DC'ed

In recent weeks I have visited Washington DC, the command and control centre of the world, quite a few times now. To be precise, thrice. But it was not before the third weekend into my internship that I realized I was really heading towards DC.

The most recent was was this last Saturday. Four of us headed towards Adam's Morgan in the heart of DC. Since I had come to this region, I was filled up with stories about this drunkard's paradise. We stopped on our way to collect Mc burgers at Fairfax, since food was supposed to be EXPENSIVE in downtown DC.

22:45: That was when AP, one of his friends and I finally met Mike. The poor guy was told 21:45 as the meeting time by none other than me, but we more than made it up with a free beer for him. The place is a mile of pubs on both sides of a small packed road, something like a posh south Delhi market with sophisticated whites, blacks, Asians et al. packing the place. Now, where to go? Madam Morgans, the dance pub was jam packed and had a cover charge of $7. Naa, lets bar hop. So we got into one of the busier looking pubs and got ourselves a drink each. After my first 'Long-Island-Iced-Tea', my inhibitions on shooting off glances to the stereotyped 'horny american bitches' was gone. Jinn with lime and another iced tea did not help either in pulling me down. Oh, and I was sporting an all new look: cropped hair and a trendy beard. Go Tiger.

00:00 or something: We were on our way to another one of the bars. "Excuse me", I heard a girl shriek from behind. Anticipation, excitement, turnaround and finally disillusionment: she was calling for AP's friend. It was the alcohol working on me. But what I heard was certainly not my imagination. " Haaaaaaiii. I am about to marry this month and I was wondering if you could kiss me pleeeezeee". The lady, mid 20s, was definitely drunk and I moved on. But hey, where is my gang. Turnaround, and holy fuck!! He was really kissing her. And on the lips.

What? How? No. Not happening. Actually, happening. But why not me? Most people go into denial mode when confronted with an amazing fact/visual. My case was not too different. Before I could answer my dirty mind, those bunch of girls passed me singing and smoking. What the hell was that? Rushed back to my gang. "Oh, they were having a bachelorate party and were drunk." So? So, they were open to anyone kissing them since for the rest of their lives they would have to be content with the same male organ. Hmm..interesting. Lemme give it a shot. Passed by the girls, nothing happens. Shit!! "Dude, you gotta talk". Golden advice. Before I could, the same lady with her friends dawned upon us (actually, onto AP's friend) like bees on honey,"Listen, I am sorry if I embarrased you. Where are you guys from?".

Pause. That was the moment to be seized. Talk. Grab the attention. See where you go. Jump Ujjwal. The next 60 seconds would be talked about a lot after tonight.

"India". I almost shouted and jumped into the conversation. A couple of questions more and then the moment,"Would you like to kiss me too?"

Pause again. What? Was this for real? Is this the American Saturday night dream coming true? Again, dont loose it now and dont think too much. Do it and brag about it later.

"Sure". A peck was planted on her right white cheek. "Oh no, on the lips". And she closed her eyes.

Pause. Hmm. Now this was like offering Biryani instead of Pulao to a famine starved person.

Action done. Nothing unusual. Suddenly feel a little low. Questions as usual. Did I piss her off? Was my kiss alright. How was she feeling? Are people watching on the road?

"Would you like to feel my booty?".

Pause. I swear I did not understand her question. I was still wondering if this is some historic moment where I am kissing someone unknown, was I finally good at hunting in pubs ( or rather be hunted down). Cut! Come to reality. She held my left hand and pressed it against one of her organs better put to use for feeding an infant, but I did not really mind my role at that moment. I was almost about to gasp for some air when a couple of her other friends came in and started talking to mine. Who cares?

Pause. I would have almost loved to carry it on from here, but as you know, these things are like waves. As soon and high as they rise, they take you down within a split second.

"So who wants have my PIE tonight?", asked one of the friends of the lady I was with (hmm..did I say 'with' :)). Aah, let her talk, who cares. NOOOO. What? PIE? Was she serious? I looked at my friends and they were NOT AT ALL interested. Shit. How can you give up a fortune which you never had all your lifetime and some cocky old person left his heritage to you? How could you let go this moment. No my friends, come on!!

As it would be, the mind won over our hearts. But here I was, with reinvigorated energy and as they say, I had tasted blood. I went from one pub to another, drinking like mad. I know I lost my mind that night, but then, that was the plan. All the dancing, singing, drinking, talk was gelling into a big huge scene of chaos for me. AP, finally around 2 am, decided it was time. Walked back to his car. From there on, I remember things in patches. I was able to guide AP to my home and talked to him normally; thats what he tells me. I woke up on my couch sometime on Sunday. The sun was out in full force, I was damn thirsty and the liqour of last night was hammering my head. Hmm..not good. But within this madness, as I walked towards my bed, I knew I had my next blog entry ready. Dont sleep forever Ujjwal, the WC 2006 final starts in sometime; I told myself before passing out again.

ps 1: The first time I went to DC, it was with AP and Anish (my junior from BIT). We must have walked close to 15 miles that day exploring all main monuments and a couple of museums.

ps 2: The second time was with Anish. DC museums, Chinatown, food at Chipotle and DC at night. Then couple of homosexuals following us, we dashing to our cars and running away at the Vienna Metro station. Coming back home to drink like we never had. I had 10 bottles (355 ml each) of Corona and Anish broke his record by having 5.