The sabbatical from this page has been awfully long or this month's rather short (and remorseful of how the year draws to an end), like every November since 2009. I say '09 because that's the year Sinner and I started talking about 'Nau-fucking-vember', a phenomenon that describes explaining the pace that time acquires towards this time of the year, post fall and pre-silvery Christmas. Once you do actually hit Christmas, it's settled in the bones then. The chill shall last another month or six weeks and you'll probably be dealing with allergies as soon as that's out of the way. Christmas is the time of contentment. November then is the period of anticipation, excitement and definitely counting down days to the next big event scheduled around the cusp of the dates.

I am going to try to make it sound less dreamy and more factual, so quick updates. Sabbatical was spent in 'luru, in the company of stunning friends who have given Delhi an intense competition. Most of the people I met down there this time have known me as far back since I was born (relatives, predictable) and friends from as long back as when I had my Daniel Radcliffe and Jay Sean phase (WUT?). What happens when old friends meet new? Your case is taken, inside out. You're being chided for being a closeted hipster, you're being yelled at for being insanely dumb in front of potential SOs, and so on. However, you're also taken to some of the best tiffin centres (courtesy Fa), beef steaks and pork starters (for every meal- yes). You also almost throw a house party because you're too sick on your last night to step out and look pretty, so all of your old and new friends decide to just drop by and make a party out of your last evening in the city. Besides splurging all your money at the local pop-culture merchandise stores and second-hand bookshops, you end up buying a shit ton of munchies and an exquisite bottle of Amrut (because 'luru is full of good things). The only thing about the city is that you have got to scratch the surface to dig all this. You have got to throw a tantrum and show middle finger emojis to your work friend because he's too busy to take a leave for you, your childhood friend for ditching you on the first night and MotherJane on all other nights where we didn't follow her orders.

Given how obtuse the writing in the previous paragraph is, it ought to give a good taste of what the city was. Taste being cafés that pun with Marvel comic books, Vietnamese cuisine and gigs et al. 'luru is full of puns everywhere you go! It's a delight walking on the road and finding street art with puns, comic strips painted on the sidewalk with puns and even tattoo parlours where material objects are laden with puns. Speaking of tattoo parlours, I got myself inked, and tried keeping the whole deal a big fat secret but given I live in Delhi and I'm connected, it reached my parents even before the ink could dry and a whole lot of drama ensued. However, all's done and dusted, tattoo is dry and I'm trying not to pick the scabs. This tattoo may not hold visual significance but the act of getting etched and how, is why I invested in it. I've not been this pleased with anything in a while. Although, it's pretty hard to say what topped in 'luru- blue tokai, quesadillas for lunch, deconstructed beef hotdog for dinner or just the fact that a whole bunch of my friends came together and hung around like they've known each other for years together, when they'd just met for 15 minutes in a previous meeting. If that's not love, then I don't know what is.

Though, I guess I can't help but share my most pleasant memory from 'luru. A bunch of us were at this pub we decided to meet half an hour prior to the meeting time. My childhood friend, Baw and I had just gotten tattooed together (different stuff) and she'd joined my college friends and I for drinks. Another friend (old workplace) was going to join us after work. We made an evening of tattoo conversations, singing back 90s and 00s pop on top of our lungs over beer and beef, and proceeded to spend the other half of the evening at this quaint Tibetan restaurant, tipsy and wet after having traversed through the 'luru rains. That evening's my happy spot to reflect and there isn't anything I'd like to change about it (except maybe, couple of occasions when I opened my mouth to say something ridonkulously stupid). Just the fact that I was with people who loved me so damn much to actually sit through with each other without knowing anyone was far greater a feeling than any beef chili fry and beer combination could have given (however, it added to the scene). It's safe to say, I should knock wood for having such stunning people in my life.

This post could have been longer, intricate with names and accounts of things. However, off late I've come to the realization that I don't like to hold memories as much as I believed in doing the same ten years prior to this. I'm more of live it, take a shot of that and preserve it for as long as they last. That's pretty much what killed the analog, it's affecting my writing. I no longer write about things with passion and vigour as I did, so now when I look back to things, I hardly know what I was referring to and if I have it written. It's all in the head for the longest time (much like how things are in binaries in a system and reflect differently on screen). You never know the longevity of anything so why go out of the way to preserve it? The people don't always last, situations aren't exactly the same and material objects corrode over time. But emotions? They are all pervasive. It sounds terribly dramatic when I pose a rhetorical question on emotions, and trust me, I'm cringing as I'm typing. Yet, there's something so universal about something as strong as love that you just know when it happens and you feel it in your bones when you're loved. That's the beauty of the 'feeling', which transcends space, time, bodies, objects and situations.

Trusting this phase won't last long (because real life and deadlines and sadness and life ain't no vacation and I don't have any money to meet any friends etc), I'm soaking the last night of this state of mind all the way until I am nauseated by how ridiculously cheerful I've been last couple of days.

Here's to Bangalore, and the people who made this absolutely stunning.

You can't see anything because that's the point.