Tag Archives: Friends

I Want to Sit in a Cafe with Friends and Feed Myself on Convivial Conversation

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Three months back, I was someone who tried to never eat alone — at least three times in a week, I would either eat out, or invite someone home for ordered pizza/ home-made pasta and a shared bottle of wine.

In the last three months, I haven’t been inside a restaurant even once, I have entered a coffee shop only to use the washrooms, and the one time I ordered pizza home, it resulted in an upset stomach in a classic cautionary tale turn of events. In the beginning, I compensated by inviting my friends over more often, but now that my wine collection has run dry, and my stock of munchies is over, even throwing a house party isn’t as much fun anymore. As a result, instead of socializing thrice a week, I’m meeting my friends once in three weeks. In fact, I think it has been more than a month since I spent any time with my best friends Kanishka and Avantika.

In the spirit of scientific curiosity, I took away my social context, knowing fully well that —

unless you invent new social contexts, not only dating, even meeting friends may become a problem.

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The Joy of Gifting + My Craving for Aloo Parathas

Saturday, May 10th, 2008

When you can’t buy things, you learn to ask for things, and when you ask for things, you learn something about yourself and others.

Throughout last week, I have been asking my friends to make me aloo parathas.

It started last Sunday, when Kanishka and Avantika came over for lunch. My cooking range is limited to pasta and pulao so, if you eat at my place regularly, you might find the menu a little repetitive. Knowing that, I had made two different types of pasta — farfalle, bell peppers and spring onions in Mexican salsa sauce and casarecce and baby corn in cheese and wine sauce — and added mushrooms on toast as a side dish. However, I wasn’t really surprised when, five minutes into lunch, Avantika took a break from picking at her food and asked me —

Aren’t you bored of being off consumption yet?

Well, I’m not bored of being off consumption yet, but I am indeed tired of eating muesli, fruit, salad, sandwiches and pasta for breakfast, lunch and dinner, day after day. Avantika’s comment had seeded the craving in my mind and, by Monday evening, the craving has taken definite shape — aloo parathas.

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Why Didn’t You Tell Me You Had Financial Problems?

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

I was at my friend Kanishka’s place the other day, when I pulled out a Ziploc bag from my bag. Here’s a more or less faithful transcript of the conversation it triggered off –

Kanishka: Why are you carrying around sandwiches in a plastic bag?

Gaurav: Ah! Haven’t I told you that I’m off consumption for a year?

Kanishka: (chuckles) I bet you won’t be able to spend a month without consuming alcohol! But what is the connection between not consuming alcohol and carrying around sandwiches?

Gaurav: (smiles) Actually, I’m off consumption in the sense that I’m not buying anything for a year; well, anything that’s not a necessity anyways. Which means no eating out, no going out for movies or plays, no shopping, and no maidservant. So, whenever I go out, I carry some sandwiches with me, in case I get hungry.

Kanishka: (concerned) But why have you gone off consumption? Why didn’t you tell me you had financial problems?

Gaurav: (laughs) No, no, I’m not broke! It’s a year long experiment to understand why we choose to consume, or not. I’m even writing a book about it. It’s online; you should check it out sometime.

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