We had both become old and staid and I hoped he wouldn’t reminisce too much about the old days because Prita didn’t know how much I’d indulged myself in those days

xMy wife Prita and I had to visit relatives in Mumbai recently, and we stayed at a comfortable hotel which included, among other attractions, a Japanese restaurant. On a free evening, the two of us went up to the Japanese restaurant and were trying to figure out the menu when someone stopped by us. “Recognise me?” he asked.

He was tall and lean and distinguished looking and I took a few seconds to realise it was a former college-mate, Akhil, whom I hadn’t met for a couple of decades. My heart lifted when I did, because we had been together in several teenage escapades together at college in the late 1970s. We had both become o

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