windshields, fresh blood from those involved in the accident, and streams of gasoline flowing from the bus's punctured fuel tank. great situation. go india.