Month: November 2014
Location: South Windsor
I went to graduate school at 'UCONN', where I made lifelong
friends. I visit them often, in fact multiple
times a year as well. So when I was invited there for Halloween, extending into November, I knew
that this would be my 2nd stop.
I arrived at my buddy Som's place in South Windsor, Connecticut the night before Halloween and
spent most of the next day working on stuff that pays the bills. The party was later in the evening, but I had
been asked by my friend Moni, to come hours earlier for “Makeup”. Let’s revisit that
statement again. I would have makeup put
on. The last time that had happened was
back in 2nd grade when I had played a married businessman who
arrives by train at some destination and argues with my “wife” on who should be carrying the luggage. I guess some things are best forgotten.
 |
| Halloween in Connecticut |
I arrived at Moni’s place and was
promptly dispatched to the makeup station where my friend worked furiously on
me. Unlike the typical chairs one see’s
in salons, I was not facing a mirror and so had no idea on what was going
on. All I could tell was that a lot of
black and white paint was going on my face. Once that was done, I was given a cape and some sort of a glove with a “skeletal” design on it. If I had been hoping for a ‘Superhero’ theme I would have been
disappointed, because the mirror revealed me to be – in my friends words – “The Prince of Darkness”. As cool as that sounds, I could have passed
off as the “Grim Reaper” or the guy
from the “Scary Movie”.
 |
| Yep, that's me |
The party was still a few hours
away, and so with me in that getup, we drove back to Som’s place. But
that wasn’t the highlight. It was when I
was dispatched to the nearby liquor store to pick up some wine and I walked
into the establishment looking as I did and people didn’t even bat an
eyelid. Only on Halloween! Later on, as I was driving back to the party,
it was funny at times to pull up next to a car at a stoplight and then just
stare at the other driver. The party
itself was fantastic. The house had been
decorated more elaborately than some of the “Haunted
Houses” that people pay lot of money to go and see. It was a wonderful evening with friends and
food and well worth the visit.
As can be imagined after a party
like this, the next day was spent in recovery…the entire day. I watched a lot of TV and did some writing at
my buddy’s place, while ensuring that all traces of the makeup had been washed
off and I was back to resembling a human.
Sunday on the other hand was devoted to cheering for our beloved ‘New England Patriots’. Most Sundays when I’m at Som’s place, we go
over to a nearby pub to watch the ‘Pats’
game. And today was special since we
were playing the hated ‘Broncos’. Amidst wings, sliders and beer, we enjoyed a
good old fashioned trashing of ‘Broncos’
and this capped a satisfactory visit to Connecticut. But I wasn’t done as far November was
concerned.
I had been invited back for
Thanksgiving at Moni’s place and having seen the Halloween party, I knew that
it would be spectacular. But I had plans
for Thanksgiving day; though nothing was stopping me from going over the next
day! Moni had promised me a meal
matching Thanksgiving and it certainly started that way as I was given a
cocktail as soon as I entered. This was
followed by a feast to remember and I did not feel as if I had missed
anything. After that we retired to
Moni’s basement studio where she does her clay work. Som and I watched in awe
as she churned out piece after piece over some good conversation and good
whiskey. To top of the evening, even
though I had just had a heavy meal, when Som proposed that we all go for some
Japanese ‘Hibachi Grill’ food, I wasn’t
going to be the one to say no!
 |
| My experiment on display! |
Speaking of whiskey, I had told
Som that I wanted to have a “Whiskey
tasting” of sorts the next day as he hosted a party on the occasion of my
visit. Well, I was the only one doing the tasting, meaning that there was a good chance it would not end well for me. Looking at Som’s bar I saw that he had
multiple ‘Single Malt Scotch’
varieties as well as several “Colored
Labels” of ‘Johnny Walker’. In fact when I saw that one of the colors was
missing, I went and got it from the same store that had seen me dressed up as a
spook a few weeks ago. As predicted the
evening started off extremely well, but ended with me retiring early...not
before having accomplished my mission.
The next day found Som and me
watching the ‘Pats’ play the ‘Packers, first with some of Som’s
colleagues and then at our local pub.
Unfortunately this one did not end as we had hoped, but we did get to eat
and drink, meaning it wasn’t a total waste.
Early next morning I left for Chicago after what had been a very nice
visit…both of my visits had. This month had
not been like the previous one, with me going all over the city, visiting
different places and restaurants. This
had been better since it had been spent with people who are like my family. At the end of the day maybe that’s all that
matters.
