Ashu visited me. His last mail went 'Only Yamaraj (the God of Death) can stop me now'. So I knew he would be in Chennai this morning. Most people who don't know Ashu are left in a quandary when he shoots his contextual, yet inscrutable, one-liners.

Before we knew it, we were enjoying the delectable cavatelli at Gallopin' Gooseberries, on Greams Road. The only -ve with that saucy dish, was that some of it found its way onto my shirt. Ashu for some reason, kept silent. I realized something was wrong only after I started getting the 'Ate well, huh ?' look from complete strangers.

Satyam was sold out to College grads this afternoon. And Hitch had everybody in splits. The sad part with Alex Hitchens' practiced effrontery is - that after all the cheering and clapping, you realize that, that's one more idea you're not going to be able to pull-off as an original.

Soon after, we were at the Fruit Shop on Greams Road and I tried the Blue Dot Special. Best described as a strawberry banana combo, it irks me why the name chosen is so incongruous.

Late in the evening, Ashu, Kaus, Rohit, Zerish and myself gathered at Elliot's Beach after a lazy, stuffing meal at Eden. A powercut had us visiting a pitch black seaface. And despite the crashing of the waves, the eerie darkness made the place a whole lot quieter. I hadn't slept in the last 35hrs., and wasn't expecting much sleep tonight. Cheeru is arriving at an unearthly hour on Sunday.

"Happy Vishu", they said. I got treated to Uniappam and Aaravana Payasam. I didn't know it was also the Mallu New Year day. And when there's loads of people around, you don't search for a bowl to serve yourself. Just pour the goulash into the palm of your hand, and slurp it all up !

In another interesting development, Zerish just returned after meeting his Mommy in Kerala. The terse message on my cell flashed 'Sweet Treasure to be found at home'. That was very nice of him, because he had returned with, not ample, but a whole tub of chocolate. Yessir, there was Van Houten's Full Cream and Hazel Nuts, Tiffany's Yummy with all that caramel, Cadbury's Flake, Vochelle Bittersweet and more Fruit & Nut, the Galaxys - Crispy and even more Hazelnuts, the Guylian Praliné and also the mini Toblerones. Thanks to the Chennai heat, we were using spoons on every one of those bars. I spent an hour at his place and tried very hard. I didn't want to be impolite. But there's still too much left..

It may sound stupid, but I have started enjoying it. Numerous reasons can be attributed to this. For one, I treat the place like my own space - making myself comfortable without even waiting for the instructions. Second, I end up instructing the trainee Nurse on what she should do next (its fun when you know what you're saying is 100% correct). Third, I love that motherly smile the senior Nurse gives me - everytime. Fourth, I enjoy it when so many people say thank you to me (I'm more used to hearing stuff which is best not described here). Aah. 144 more to go.