BENGALURU: It hasn’t been a very good week as thieves have sawed through thick canvas pipes and stolen the heavy brass nozzles that make-up our fire-fighting equipment! Out of the four boxes, three were looted and the only one was spared… the one box strategically stationed right under my sleeping watchman’s nose! The thieves boldly walked into a building on Vittal Mallya Road (housing various politicians, ex and present), walked past the swanky cars and their sleeping watchmen, and did their job pretty meticulously taking their time, secure in the knowledge that the affluent residents couldn’t care less. The men who swore to protect and serve are busy raking it in from pubs and restaurants flouting the rules and the common CBD dweller doesn’t count unless they have ‘connections’. Our local representative is too busy keeping his own errant flock in line and life goes on.
But in spite all these niggling irritants, I patted myself on the back for my 100th column! Yes folks, your innate curiosity in all things ‘Rubiesque’ has taken this column from strength to strength! Of course, my long-suffering editors have to be thanked because they tirelessly stand by me and my tendency to write exactly what’s on my mind (diarrhea of the mind, I think it’s called!)
Well, what’s on my mind at the moment is... how to be safe rather than sorry without turning completely mad in isolation, and how to be responsible while working and playing in a pandemic. It’s distressing to learn that many of my friends, who have been fully inoculated, have contact the dreaded Cardi-V. The infection is milder and doesn’t require hospitalisation but one feels like ‘death warmed up’.
The fatigue that sweeps over one, in the midst of the infection is mind-numbing! Since this is such a new disease, the doctors are busy concentrating on how to save a person’s life and less on the devastating aftermath of the disease. I personally know of many youngsters succumbing to sudden heart attacks and not making it. The case of the athletic young actor, Siddharth Shukla, and a younger personal trainer at a gym keeling over and passing away is all but shocking. No one knows if either of them suffered through Covid but it’s very likely that they did.
I yo-yo between a feeling of bravado and fear. I remember when a few of us visited the newest hot-spot, Gawky Goose, for the first time. There were only a few of us in a massive restaurant and the food and cocktails were superb. I was regaling my friends with funny anecdotes, imitations and ‘high’ banter involving loads of cocktails. We were all meeting after a long time and most of us had suffered through Covid. Suddenly in the middle of this raucous banter, I felt fatigued beyond words. My eyes were closing and the feeling of wanting to sleep swept over me. Apparently, this is a side effect of Cardi-V! Not one to be stopped, a small group met up at Gawky-Goose again — this time for a fabulous pescatarian coastal meal. It was clear that a recently recovered but fully-vaccinated friend felt tired. But the food, spicy and tangy prawn, fish and mutton thrown for good measure elevated the mood.
My daughter flew in for a surprise visit and the fam-jam unit being together again had my spirits soaring. And, what do we do when our spirits soar? We eat and drink, of course. This time, it was a Japanese pop-up at The Leela-Palace.
‘Megu’, their star restaurant from Delhi, spared their star-chef Shubham Thakur for a week. Guess what? He turned out to be a Bengaluru boy! We met up with my children’s friends who are all hot-shot financial bankers now. I suddenly feel old! Ah well! We can’t be 16 till we die now can we?
Be safe, kind and responsible.