I like the 'Whenever, Wherever' track by Shakira. And I liked Suerte (the original number), performed by two lovely women from Colombia (they call their band 'Escape'), even more..

As they stirred the floor at the Zara Tapas bar on Cathedral Road, their graceful gyrations the Latino way - tweaked the Tuesday evening's tempo up. Gracias Señoritas !

The chilled Bacardi-based Torridora with just the right amount of cream was tempting, served as it was, in a Martini glass. Roasted cashew with lime - I couldn't believe I was enjoying it. Would make Ma happy.

And even something as bland as potato fingers had my mouth watering, thanks to the Mediterranean sauce. You know what its like when you like your cocktail so much that you just wanna swallow it in one huge gulp. Their 'Grape Escape' gets the best out of fresh grape, brandy, sparkling wine and crushed ice. Didn't Ulysses dream of drinking Life to the lees ? Salut !

Guess the weather was perfect this afternoon to make a visit to Amethyst really worth the while. Reminds me a lot of the converted Havelis we have back home in Jaipur. But having one in Chennai, that too in the heart of the city (its walking distance from Satyam cinemas), makes the place unique. And the surroundings are so tranquil.

You don't need to go to Amethyst to treat yourself to a grilled Salami sandwich, or sip spectacular iced with ice-cream Cappuccino, and certainly not for hogging on their banana-choco crepe, further laced with ice-cream flooded in chocolate sauce.

You head to Amethyst, when you want to enjoy the stillness of Pondicherry, without moving out of Chennai.

They have a nice cozy place called Tandoor on the fourth floor of the Hotel Quality Inn Aruna, on Sterling Road, Nungambakkam. The decor is very Rajasthani and the place looks refreshingly new. The entrance is very welcoming, with an ornate swing that forms part of the waiting lounge. In fact, it was so inviting that I wasn't interested in stepping into the dining area and sitting down for the food.

I liked their starters and their sweet lassi had the Elaichi tinge that made it really enjoyable. If those chaps could just get their taste of Hindi Ghazals right, and cater to a clientele that would come in smaller, less cacophonous groups, this place would be ideal to spend an entire evening with a someone - special.

We were cheering last night because Armageddon had its moments. Watching the movie for the nth time, Dil and I couldn't help raving as each frame progressed. It has been a pretty trying period for Dil. The final dates for dispatch of admits from Deutschland is almost here and the Dude, and the rest of us, had all taken to serious nail-biting.

Our loud adulation for Grace and AJ, and everything else in that movie, somehow helped us shun our worst fears for a while.

1700hrs, its fantasticly breezy today and Cheeru calls "Come home. Now".

Soon after, we were at the Base: Pondy, Delta, Jai, Cheeru and myself, and amidst loud cheering, we smothered Dil in cake and soaked his vest in Kingfisher - the King of Good Times. Achtung ! The Dude was now into Darmstadt !

Thursday evening it was, and a wait for the weekend was deemed unnecessary. So, we were at Pinnacle, the roof-top restaurant at Hotel Ranjith, in Nungambakkam. If you minus the slow delivery of the food (coz the place was full !), smiling hosts who laughed our laughs, fantastic etiquette, and a Menu card that gets you ordering pronto - this place is sure to get you addicted.

The evening rocked. The Dude was happy. And we all were simply digging it !

I learnt the hard way that its unwise to drag her with a deflated rear.

A little nail made it way into the rear wheel. And it was quite stupid of me to drag my Machismo a few 100metres to get the flat repaired. When the chap removed the tube, the valve nozzle was neatly severed from it!

I spent the next 40minutes travelling to the Adyar Depot - to the nearest tyre shop, purchasing a new tube, returning to the repairman and finally, watching the chap fix it in. Was bathed in sweat by the time it was finally over.

Now I know. And the next time my bike has a puncture. Am gonna park her right there and get help.

Kaus comes home with Malaniman and announces 'I got into Stanford. What should I do ?'

As simple as it gets, in the evening we're at Distil, at the Taj Connemara. Me tried the Blackberry Caipirissima and it really was straw-suckin good. Kaus and M'man experimented with their concotions on-the-rocks. Soon enough, a RedBull drink followed that tasted so good that M'man couldn't resist gulping down. That's the problem with M'man, you can never rely on him being the designated driver.

Convinced that the weird sounding names at their Pan-Asian cuisine restaurant were definitely not vegetarian, M'man dragged us into their Coffee shop, 'Verandah'. The rest of the evening was enjoyed over bland sizzlers, pepperred with sporadic laughter.

While M'man leaves to take up a new assignment at a Descartes-obsessed company, Kaus shall now gear up for the upcoming Visa interview. We might never meet in Chennai again.

My sibling who gave Mum the nightmares - (on the probability of not screwing up the Class Xth Board), post-graduated from the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences today.

The function was organized in the Institute's Central Courtyard and the entire graduating class was made to sit on either side of the dais. Getting a higher degree is quite a proud moment, especially because most of India's Institutes don't even have any such thing as a Convocation for honouring their Graduates. Believe me, quite a few of them haven't even got their Undergraduate Degree yet, because the previous University hasn't yet prepared 'em !

Being dressed up in TISS logo-embroidered shawls and receiving the Degree could have been pleasanter, had the preceding speeches made by the Director and Chief Guest, been cut short. Everybody had the look of 'Get on with it Dude'.

Still. The kid was happy flashing the new posession with the name inscribed in a fantastic Calligraphic font. And best of all, I was present to see it happen !

Mera bhi number aayega.

We went on board my Dad's ship today. It was a lot like old times. The Officers who once reported to him are now at the helm of affairs !

Its been some time since I felt like a kid. Back then I don't quite remember allowing the Ladies to board the ship first. And today, I almost forgot all my good manners when I stood in front of the majestic marine beauty - the pride of the Western Fleet.

As I walked down the Gangway, I felt 13 again. I realized that the Officers-on-duty who were saluting us (as is customary), were probably my age. I've loved the Indian Naval Uniform and everything about the Navy. But, not applying for the Defence Services was a career choice I made.

Am very happy to be visiting Mumbai. I grew up here.

I got an auto ride from Madhya Kailash in Adyar to Chennai Central Railway Station in 50 bucks flat. So much for the Auto chap's failure at the fine art of persuasion. His original quote was 100 bucks. I stuck to my quote from the start.

The downside - his agreeing on the fare, but cribbing about the thing as he drove. I told him lets not discuss this and stay happy, and he did. He took the Mount Road route, then crossed the Park Town overbridge racing down the entire path, and got to the destination real quick.

I don't really know whether I got the best price, but this is my lowest yet ! BTW, this was at 0545hrs.

VJ and Thuks fly to San Antonio tonight and the mandatory bye-bye get-together was scheduled at Café Coffee Day on Cenotaph Road.

I don't really remember where the conversation went as I was too busy concentrating on my 'Choc-a-Vloc'. The almonds were removed on special request. I have known only one way of eating almonds - when Ma stuffs them into my mouth while I am using both my hands to tie them shoelaces.

VJ still had a few hours left and was still to complete his packing and couldn't make it. So, once done with CCD, we decided to pick him up and head to the Fruit Shop in Besant Nagar. By the time, Dil and myself got there, Maddy, VJ, Cheeru and a Gentleman-I-had-never-met sat together, seemingly sharing innocuous tales of rambunctious women at their respective workplaces.

Once the juices came in, the circulation of the glasses followed. Strangely our Gentleman, stayed out of the U-sip-mine-I-sip-yours assembly. That didn't bother Dil and myself and we continued to enjoy the moment, just as everybody else.

Some, 33minutes later, after having heard through all our fantasies, expectations, truths and half-truths, the Gentleman rises, doesn't wave or nod to any of us, pays his bill and leaves. I was mighty shocked. Dil wasn't amused. And without checking the others' expressions, I finally gathered the nerve to ask VJ - who was that ? After all, it was a gathering for enjoying VJ's last evening in Chennai, so he mustave invited the man.

I thought he was VJ's friend. VJ thought he was Cheeru's friend. Cheeru thought he was Maddy's friend. Dil, forever baffled at the prospect of counting the exact number of Cheeru's acquaintances, thought he was another of his friends..

Maddy knew he was not one of us. Now he tells us. Apparently, the Gentleman had joined us for want of a table to place his glass on. It's a different thing that he didn't budge even after all the remaining tables were long empty.

Instead, he'd been courteous enough to sit thru all our conversations and lurid gestures, enjoy his drink nevertheless and gracefully leave after settling his bill.

I think the adaptation of the share-auto jig in juice-conclaves is a concept gone awry. I guess we've not been here long enough because the laughter is still spontaneous, everytime one thinks of the evening gone by.

0500hrs Meenambakkam Airport was all set for a family gathering of sorts. The way it happened with us, while two of our buddies (Cheeru and Adi) were arriving, three other mates (Naidu Gaaru, Freddie and the Hulk) were scheduled to depart. I've never celebrated a homecoming and farewell concurrently. And I suppose, neither had Thuks, VJ, Jai, Dil or myself. The merriment, coupled with steaming Coffee and Britannia 50:50 outside the Sangeetha Foodcourt at the Aerodrome, was simply 'elevating' ! Perplexed bystanders didn't quite understand what the fuss was all about and must have been delighted after we finally left the place at around 0645hrs.

The sky was overcast and the light drizzle followed by the cruise back home, did wonders to my already ecstatic mood.

The cake-cutting and gorging is now a standard for all celebrations at home. Somu Dada, Pondy and Delta also joined in the ruckus. And our Landlord was at his sarcastic best 'Amit has come eh ? That's why you're behaving like noisy school-children'. I couldn't help agreeing with him.

Cheeru made a difference by flying in chocolates by the truckload. His plans to bring along Stella Artois and the venerated Budweiser were thwarted because he was already overladen with Chocolate. I've lost count of how many bars of chocolate I've thrust my teeth into. Believe me, even the Pepsodent kid would genuflect when told of the way I have feasted.

Prema treated us to piping hot Idlis and Sambar Vadas and despite the enormous quantity prepared, all the vessels were licked clean.

Sometime in between all this, Cheeru found the time to remove his Long Johns self-hoisted atop the shower. This was 2 months back. Glad, the man was home again..