Friday, November 29

I had an early morning of writing; a late morning of massage at Hope’s Wellness; and afternoon of phone frustration at SISP; and an early evening of shopping for fruit and vegetables at Ramachandran in the Mall of Travancore.

Then Sanu drove me to SP Grand Days where I tried to find today’s episode of Geeta’s Never Ending Party. I got led to the restaurant on the fourth floor to find myself in a works do for people in southern India in the travel business. Then I tried the eighth floor where the people eating and dining included nobody that I recognised.

I went down to the ground floor to make more enquiries and as the elevator landed Geeta and Göran jumped in. With great glee they explained how nobody can ever find the rooftop restaurant. We got out at Floor T, the one above the top floor (eleven) and then walked down a corridor and up a flight or two of steps.

Next time, I thought, I will know exactly how to do this.

Geeta explained that everyone would order their own food and drink at which Pauline promptly ordered french fries for everyone. Most people had big goblets of red wine in front of them, and Göran quickly negotiated one for himself. I ordered a Kingfisher.

We sat at a long table which reminded me of Christmas parties at Arcada, where the people you sat next to and opposite constituted the conversation for the evening.

More people arrived and after a while I found myself sitting between Tom and Richard and opposite Pauline and Göran, with Nico and Reva within earshot.

Towards the end I decided that I should take a photo, since everyone else had done so. I photographed Pauline and Göran because they had matching goblets of wine.