Delhi revisited

Delhi was bitterly cold this Monday.

It brought memories of other visits to the city, other winters, rum and coke sessions with colleagues and friends at the Jaipur Inn and Ambassador Hotel, the company guest house in Jor Bagh..And Ranjith Hotel, how can I forget Ranjith Hotel? I don't think it exists now.

Krishnan could not be called a friend of course, even though he was one, certainly. He was at least ten years my senior and respected as such. Krishnan swigs his drink in my room in Ranjith and complains in high falsetto how the company has gone to the dogs now. How it was better when the European bosses ruled.

And then, he takes me to his house in Karol Bagh and treats me to a delicious Kerala meal.

Years later, when I met him, he looked gaunt and tired. He had left the company by then, of course. He told me how he suffered a heart attack while driving. He drove with the pain to the hospital and the doctors told him that was a stupid thing to do and he was lucky to be alive.

Krishnan died three years ago. Funny, I started out writing about Delhi, but it became a kind of note on Krishnan. Ah! Well!