Cheers to those who sip and advise

There's a pub in my neighborhood. It's an old pub and has gained popularity over the years. It doesn't play Bollywood music. It doesn't play Ariana Grande or the ilk. It plays the Beatles and Carpenters and is run by a man who seems to be old enough to have hung around with them. The pub is so old that I had my first drink there. And now, I visit it after having completed my full circle of giving up liquor and non-veg. But even though you visit an erstwhile stomping turf as a completely different person, it seems to bookmark a wild and lost heart.

Anyway, now I go to this garage-styled pub for sesame footlong and have hot apple cider. I love that even though it is frequented by groups -large or small - but groups, I am still seated by the bar and handed over my teetotaling beverage and tasty vegetarian starter promptly, without a judgmental look, or any vapid banter to get me to try the house rum. For a pub that plays music and runs some random things on TV on a weekday, it is mellow. There's a patina of joy in the place.

Of course, sometimes there are other people at the bar on a long Thursday evening - one sees the sleeves of Ipads, large files and folders, and laptops so shiny that they look like birds of paradise that are waiting to sprout plumage. (I once saw a brilliant cobalt blue one with lavender flowers. Surely one wasn't using something like that for filling timesheets.) It's this motley group of strangers that I find fascinating. Some come to the bar to wait for their friends because they won't be given a larger table until the whole party arrives. But some come by themselves to let the jostling of the week subside. Some are happy. Some sad. One might spot someone sniffling over a text message. But oddly, there isn't anyone anxious. It's the kind of crowd that could have turned up after reading a poem by Pablo Neruda and is sitting there with their whiskey and prawns ruminating.

The other day, there was a young couple, though. Both were chatty (and loud). Those of us who weren't eavesdropping but weren't tuning them out either, learned a few things about the duo. They were from out of town and were missing the winter from their native place. But they liked the 'vibe' of the city, and evenings like this made the unreal rent seem sweeter. At some point, the boy told the girl to freshen up first and then finish her drink. They'd go check out a new spot by the sea. (My guess is that that place would shut down by the end of the year but...no one asked me.)

Then the boy got a phone call and excused himself.

While he was away, the girl started packing her belongings to go to the restroom. Another lady in a white top and a panda tattoo leaned over to the girl and said, "Don't leave your drink unattended." This other girl stopped for a bit, slightly taken aback - but with a quick nod gulped her drink and went on her way.

I remembered that over twenty years ago, a friend had told me that when I had my first sip of beer.

Decades later, there's a stranger looking out.

Sometimes, even as the dread fills you with what you see around...something sweet also resurfaces...with what you see around.