I *heart* Bombay (and well..Boston)

I'm urban..in the way other people are mountain-people or tunafish junkies. I love city life...something about dreary concrete blocks and grumpy people totally gets my juices flowing. Ergo, this will be a blog about me, my two favourite cities (Bombay and Boston), my addiction to Vietnamese coffee and my views on Gregorian chant and it's efficacy in curing some types of tympannic membrane rupture. Enjoy!

Sunday, December 04, 2005

It's a small world after all...

I've had way to many coincidences and deja vus and stuff like that in my life to dismiss it just like that (Or JLT...one of the many abbreviations I tend to use..LOLZ would be another one). The world is a tiny place when it comes to people who I've met/known/encountered meeting/knowing/encountering me again. Or should that be re-meeting, re-knowing and re-encountering (r'encountering?)?

Case in point: Last night. Crossing a very crowded Hill Road heading into Globus where Frenchie S. (hereafter to be known as Frenchie) wanted to go shopping for Indian ethnic wear. I was along cause it was the weekend and my life being what it is, I was either stuck reading the History of Texas for the umpteenth time or hanging out with someone I think is interesting but uninterested in me. I clearly chose the more painful of the two (For more proof of my masochistic leanings, refer to the post on expat parties). On went my tight Superman Tshirt (also known as my lucky Tshirt .. seeing as I tend to win stuff when I wear it. Last count? First place at 2 quizzes, 6 women's phone numbers, 3 drinks and a couple of winks from assorted rickshaw-waalas) and tighter jeans (though that had something to do with the fact that there's *now* some junk in the trunk).

Struggled through a conversation in Franglais when unexpectedly Frenchie asks me if I know P.- this movie maker guy. Yes, I say, how do you know him? Well, apparently Frenchie is dating P. How do I know P.? Well, I had the hugest crush on him and went out with him once on a dinner and conversation date. A date that was awesome by both accounts. A date that never led to anything else cause most men (Pointing very pointedly at P.) don't call back. Anyway, I've had this on-again, off-again smiling- flirtateously at P. thing going on and now he's dating someone else I have an on-again, off-again, smiling-flirtateous thing. Hmm. And apparently they talked about me and dating me on their date. WTF? How weird is that! So make that P. - Me - Frenchie. It's a small world after all...

Another coincidence? Actually another 3-4 coincidences..all involving me bumping into people from my past walking along the streets in New York. Walking along 5th Avenue and running into someone I knew when we were kids. I'm window shopping when I hear someone call out my name. I turned around but had no idea who the (kinda hot) guy standing there was..until he refreshed my memory with tales of us playing chor police and dabba i-spice when we were 10. "Ah! Now I remember!" I say.."Wanna have a coffee and reminisce?". "I'd love to" he replies, "But my girlfriend is meeting..." *Stops talking as he realizes I've lost interest after he mentions a girlfriend.*

And the best one of it all....coming back to Bombay on one of my ghar aaja pardesi tera des bulaye re visits. Walking down looking for my gate at Frankfurt airport trying hard to avoid the smokers and testing out my knowledge of basic German while deciphering the phone booth...when suddenly I hear a distinct Marathi accented voice calling out to me. It turns out to be S., my best friend in Grad school in Virginia who I'd lost touch with after I moved to Boston..someone I hadn't seen in almost 5 years! And who looked EXACTLY the same. Right down to the "bob-cut" and 50 inch hips. "Haylo" She says, "Remaimbarr me?" After that it was all what-are-you-upto and whatever-happened-to for the next 10 hours as we managed to scam a couple of Telegu guys out of the seat next to us so we could sit together and make fun of the efficient German flight attendants.

These are just 3 of the weird "it's a small world" type things that have happened to me so far. Is it just me? Or do these happen to other people as well with the same frequency? So far, it's just been friends. I'm dreading the day I run into an ex .. and G-d forbid, an ex with someone else I know! I better plan for that (I have some leeway I think seeing as all my ex's live in Ammrikka...perhaps I should just steer clear of the Eastern Seaboard for a while...)

Current Music:
Shake that thing - Sean Paul

And yes, I *am* shaking that thing. Frenchie's roommate taught me how to do the African ass-shaking....and now I can! It gives me a terrible back ache though! The things we do for attention eh?

14 Comments:

  • At 1:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    If only you knew.....

     
  • At 2:28 AM, Blogger Unknown said…

    My greatest fear:

    Going out with someone and finding out that I went to school with his dad.

    Trust me nighthmares can not get worse

     
  • At 2:44 PM, Blogger Id it is said…

    Unless you plan to keep every friendship and aquaintance current, exs are a given; no evading them. Maybe it's more a matter of fine tuning your skills when handling them. A widened horizon is what needs be.

     
  • At 5:06 AM, Blogger karuna said…

    It is it is.. and it continues to get smalleras you get bigger... but thats also just cuz you meet and get to know more and more people. I have so many random its a small world stories, but im just glad they make for un-forced conversation.

     
  • At 7:36 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    its called 6 degree of separation like the program on dicovery travel n living i.e no of ppl separate person a from person b is 6.

     
  • At 10:09 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    U are slipping my friend...Your blog was wonderful until sometime ago. Now, it has become a tad boring. Stick to the picaresque :-)...Philosophizing and then describing your adventures never did anyone any good :-(...

    Take care
    Sandeep

     
  • At 11:02 PM, Blogger roswitha said…

    Yeah, stick to the picaresque! The picaresque needs people who actually know what the word means! Save the vocabularies!

     
  • At 12:46 AM, Blogger Vikster said…

    Anony 1: I know you eh?

    F-cubed: OMG! That actually happened to you?

    Id it is: Very true. But it's a scary thought...honestly, there's people I don't really want to meet.

    Karuna: It's scary when you meet people 2 degrees away.."Oh, aren't you XYZ's friend?"

    Anony2: Yeah I know :-)
    Have you sen the movie? How about Friendster?

    Sandeep: I'm sorry this doesn't conform to your high expectations..I'll try to do better next time.

    Ros: Picaresque! I'm gonna use that word everyday now.

     
  • At 3:37 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    hmmmm... is dis de same movie maker P we chatted briefly abt AGES ago, one sunday/saturday afternoon at the linking rd barista, mon ami? ;-)

    i usually always see my exes in other people's arms. took getting used to in the beginning, but now its.... fate.

    lol, and yes, de philoshophizing is SOOOOO not pica-wat?!
    ;-) hehehe.

     
  • At 7:44 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    anon no 2 was me .yep seen the movie.somehow my comment got posted as anon

     
  • At 10:09 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi

    Thanx for your comments on my blog !Next time i blog about Indian gay Bloggers , your blog is crtain to be there :-) !

    DO Keep Visiting ,

    Jalaj Vaivaswat

     
  • At 9:44 PM, Blogger Dunce Happy said…

    are you kidding me? I've met at least three old kid friends at separate occasions in airports around the world going back to India. it might have something to do with the fact that i went to too many school around india growing up.

    ..and as far as meeting people in broadway. i am sick of my brother saying, "you wont guess who i met while walking down broadway today". and i even was a witness to one such meeting.

    i think these are two of the most common ways to meet indians now in the US. i would not call it a coincidence but as a high statistical probability since we are all a small group of urban indians who probably live and grew up in certain hand picked locations in india which enhances our chances of being in the US. and locations such as airports, manhattan, niagara falls and the grand canyon are places where such probabilities are highly amplified futhur in our first few years in the US. wow! that has to be the most uninteresting way to think about the same thing. :)

    hugs and smiles.

     
  • At 12:48 AM, Blogger lemontree said…

    cool blog u got here vikster- first time here
    and ofcourse this has happened to moa so many times that i have tstopped counting
    like the disney world ride says
    "it's a small world after all"

     
  • At 12:55 AM, Blogger Vikster said…

    Closetalk: Indeed the same movie maker P. (also the only Bong man I think is hot..but don't mean to step on any toes here..LOL!)

    Aparna: I liked that movie. I also saw the stage version..but somehow Will Smith was good in the movie..

    Jalaj: Keep visiting? I've been reading your blog for a long time now me man!

    Duncy: VERY TRUE! All desis hang out at the same places..And yes! Broadway around Times Square seems to be where the most are..though I'm a snob. I tend to hang out on 5th Av. or Madison....

    Text and the City: It's all about sleeping with what I call a "node". You sleep with him, you've slept with the whole world. I know 2 people in Bombay who qualify as nodes....

    Lemontree: Who're you calling a Disney ride??
    Oh wait.. *blushes*

     

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