Sometimes, i think about the first time i indulged with OH family and i always, always get confused about whether it was 2004 or 2005. (When i checked with ex, he said it was 2006.) Anyhow, it's been a handful of years now.
I knew i wanted to taste all of it once, to know what it felt like; to know what it was that got people so hooked on it; and to know what league of high it belonged to. Today i can, with mixed feelings of pride and guilt, say that i have tasted most of all there is. And i know what i like/love/dislike.
It's the same policy i follow with almost everything else: that i have to try everything once to know what it's like. It's what has led me to explore cuisines, sea food, meat, places, indulge in adventures, travel to different places under different, unique circumstances; and to just live it up. Needless to say, i love every minute of it.
But it wasn't always like this. While i was open to some things earlier, i wasn't okay with most. That openness came when i decided that i wanted to be the one to know what the younger generations of my family were up to when they tried doing the things or telling the lies that i have done/told, be it my cousins or my kids (someday).
And so, last evening i took two of my cousins to UB City to show them the glamourous side of Bangalore life. The Sunday Crowd hasn't spared that place either - from being nice and hep, it's gone to being a slightly uppity version of Cubbon Park. Junta from all over comes in, takes pictures of the ceiling, walks into Louis Vuitton, gawks at the price tags and takes some more pictures, gets wet in the water from the fountain in half naked states. In short, UB City has turned quite Ugh-ly.
I took the cousins to Shiro to show the Buddha head. They were amazed. The waiter hands us the drinks menu, and my 16-year old cousin turns to me to ask "Is there anything in here for us to drink?" I smile and order for mocktails. Pineapple for both of them, and mine i leave to the waiter to concoct. Theirs arrived in Martini glasses. Immediately, i took a sip from my cousin's, called the waiter and asked him if he was sure they were mocktails. Yes, he said. They weren't cocktails. Weird, i thought i tasted something more in hers. Or maybe it was just the cinnamon. "Is it safe for us to drink?", asked the 16-year old again.
The younger one who's 14 years old looked on fascinatedly at the young boys at the other table sipping on Tuborg. Curious, she was. Even about the bar counter in the outdoor section. When she asked me, i told her that that was the place where 'other' beverages were served. She didn't understand, but she didn't push me for an answer either. The older one then turned to me, and said, "This is the first time we've come to a place with a live bar counter". Those were her exact words - live bar counter.
They asked me if i had eaten there, and what i had eaten. Have you eaten shark? Whale? Octopus? Seal? No, but i have eaten mussels and crab and squid, but not here, i replied. With each name that i rattled off, i found them choking on both, laughter and a bit of the mocktail they had sipped.
And so the conversation went on, alternating between grilling me about things i do/eat/learn and enquiring about what people at the other tables were doing. It was a totally new experience for them, and i'm glad i took them there.
On the way back, i was thinking about how my Aunt would react to their evening. I was fully prepared for an earful from her for taking them to 'those kind of places', but i also realised that all these years of my trying out things has been for this precise reason: so i can be fully equipped to understand, protect and guide them when their experiences/experiments go awry in the future. Better i, than a bunch of teenagers, who initiate them into things they themselves have no knowledge of.
I ended the evening with a satisfied smile - seems like all those years of black sheepness and debauchery are finally paying off.
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