pub shub hai rubba

It’s a good thing that smoking is banned at indoor venues. Thanks to that yesterday when the office gang decided to go for a night out, I could agree to go to a pub. Normally the only pub I could barely manage was the hard rock café. With its high ceilings and decent air filtration, I could handle the smoke filled interiors.
I am pretty allergic to cigarette smoke. For some reason cigarette smoke makes my ears pain. Yup you read that right. My ears pain. Even if someone comes into the office smoking a cigarette or if the taxi driver has smoked before driving I can smell it and in a closed environment the ears begin to tingle a bit. So pubs have been out of bound for most of my life. Especially the happening ones at Bandra and other suburbs which have low ceilings, bad air-conditioning and no air filtration so as to speak off. Not to mention the cramped places and the really loud music that is played from speakers close enough to burst your ear drums.
Well with one variable viz smoke out of the equation, these fire traps are suddenly much more bearable for people like me. We finally get an opportunity to listen to some good music that we can identify and hum along. My music tastes were mainly those that my elder siblings thrust upon my helpless ears. Right from the girlie music that my elder sister thrust upon us to the complete hard rock that my brother subjected me to. We had only one music player and it was quite clear that I was whale shit in the pecking order and my choice didn’t count. Not that I was an audiophile to start with and I really did not mind. I was happy to get them to spend their pocket money, buying cassettes, recoding music, playing them etc. we had those cassette players which would get spoiled in the Mumbai humidity and they had to keep cleaning the head with some alcohol solution. We used to use dad’s aftershave as well at times. Hehhe. I sure he didn’t know. Not that he cared too much as he was never into perfumes. His bottles lasted forever. I still have one last little bit of after shave lotion in a bottle that he bought before I was born. I loved it and I conserved it with great pains. It was special enough for me to use at my marriage and reception ceremony.
So my music was largely shaped by what I was made to hear rather than by choice. Hence I cant even manage to go these new fangled pubs playing hip hop. I cant understand or importantly identify with the music. And if the music is the glue for the crowds, I cant understand the crowd as well. Not that I want to understand the crowd in any which way possible. I may be happier being a loner than being a pretend.
But yesterday I had an opportunity to go to Hawiian Shack in Bandra. As I expected low ceilings and claustrophobic atmosphere but at least no second hand smoke to inhale. I was also promised that it played my kind of music. The 80’s 90’s rock. Of course no Turbo Lover but at least we had Bruce Springsteen. That’s ok. Also reaching earlier we had a option of choosing the table. We wanted to avoid the one right under the air conditioners, but the those with the ACs had the dam over sized speaker. One table had speakers and woofers next to it. We settled for on in between the two. Just about ok. I must be the only guy who gets into a pub and wants to figure exactly where to sit. I think a misfit from the starting steps.
But in the end it was one pilgrimage done. I have been seeing and hearing about the place since so many years with no chance to go there. I must admit that I enjoyed the music there.
One of the funny things I noticed that on the next table a large crowd from an office had come in. While we were a small but noisy and fun group, that one turned out to be a large and quite group attacking the drinks and food. My guess is that the company was paying for it, or possible it’s the boss taking them out. Get the free booze into your system as fast as possible. Hehe. Ok I might be a little unfair and judgemental. But the archetype in my mind seemed to fit.
The best part of the evening, I got home and I did not have to scrub off the nicotine off my hair, shirt, hands and skin. I just took a quick shower and could hit the bed happy.