CBGB, Tribeca Grand, Riverside Drive, Bronx Zoo

In short, my weekend. Not bad, considering the average weekend plans of the middle aged desi is usually limited to 2 masala dosas, one vada sambar, and maybe a movie. With EXTRA butter on the popcorn, or no popcorn at all.

Krishna and a colleague of his came over Friday night, after I got home from work (late, as usual). My plans for spending the weekend in West Virginia for the HyperFest 2004 - with fast cars and bikini babes - went for a toss when my boss said I needed to "sacrifice" for the sake of the deployment. Which, for all the natural reasons, really pissed me off. But then I was telling you about my weekend - not starting a crib session about my work.

So - once they landed here, we made our way to Kati Roll Company, picked up some wonderful anda beef and anda chicken rolls, and walked east on Bleeker. When Bleeker ended in a T junction, we refused to stop, and so ended up through the doors of CBGB OMFUG for a night of live music. We were given the options of two doors, and the one we picked led us to one good rock band, and one crazy band with two people in it. I recommend the place, but make sure you know what's playing, and go early to make the most of the cover charge.

Then came Saturday. Kanishka came over for apartment hunting. A street fest broke out right in front of my house. Which meant he could not cross 6th Avenue at all, and I met up with him at 59th and 9th, at the office of City Habitats. The broker had picked a nice set of apartments, and we were done with 6 places and a zillion photographs in about 2 hours.

By then, of course, we were hungry as hell, so we hit the street fair with a vengeance. sheesh kebabs, watermelon smoothies, strawberry and banana smoothies, and chicken satays disappeared like magic. And really, really yummy. I love these street fairs.

A little rest and a little light music later, we decided to check out two of the neighborhoods among the houses visited earlier. That took one coffee and about 1.5 hours. Then I wanted to drive Kanishka's bimmer a little, and I started going north on 9th Ave. And north we went. Reached above 200th street before we decided it was far enough. We had gone where no man had gone before. To the upper regions of Manhattan, filled with a lot of life and party people, and surprisingly, some parks with hills in them. That was followed by a cruise down Riverside Drive, then some defensive driving down Broadway.

Home at 8, and about to settle down with dinner and a movie, when Greg asked if I was doing anything later that evening. Since I was not, we went off to the Tribeca Grand Hotel - a block away from my office commute stop of Franklin Street - and went down to the dance floor in the basement. DJ Swayzag was playing some really cool techno music that had awesome beats - though the bar was about $2 more than the usual in the area. Things started slow, but warmed up just after midnight, and the place barren when we came in at 10 was crammed with people all around. As dance clubs and lounges go, this had a really good crowd, not the meat packers of Webster Hall. But then this was the Tribeca Grand anyway. The sofas along the walls provide a good lounge atmosphere, if you can talk through the music, and the dance floor is nice and roomy, until filled with a billion people. Oh - by the way - this is where we got to know about it :Flavorpill.net

That taken care of, and a few hours of sleep into my head, it's time to check out the Bronx Zoo. Right now, all I am doing is waiting for Mridul and company to arrive. It's surprising how they can be more than an hour late on a commute that Kanishka regularly does in about 50 minutes. But then life is full of surprises. More on the cute animals in the zoo - and the sliced, spicy ones in my sandwich - later.