A SELF-PROCLAIMED “ÉLITE”
Red wine brings me joy indeed. This weekend I realized how crucial it has become to my mental health during the current pandemic. The soley act of opening a bottle excites me - a ritual that officially transforms my living room from office back to home after a full workday.
The Christmas-gifts-buying-experience was rather different this year. I was presented with the choice of either searching endlessly online in the safety of my home for presents that would be delivered on time for Christmas without charging a rent’s worth in delivery fees; or, going to a packed store while trying not to get infected in what seemed like a scene from the hunger games. Like any other sane person would do when given the choices A or B, I chose C... so I decided to do both. While in the middle of what felt like a pro-covid Christmas shopping battle inside a gift shop, I saw a book that promised to teach how to cook Indian curry “easily”. The book title caused an immediate flashback to this same weekend in 2015, when I was traveling to India for the “no to wedding, yes to party trip” of my friend Saira.
Born in India and raised in the Middle East, Saira is a petite girl with a powerful character who is part of the lunatic group of friends I made while studying in London. This self-proclaimed “élite” group has representatives from Scandinavia, Pakistan, India, Cyprus, Latin America and the Middle East; we share interests such as the business of fashion, an ability to generate awkward moments, and an inexorable hunger for adventure. On one of our nights out in Central London, Saira and I had to run from two tall Eastern Europeans guys who strongly insisted on convincing us to enter a black luxury car with the promise of the best party for our lives. When things got a bit too suspicious, Saira and I decided to run without looking back and hide in one of the alleys where we normally had post-study pines. The two guys and a third one who showed up out of nowhere came after us, but thankfully we knew those alleys by heart. Another time, Saira was invited to meet Donatella Versace after waiting all night outside of H&M, seating on chairs we temporarily stole from an Italian restaurant close by, we were queuing there to be one of the first people to buy the Versace for H&M collab. I still remember her state of shock when she was presented with such opportunity - the cigarette on Saira’s mouth fell off as she tried to graciously accept the invitation.
A few years after that Saira-Donatella moment, Saira got engaged. We were all mega excited to go to Mumbai for a great celebration. We indeed traveled to the land of the namaste, but destiny had other plans for Saira’s love life…
A spill for next Sunday...
Buon Coraggio,
Myster Spills
