An Outlet: Part 6

9 February, 2019.

Today was a very good day even if plans were altered quite a bit!

In the morning, I worked a bit on my marketing project after which I got ready to leave home by 11:30AM.

So there is this art fest that takes place in the south side of my city every year. The main attraction is a lane filled with big scale artistic pieces. The fest also has cultural stalls, drama/music/ dance/writing events and workshops, heritage walks, etc.

I visited the place in 2015 and 2017, the latter of which was with Kristen. We had had a great time back then and since we didn't go there last year, we decided to visit the 2019 edition today. Alex was also thinking of coming but ditched us in the end.

We had lunch plans before going to the fest tho and as usual I walked the way from the desired station to the desired restaurant. It was a good walk. On my way I came across a lot of these small boutique stores that I'd be interested to visit some day. The clothes looked trendy and I'm guessing they are within an affordable price range.

Kristen and I decided to have Burmese food today at the same place Alex and I came to have Korean food a couple months ago. Apparently the place is known for its Burmese Khow-suey and I had never had it so I was totally looking forward to it.

And it was tasty! I'm guessing this is the way a khow-suey is served but they gave us two bowls- one with noodles and one with a yellow curry- and a plate with different garnishing items like (fried) onions, fried garlic, peanuts, chilli flakes, lemons, some greens, etc. We had to put in howmuchever of those we wanted in the curry. Even though it may not be the actual way, I like how mine turned out.

The food was really but tasty but more than filling! Kristen has ordered khow-suey from this very place quite a few times before and was able to finish it but boy, it seems like they gave us a lot today (which is interesting since we availed the Zomato Gold offer) and we just couldn't finish it. We were at that restaurant for over two hours but we still couldn't empty the bowls. Next time I'm sharing my meal.

We had a lot of time to kill and since we needed to heal our fully loaded stomachs, we decided to walk to the desired station. On our way we came across a Marvel/Thanos themed cafe/juice bar. It had a Thanos statue right outside the cafe and we were interested to see the interiors so we did. It was all space and super hero themed and maybe a liiiiiitle bit corny if you ask me. Plus I'm guessing this place (which was apprently started only 2 days ago) does not have a long term vision because the Avengers fever may die down after the final installment. I probably would've visited the place if the prices were a little lower.

We also met/came across one of Kristen's school teachers and a guy from college on the way. Oh, and Kristen bought her favourite icecream as well. We took a fast train and reached the south side very quickly. We spent some time at this popular gift centre, looking and commenting on different things. We also took a look at the small roadside stores outside the station after which we took a bus (this is probably the first time I've heard bus stop announces on a bus. Ironically, it was also the first time I witnessed the old technique of issuing tickets.) to where we thought our chosen heritage walk would start.

Now on the brochure they had just mentioned the name of the road without any landmark to support it. So naturally we Googled the place and landed up at whatever place Google told us. But when we reached the place, we could see no one. We walked for quite a bit and it was only later that we realised that we were on the other end of the walk. They seriously should've thought this through.

At this point, I suggested we go to the lane where the art projects were put up but Kristen had already been there on one of the weekdays and didn't want to go there again. We decided to go to her club and play badminton instead. I won't lie, I was disappointed and kinda pissed because Kristen was the one who asked if I'd like to go to the fest with her. We had already fixed our plan and later on she decided to go there with someone else. I really wanted to go see the art installations but didn't want to create a argument and make the day go bad.

It was a drastic shift from our original plan but it turned out well in the end. We reached the club and got to know that we were supposed to get our own equipment and be in an appropriate attire if we wanted to use their badminton court. So we just roamed around the club and eventually found an empty spot, sat there and spoke. Both of us had gone for a trip towards the end of last year but never got around to fully describing what we saw/did there. So that's what we did for the next hour and a half. Then we took some pictures with the sea (yeah yeah not my fav kind of scenery but I wasn't that scared) and roamed a bit more.

We had initially decided to go for dinner at a place near Kristen's house but at around 6:30-45PM, with all the walking that we had done, we had successfully digested that khow-suey and decided to have an early dinner at the club itself. But apparently it was too early to order something from the dinner menu. This got me thinking- I have watched vlogs by people living, in say, America and noticed that they eat dinner very early but here in India, if you're going out for dinner, you'll find the maximum crowd at restaurants post 8PM.

Anyways we continued speaking and eventually ordered ourselves some REALLY TASTY continental food! Plus since this was a club, we even got subsidised rates! Woohoo! Kristen and I had a very long chat, before and during our dinner. We spoke at length about Kristen's home life, the restrictions put on her by her grandmother, a bit about the origin of her family crisis. I knew that Kristen has a family background that gives a lot of importance to a close knit community (regardless of good or bad relations) but with what all she told me today, I never realised just how deep their community's acceptance affects their lives.

Kirsten told me that today was the first day in a long time that she didn't feel like running away from. I know she will get through this. She is strong enough to do so.

We also spoke at length about marriage (something that I avoid talking about), giving back to parents and our increasing fuck it attitude amongst other things. I always wonder whether I have an impact on other's lives- do I influence people to do things/ feel things/ think in a different way-  just the way I get influenced by the others around me. Kirsten told me that being friends with me (and Venus) has taught her how to not go out of the way to do things for people who don't deserve it. You have no idea how happy I felt when I heard that.

It was 9PM by the time we decided to head back home. It took quite some time for us to avail a cab and for some reason, no one was ready to go to the station we wanted to go to. Ultimately we landed up at another station and that too at the crowded end. I almost boarded the wrong train because I forgot that the train letterings were a bit different at this railway line (this line caters to a wider and longer distance). We traveled without a ticket today. I feel guilty about it but we would've missed our train had we waited for the ticket and the frequency of our desired train was quite bleak.

I came back home very tired. Mom had also gone for the fest with her building friends so we both exchanged our stories (Main difference- they actually ended up going for the fest unlike us). I think altering today's plan was a good decision because apparently there was huge line to enter the main lane. Mom and others found a sly way to get in tho. Good for them.

I had decided to do some more work after coming back home but I can't cause I feel like I'm going to fall off to sleep at any moment.