Pune.... i love you

Imagine the rather dubious joys of driving on the treacherous Mumbai-Pune highway during a downpour at night! Thunder showers are fun, when you are safely indoors and romanticising foolishly about the beastly weather. But hello! I was on a mission (near-impossible!), to make it back home on time to attend my son Aditya's launch . It is not everyday that Dom Perignon opens a posh, dedicated lounge in a club. Well, they picked Prive, the members only club my son runs with his partner Vickrant Chougule in Mumbai. I believe this is the third DP lounge in the world, the other two being in Miami and London.
After four really intense and hectic days in Colombo (a ghost city, with grenade attacks and roadblocks at every corner), and two equally crazy ones in Pune, it must have been mommy love and nothing else that made me risk my life getting back to party at Prive. Not that I partied. But Dom was flowing like the Ganga, and the atmosphere was intoxicating enough! I thought about my time in Pune, talking to well-informed book lovers and enthusiastic readers at Croosword, and how the transformation of this cerebral university town was disorienting those who have lived in Pune for generations. Dr. Mohan Agashe, who was kind enough to be 'In Conversation' with me at the book launch hosted by The Taj Blue Diamond Hotel, had discussed the phenomenon of alienation with me, just a few hours earlier. He should know, being a practising and highly respected psychiatrist! I could sense the same at the lively interactive question-and-answer session with young Pune readers. But that's life , in these global times, where we rarely know the time of day, since we forget to eat, sleep or dream! Why waste a precious minute on such mundanities when there are more important issues to deal with...? Like? Oh..... does one hold a champagne flute by the slender stem, or hang on to the tulip? I guess you know the answer! Ciao Ciao. Keep visiting. I am back. But not for long