Only one thing can top off a musical evening on a Friday to decompress – an hour or so with Amitesh and Anusuya for drinks. I am still amazed that Anusuya laughs at my old jokes 🙂

Here was the challenge:
Our friend Magesh came over with his wife Sripriya and his parents last evening for dinner at our place. A few things bind Magesh and me together. Other than the fact that we studied in the same engineering college and worked in the same start up company, we also share the fact that none of our parents approve of us having alcohol. And Magesh and I are certainly not above a glass or two in the evening. On top of the fact that he cannot drink in front of his parents, I cannot either. Somehow, his mom has formed a very high opinion of me from our initial meetings. You will be amazed how speaking a few Tamil words and in general aligning with her son in case of any debate can endear yourself to any Tamilian mother suitably proud of her son!!

So the challenge was to come up with cocktails that could pass by as extremely innocuous soft drinks. The first task was to make sure that the cocktail was absolutely colorless. It had to be served in similar glasses as Sprite and such that the parents would be having to rise above all suspicions. It had to have a few bubbles, just to remove all doubts.

The second challenge was the aroma. It had to be very subtle and even then it had to stay very close to fruits and vegetables that are very common to an Indian nose. (Any uncommon smell might have given rise to unnecessary curiosity). Eventually, I went with cucumber for the first drink and orange for the second one.

Finally, the drinks had to be shorn of any garnish. The visual clues might have given away. So, needed some concentrated drops of liquer to top off without getting the advantage of the constant drip of the garnish.

The evening could not have gone any smoother. Everybody had a great time. The offending glasses were for everybody to see – as you can see in the picture – but none came away any the wiser 🙂

It was a great evening!!

… which can only mean lots of silly jokes and laughter over some esoteric cocktails…

The bar closed. But the evening was young… And downtown Alpharetta was not that cold… 🙂

It think it was Satchel Paige who had once asked “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was?”. If we did not know what a calendar is, how old would we judge ourselves?

Last night, we had a chance to celebrate the 70th birthday of Mrinal-da. That is by the calendar time. Without a calendar, most of us would put him somewhere around early thirties. Late twenties, on a good day. Here is a gentleman, who is exactly the same age as my mom – and yet, he were any younger, he might have to do stupid things.

It is just not about his ability to defy physical age. Agreed, he might need a few minutes to catch his breath between the game points in a game of tennis but he will chase the ball wherever it goes and return it – often much to the surprise of his opponent and get the match point. It is like he is told himself that till he sees the ball bouncing the second time with his own eyes, it is still fair game. Like I was saying – it is not the physical strength – it is that mental tenacity to not give up even while playing players clearly half his age.

But all that makes him look young. What really makes him young is his attitude towards life. He can as easily hold court with a couple of septuagenarians as with a couple of teenagers. Somehow, he manages to adjust to everybody’s outlook, points of views and have meaningful exchanges.

In the eight years I have known Mrinal-da, I cannot remember once – even once, he speaking ill or even in a slightly bad light of anybody. It is not like he agrees with everything but you can’t get him to say anything negative about anybody. I firmly believe, somehow that is the core of his being. Being able to see the positive in everything has manifested itself in all the other things we see in him.

An outstanding story from a few years back – I think I had written about it before. Mrinal-da was playing tennis with another friend of mine and in the next court were two teenagers – brother and sister – who happened to be the kids of a very close friend of mine. Now, these two siblings were State rated players (that too Texas – which is one of the toughest state in this front) – so obviously their shots were quite a few notches above other players around in the various courts.

Mrinal-da, apparently, stopped his game and intently watched the brother and sister hit the ball. And then during a break, he went up to them, introduced himself, complimented them on their game and said “When I grow up to be as old as you are, I want to learn how to play like you”.

That story embodies Mrinal-da in every aspect of his being.

Incidentally, the dad of the kids narrated this story to me later and I realized that there is probably one such guy in this world. A couple of phone calls later, it was established – indeed it was Mrinal-da!

So, here is to you Mrinal-da on your 70th birthday:

Throw that calendar away. Stay in your mid thirties for another ten years!!!

After a rather trying week at work, unwinding by the fire outside this Friday evening with Anindya, Sharmila, Sudarshini and Nikita. We missed Sudakshina!

One more New Year’s Eve, I get to mix  some new coversold for my hapless captive audience invited to celebrate at a friend’s place…