I woke up feeling slightly depressed on I-Day. A few nagging matters refused to leave me in peace, and the best way to tackle this state, I’ve found over time, is to occupy myself with some activity or another.

Geetha and I had noble intentions of watching the I-Day parade. Geetha had asked me the night before, “should we not do something patriotic?” and we agreed that watching the parade would definitely be along those lines.

Unfortunately, none of us could wake up on time.

Instead, about 7 of us met up for a late lunch at Indijoes, which had a special buffet for the day. The place was packed and it was a good half hour before we got a place.

After a long lunch, we moved on to the Café Coffee Day at Indiranagar where we chatted, debated and argued (Vasu in particular) till some of us got so loud that it was surprising they didn’t ask us to leave. This particular Coffee Day has a really agreeable location. And with the pleasant Bangalore sun filtering through the trees, and a nice breeze blowing, it was indeed a lovely afternoon to spend some time catching up with friends.

The next stop was Blossoms, always a great place to head when you want some comfort for the soul and mind. Geetha and Suman gave me company and we browsed around for an hour or so. I picked up a whole lot of books to read. Some comfort books, some for intellectual stimulation and some that will look good on my bookcase. You need all kinds.

Not wanting the day (and the four days of bliss) to end, we decided to do something fun and headed to Zero G.

As luck would have it, there was a private party going on there and we bumped into a friend who was invited. We didn’t need much coaxing to move to the poolside. And there was more good news.

The singer KK (aka Kailash Kher) was coming for the party and would be singing a few numbers.

Now, I’ve really liked some of his songs, the number one on my list being Teri Deewani. I think I listened to it about 10 times one particular day.

KK has a very interesting history and you can read about how he broke into the music scene nearly two years ago with his unconventional music style and the hit song Allah ke bande. He’s a small man in stature but packs in a powerful punch with his voice.

Meanwhile, I was absolutely thrilled. Sitting there, beside the poolside, the water shimmering with reflections from all around, and the lights of Bangalore glimmering in the distance and a very cool breeze threatening to turn us into ice cubes, we listened to KK sing a few of his well-known numbers. It was quite an unexpected treat since he didn’t really come to perform he said later, but to party.

All thanks to the lovely lady who we bumped into by chance!

tere naam se jee loon, tere naam se marr jaaun
tere naam se jee loon, tere naam se marr jaaun
teri jaan ke sadke mein kuchh aaisa kar jaaun
tune kya kar dala . marr gayi main . mitt gayi main . ho ri . ha ri . ho gayi main
teri deewani .. deewani
teri deewani .. deewani
– from teri deewani, by kk