The day began slowly when all of us woke up at 11 am, 4 hours after the expected time. I think the wine the night before was good. We quickly decided to meet up at Pamela's to have breakfast, in "approximately an hour"; in the meanwhile Subhodeep (Subho hereafter) would go for his run and kitty would go with me to my school and get some printouts to read for an upcoming exam. Thereafter we would play badminton. Subho asked me if I could carry his bag of fresh clothes so that he could change at school after the run and I was happy to help. Well, all set...
Subho left for his run and Kritika (Kitty hereafter) and I set off for the bus stand. Both of us were quite happy to have a bus come very soon, a rarity on the 5th avenue near shady side.
Happily conversing, we had just stepped out of the bus in our stop when Kitty asked, "where is Subho's bag?".
Crap! the bag had been forgotten at home, "what should I do", I thought, "it would be too impolite and against gentleman behavior to let Kitty go fetch it.. furthermore as Subho had asked me to carry it, it is more my fault than hers."
"Let me set my sample on the XRay machine (an experiment I had pending)", I suggested, " and then we will decide". While setting up my experiment I kept looking hard for a reason to go back and pick up the bag just so that I didn't feel like I had totally wasted an hour in the process and Bingo!!
I had my Holi musical program rehearsals that same evening and needed to fetch the guitar. Both of us went back to get the bag, luckily no drama in the bus stop this time.
We came back and waited for Subho's phone call, but no, nothing came. The phone rang about an hour later, "Subho has already had lunch" ,Kitty told me, "he was waiting outside Pamela's and eventually got fed up, ate and left by himself".
Man!! I thought, what a crazy day. "Well, let's go and have lunch" was the next thing that came to my mind, both of us were quite hungry by then. "Let's go and have something in Panera bread, it would be nice to try totally vegetarian food for a change and the place is well known for that, furthermore Kitty is also a vegan and let's respect that." So both of us bought a huge basket full of salad each, (so large that I thought it was enough for a goat for a day).
Well after lunch, I got back to work, and Kitty went to buy an umbrella. (sounds like an abstract statement, my pending work had been killing me and the rain outside had been killing Kitty). As soon as I got back to lab and started off, the phone rang again, "Hey basu, come over to CMU, get my stuff and lets play badminton after that". Fine, sounds like a good plan. Off we went again towards the bus stand and a bus came immediately (it was a lucky day for catching buses I guess).
Soon after reaching CMU, Kitty gets a call from her cousin who she was supposed to meet at 10 AM in the morning (its 1PM now). Her cousin sister is coming to pick her up. Subhodeep also had some work and hence GC and I decide to go play a set; GC smartly sneaks me into the skeebo gym.. yay, I don't have to pay for using another university's facilities. About an hour and a half later, we go back and find Kitty studying a paper intently. "What happened Kitty, didn't you go?".
"My sister didn't show up yet".
"You could have come and played with us".
"I know right.... " (sigh), is Kitty's pet dialogue in such situations.
So I go back to my university to finish my work.
Around in the evening I get a call from the Holi event organizer, "hey dude! no practices today.. we will start from tomorrow".
"Why did I go get my guitar then!!", I was cursing myself.
Subho calls after about an hour, "basu, call up Kitty and tell her that we will go for dinner at around 8:30PM near oakland, thats fine with you right? "
"yeah.. perfect"
"Well, just take care of this as I think I left my phone at home".
"Ok sure".
So the plans were made and communicated by text through phone.
Some time later at 8:20PM, Subho calls, "Hi Basu, whats going on, I am at Kalyan's home, where is Kitty and is her cousin joining us? can you find out and call me back on this number".
"Yeah sure".
I did the needful, "We will meet you at starbucks near oakland. Kitty's sister is joining us, I will be there in 10 min", I told him after that.
So I finish my work quickly and leave for the cafe; pretty much soon after I entered the place, the beautiful server told me with a stereotypical server smile, "I am sorry, we are closing up, you have to leave".
damn!! what do we do now, its raining outside and we can't go far away, Subho is expecting us here. So we waited in the super cold rainy breeze barely managing to stay dry in front of the shop across the street.
After Subho arrived, we decide to go to 'India garden' a good Indian food restaurant on atwood street, just a few blocks away.
The food was great but the music was ultra loud and ultra fast, encouraging indirectly to stuff the food in your stomach and get the hell out of the restaurant as soon as possible. One spoon a beat would be great but faster eating rates are welcome.
Finally after the day long drama, we reached home and Kitty was set to leave for Vermont.
What a day, so much confusion and mismanagement. But then, a great day, so full of fun and most importantly making a new friend and knowing the person better. This one will certainly stay fresh for a while, I miss it now. I wish it lasted longer.
