I went to my regular bar after a gap of more than a couple of years or so. As expected, every waiter came to my table and asked about my whereabouts. A couple of new waiters were ‘introduced’ to me. Even after such a long gap, the old waiters remembered that I don’t smoke and hence suggested a table away from a smoking customer. The service was quick and friendly.
See, this is exactly why I like the ‘bar & restaurant’ category of hotels in Mumbai. This is a culture unique to Mumbai where you get fantastic efficient service at very economical rates. I have experienced bars across 6-7 major cities in India (and across price ranges; from unrated to 5-star) and can confidently say that the service you get at such places is unmatched anywhere in India. And that’s why this is probably the biggest (and may be the only) thing I miss whenever I am out of Mumbai. Of course, these are not the places for a family hangout as the ambience is very basic.
Anyway, after the initial pleasantries, I settled for my usual drink. And after a few minutes someone entered who looked vaguely familiar to me. And before I could recollect who he was, he himself greeted me. Yes, he was an old member whom I used to meet back in time when I was a regular at that place. We shared our whereabouts; he congratulated me about being an MBA and all. I gathered that he is married now and has a 2 year child. He then went on to crib about how being a plain graduate is boring and why he should have done MBA back in time and so on. A bit of jealously also crept in as he was ashamed of his normal life and he conveniently assumed that being more educationally qualified that him I must be better placed in life than him.
Normal life!? Really, what is that? I wanted to tell him that I envy him. I envy people like him, who lead normal lives. Nobody plays games with them, they get raises on every job switch, they drink daily and still don’t get health problems, they have a family and home by 30, nobody cares what they do outside their office, their colleagues are their best friends, they lead perfectly predictable routine lives, they do not get backstabbed. I wanted to tell him all this; but I did not as I knew that he would have equally strong counter-arguments ready. What do they say: the grass is always greener on the other side?
So I just continued enjoying my drink and left the place.
