I’m Such A Total Idiot
I was absolutely swamped with work today I thought I had no good stories to tell. Wow, am I ever so wrong.
I started off the day with my by-now-usual breakfast of sweet lassi and plain paratha and got to work at quarter to nine. For the entire day, I was busy with meetings, building my training material, answering support questions (from both India and Toronto), and communicating with the Toronto team for things that I cannot figure out.
For a quick bite at lunch, I picked up a variety of pastries (Rs32) from a nearby place called Mogini Cakes and bought vegetarian mango ice-cream (Rs26) from Natural Ice-cream. From the top right going clockwise, the pastries were a bun filled with mushroom & cheese, a bun of paneer florentine, and a vegetable puff. I don’t like the puff pastry too much because the layers were tough and it’s not made with butter but the buns were really tasty. 
The mango ice-cream was absolutely delicious. It was smooth and creamy and full of mango flavour. I can’t believe it is egg-less.
Work continued in the afternoon. By the time I was hungry, I figured it would be best to get a light dinner so I could work late. I really didn’t feel like waiting for my food so I went to Mogini Cakes again for a couple more pastries. This time I got a paneer puff and a vegetable pasties. Like I said, I didn’t like their puff pastry but since they were all out of buns, the puffs would do. 
I dropped by Baskin-Robbins for a scoop of Litchi Swirl ice-cream (Rs40). Although the ice-cream was studded with chunks of litchi, I much prefer the other ice-cream parlour (besides, it’s cheaper too).
I made some really good progress at work in the evening. Before I knew it, it was already 1:30am. That’s when it hit me…I left my room keys at the front desk in the morning for them to clean my room. Was the front desk still open this late at night? I didn’t even have the phone number of the hotel! One option was to stay at the office until the morning which I’m totally okay. For a minute, I thought I would do that except what if the poor guy’s waiting for me to pick up the keys so he can go to sleep? I was cursing and calling myself stupid and finally decided to make a run for it. If I couldn’t get my keys, then I would just come back to the office. It’s only a 5-minute walk anyway. I told P (who was still at the office) about my plan and said that I would call him when I arrive at the hotel. He suggested why don’t he accompany me to the hotel instead? He has a bike after all. I was so grateful for his offer.
When we got to the lobby of our office, he told me to wait at the door while he get his bike from the underground garage. Sounded like a plan.
[rooooooooom roooooom]
[rooooooooom roooooom]
What do you know, his "bike" is actually a motorcycle! I was totally at a lost. I thought he was talking about a bicycle and he would walk me to the hotel! I have never ride a motorcycle before much less toting a heavy laptop on one shoulder!!! Besides, what if I throw off his balance?! Well, it’s too late to change my mind now so what a heck. The streets in Pune around our office is really not the best. It’s very bumpy but somehow, we managed to arrive at the hotel without losing any bags or limps or passenger thanks to P’s driving skills (I’m quite sure I didn’t help). You know, it was a lot of fun to ride a motorcycle! The night air was cool and the breeze did not have the muggy quality of daytime’s pollution. I ended my night by apologizing profusely to the front desk guy (he stayed up to give me the keys) and thanked P many times for being such a gentleman. Who knew my utmost stupitity would turn out to be such an adventure?
