Saturday Night Bonanza

Finally, after an extremely loooooooooooong hiatus, today (02-Feb-2008) was a weekend when I didn't have anything related to "work" bugging me - be it my full time job, my freelance consulting, or anything else for that matter!
So, as can be expected, I caught up on some sleep (read as I woke up @ 11 am), and after that I was checking out the movie - National Treasure (Ofcourse - a Pirated version of it!)

That's when I got a call from one of best friends - Cherry B Koshy. Before I go on to rest of the story, let me speak a few words about Cherry. Cherry and me go back a loooooooooooooong way. To be more precise - we we were classmates during 11th Grade @ Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Vaduthala (Cochin). We were best of friends then - as we are now!
If you want me to describe him in one sentence - "He's got King Kongs' body and a puppy's heart!"
(Cherry - If you're reading this - PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!!!)


So, with no further ado, lets move on to the story ...



Cherry: "Da ... What you doing today?"
Me: "Nothing much ... Just watching a movie!"
Cherry: "Then you do one thing! Get dressed ... We're going out!"
Me: "Is it to check out that 2nd hand car thingy?"
(I was planning to buy a second hand car - for which he had said he'd help me find a good car/deal!)
Cherry: "Not really ... We'll do your car thingy later into the day though. But right now, its for a re-union."

Honestly speaking, I wasn't very ultra thrilled by the idea of having to drag myself out of the comforts of my home to meet with my friends whom I hadn't spoken to in over 7 years now. But since Cherry had asked me - I couldn't refuse.

Me: "Ok ... What time are we meeting?"
Cherry: "For Lunch."
Me: "You picking me up?"
Cherry: "Sure ... You wait at that petrol bunk near your house ... I'll pick up in a bit!"
Me: "Fair enough ... Who else is coming?"
Cherry: "Lots of our old friends will be coming ... It'll be fun man!"
Me: "I hope so ... Anyways - see you in a bit."


At the petrol bunk I met my school mate Thushar. It turned out that Cherry had offered to pick him up as well.


Since Cherry was late by about 15 mins, we took the opportunity to catch up on old times. It was really fun chit-chatting with old pals like him!!!
:-)


As promised, he picked us (Me and my friend Thushar) and we headed over to Barbecue nation for lunch. I found out during the course of the journey that a couple of other people had backed out and it was just the 3 of us for the re-union per se.
A 25 min wait time later, we were enjoying a lovely meal at Barbecue Nation (They have the best Kebabs in Bangalore - and that too - its unlimited!).
The lunch lasted around 3 hours (I mean it - we were the last people to leave the restaurant - At 4.30 pm).

After this, we were supposed to meet another friend - Fayaz - at the Barista outlet nearby. That meeting lasted another 1.30 hrs. It is at this point that another old friend - Pallavi- said she'd drop in, but she'd be another hour. So, everyone decided to kill another hour and meet up with her as well.

By this time, do your math if you wanna cross-verify, the time was around 7.30 pm. And, all I wanted to do was leave. Don't get me wrong here - I was having a good time catching up with friends from school. But, I had another appointment to make - with my batchmates from college!

But, come what may - Cherry kept compelling me to stay. If anyone else in the trio there had asked me to stay - I'd have very politely wriggled my way out. But, like I said earlier, since it was Cherry who asked me to stay - I just couldn't brush it aside. So, I decided to stay back - albeit half-heartedly!


But, you know what, it was the best decision I took in a really loooooooooooooooooooooong while!
(I'll explain why in a bit ...)

Since Cherry wasn't very comfortable driving with an unfamiliar girl in co-passenger seat (although it was his car we were in), Fayaz offered to drive. So, we head over to Pallavi's place - pick her up and then head over to a pub at Indiranagar, called "Stones", for a beer. It's a pretty neat spot - but, let me add a disclaimer - it isn't all that great a place to hang out either! In other words - it's just worth one visit. Period!

We had a nice time there - catching up on old school stories, gossips, pulling each other's legs ... etc ... etc ... etc ...
(Btw - Pallavi is getting engaged sometime soon - Please join me in congratulating her on that!)

After pub closing hours, obviously, we had to drop Pallavi home. This time, Cherry said - "I'll Drive!". A couple of Wheel spins, 120 Km/hr drags, nail bitting and tyre screeching 90 degree turns - we dropped her off at her place. After that, we headed over to Brigade Road to grab a cup of tea.
Once we were done with our teas', Cherry suggested that we go for a drive. Since, none of us had anything better to do, we tagged along. This time, Fayaz was at the wheels.


We hit the Tumkur - Hebbal highway. We were easily doing 100+ when a guy in a Maruti Swift challenged us to a drag race. Fayaz took on the dare. What followed was an adrenaline rush, mind blowing 20 seconds! Our car was doing 120 kmph in the 3rd gear. The Swift didn't stand a chance against the monstrous power the Palio was churning out.
To put it in a drags'ters terminology - "We Smoked em!"

After that race, we dropped off Fayaz at his place and headed home. This time, we took the Inner Ring Road route via Domlur. It goes without saying that Cherry was at the wheels.

Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, he says - "Hold on guys!"

And before we realize, he's racing with a Scorpio. That guy already had a lead of around 300 mts when Cherry down-shifted to 3rd gear. But, in less that 7 secs - we were at 130 and had overtaken the Scorpio bloke. On top of that - Cherry's driving was fucking cool. He swinged in and out of the traffic with such ease that it left me and Thushar spellbound.

At this time, we also saw a couple of bikers doing races and stunts of their own. I saw 2 guys on a Fiero 2 pull off a wheelie. It was a pretty cool sight, but I must also add, that it was pretty stupid of em to do it right in the middle of the Inner Ring Road!

At this juncture, Cherry slowed down so as to not hurt the bikers unintentionally. The Scorpio guy, who BTW was still frantically trying to catch up with us, made the maximum use of this and almost caught up with us. But, then, it was back to 3rd gear and 130 Kmph for us. We "smoked" him yet again! Another 10 secs later, he was no where to be seen. An ecstatic Cherry was shouting - "That fucker picked the wrong car to mess with!"


For those of you into Computer Gaming - If you've played Need For Speed ... Well - Let me just put it this way - I was pretty much living Need For Speed that Saturday Night.
(For those of you who don't know what Need For Speed is - Its a game adaptation of the movie Fast and Furious. For people who don't know what Fast and Furious is - GET A LIFE!!!)


Maaaaaaaaaan ... It was by far the most amazing drive I've ever had. I do agree, there were moments when I really thought what we were doing was crazy, and that we were gonna end up dying for sure! But, my trust in Cherry's driving skills was what prevented me from jumping out in between!


But, honestly, on the whole - It was a fun, extremely crazy and most importantly - a very fulfilling evening!


Thanks a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot for this Cherry. I really needed the break!!!



Btw - I'm so damn impressed with your car - that I'm gonna start saving up for one!
:)



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* Very Important Disclaimer *
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Street Racing is very very very dangerous and moreover - Its illegal. It could cost you your life or at the very least - get you a jail sentence!!!
I would never advise anyone anywhere, whoever it be, to try this on the streets!!!