80 SFS, Green View Apartments

Mukul called from Delhi. He was going through assorted stuff in the Delhi house. It’s been 12 years since we moved out of that house. And in those 12 years I did not go back even once. What makes me Mr.Clean Break? The society is called Green View as it is next to a green belt in an area that is essentially residential flats in the midst of an industrial area and a refugee colony. I vividly remember spending afternoons, the rain not withstanding, in the green belt (for those not initiated to the concept, green belts are small wooded areas) watching copper smiths, golden orioles, kites and hoopoes and entering observations into my log book. The neighbors thought I was a bit loony.
Then there was the time when I burnt Maj Singh's fiat...not the entire car but just a bit of the roof and that’s how Papa got to know that I used to smoke.
The time when Mukul didn't let Neeraj, Shiv and I into the house because he did not want us to drink, that did not stop us and we merrily downed almost an entire bottle of Rum on the terrace. At 2 am all of us happily sozzled out of our wits and with no desire to down what remained in the bottle decided to set it on fire - a brilliant, beautiful blue flame it burned
Midnight, 25th June (I don't remember the year) - It was Nitin's birthday and Neeraj's in the next few minutes and he, Neeraj and I were on our way to my place after dropping Ruchira. Neeraj was driving and just as we turned towards Mayapuri on the ring road a truck hit the car. The only thought that ran through my head was that I was dead.
Mukul's coming back with lots of stuff. Am looking forward to a flood of memories.
Ever since I have come to Bombay, I have only cribbed about how much I Miss Delhi. And soon there would be no link with Delhi. With Anna and Papa there, Delhi remained a part of my life but soon it would be past.
Like they say in Bombay, and in not a complimentary manner, ' You can take a man out of Delhi but you can never take Delhi out of a man.