I have a Pizza Lover colleague at work. Oh you have one too? I guess there are plenty of them roaming around the floors of air conditioned malls and outlets that serve baked bread with onions and mushrooms. At work, I have a Chicken Fanatic (who’s taken to cashing in on my Bengali eating habits like a fish takes to water), a Vegetarian Snob who is okay with egg for it is the new pure-grass thing and even a Cad-M Cad-B freak. (they are sinful chocolate drinks which are proprietary to Maharashtra, I think) So one fine day the originally from Delhi dude had a birthday and as luck would have it, he was struck with a dose of seasonal illness.
We did toy with the he-played-hookey-to-avoid-treat idea. It isn’t financially nice paying for a dozen starving stomachs especially when you are not exactly on till-death-do-us-apart terms. To confirm/un-confirm our fears and to give him some birthday evening company, I went along with a friend to say Happy Birthday.
As the evening shaped out, we ended up having pizzas at Dominos (Close to the all new Pantaloons outlet on Senapati Bapat Road, I am sure they are enjoying the new found strategic advantage).
Initial Arguments We Made For/Against the Plan:
“So much cheese goes into them… it will coagulate my throat!”
“But hey, I can’t do a mess ki tasteless thali night tonight of all nights.”
“Pasta is an absolute no-no much as I adore the little white strands.”
“Garlic bread could do the trick. Say what?”
“I have to stay off Coke. And ketchup. And even the delicious oregano. Poor me!”
“Some spice and some things nice go a long way in curing a sore throat.”
All convinced and prepared, we feasted on a good number of pizzas, a box of garlic bread and a bottle of free Coke. The Chicken Barbeque in the order satiated my chicken fanatic friend and as for the birthday boy, he has never failed to admire the finesse of a well made pizza.
“Pizza Hut is better though,” he said seriously, “they have a more subtle technique of mish mashing the ingredients.”
“I am sure.” I replied, sipping some Coke. “I am a little low on pizza gyan though.”
“In Delhi,” he went on, “they make the pizzas more rounded and crispier. Even without the double burst of cheese, you feel all fuzzy inside.”
The two of us nodded furiously, having a go at the cheesy dip the Domino’s people had thoughtfully (and not without extra charges) added to our order.
Of course we split the bill.
Of Paneer, Pulao and Pune 