One Road, Two Restaurants

One Road, Two Restaurants

1998. Chennai. TTK Road
It was a sultry Chennai evening; Sweat trickling down the back of your neck, your side-locks and adding an incredible amount of irritation to your already tough life. I stopped outside Jolly �our hang out, a teashop, and glanced at the profane opulence that is Park Sheraton, Chennai�s renowned five-star hotel. I shook myself away from the brief reverie and walked into the cacophony of Jolly. The gang was already there. Prabhakar and Suren (my brother) were debating on Linux, despite the fact that both of them knew as much of Linux as George Bush did. Esa was hanging by the table, his frame totally on the table and his legs were limp. His demeanor more than suggested that he was content with his joblessness. Kumar and Thiru were discussing women, alcohol, education and so on. Kumar was telling us about his dreams of driving down in a luxury car to Fish cove � with a girl- and getting drunk and having fun. Prabhakar laughed at the dream. He said �Machaan otha single tea ku lottery da! Fish cove kekkudhaa?� We finished smoking, tea and laughing and emerged out. The scene outside stopped us in our tracks. Three beautiful girls were walking into Sheraton.
Prabha said �The difference is the road da!� I couldn�t agree more with him. Only a road separated a bunch of ambitious (not Esa oh hell no!) young men hanging out in a dingy chai joint; and Park Sheraton: the place where the cr�me de la cr�me of Chennai hung out.
Thiru said, �Do you guys think they�ll let us in?� Honestly, I had my doubts about that. A pall of gloom engulfed us. We started our bikes �read: my MAX-100, Kumar�s TVS-Champ and Prabha�s RX-100- and went home, not even dreaming that a couple years later we would talk about the same thing, but in a different setting.

2002. Chennai. TTK Road
The Tata Indica swerved into Park Sheraton. After hading over the keys to the valet we walked into the plush lobby. The guard gave us a bow; his turban almost touched my nose. Thiru ducked for cover thinking the guard was about to ram us with his head. He was so sure that they would throw us out.
We parked our behinds in the bar. After a few beers, Prabhakar almost fell on Kumar�s feet and said �Machaan I never dreamt I would be drinking in Park da!� Kumar laughed and said �It is nothing da! Watch out fore more!�
Prabhakar looked at me and said �One road. Two restaurants. Life is funny da!� Yes Prabha, it sure is. Suren and Prabha are �don�t laugh- network engineers. They play with Cisci switches and routers and install complex network stuff on a day to day basis. Kumar owns a business (profitable mind you) and a Lancer. Thiru runs his own financial services business and claims he is always busy. I�d be joining India�s leading IT company as a senior technical writer soon. Esa is the only thing that hasn�t changed. Some things don�t I guess. And yes, life is funny.

Write to me: suman 'at' sumankumar 'dot' com

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