It had been a couple of months since the trio had met up and today Anil called Madhu and me for a nice evening outside. He called at around 4:30 pm and said that we’d meet for coffee. A shower & shave later I stood outside Coffee Beanz waiting for my two best friends to arrive. They both came and we decided to go across to the walkway on Marine drive. We had a little snack at Ann’s Bakery, which for years was so famous & prestigious as being one of the best bakeries in Cochin. I remember people from Trivandrum, Trichur & Calicut coming over to Cochin and saying that “we must buy marble cake and some snacks from Ann’s”! It was that famous but nowadays competitions seems to have beaten them down and the place look drab and deserted.

Then we walked along the walkway for a while, found ourselves a nice spot and sat and yakked for an hour or so. We always seems to discuss similar topics but this is the first time since two significant things have happened – Anil is going to be a dad as his wife is expecting. It will be around June July when the baby is due. And Madhu has got his visa for going to Qatar. He will be leaving in a month’s time. He has relatives of his wife in Qatar and they have arranged a job for him and the work visa. So Anil & I will be saying goodbye to him for atleast a couple of years. Hopefully before he leaves we can get together again and have a nice lunch or dinner and spend a lot more time. I hope he does well.