The sea in a shell

I was all keyed up. I was having dinner at 8216;Olive8217;. With an old college friend who I had not met for 20 years. Much water had flow...

I was all keyed up. I was having dinner at 8216;Olive8217;. With an old college friend who I had not met for 20 years. Much water had flowed under the bridge. And we had agreed to meet at 8216;Olive8217;, because that was the only restaurant that I knew in the Mumbai suburbs. Surprise. Surprise. When I reached at eight sharp expecting to be kept waiting for at least a quarter hour, she was already there.

We walked into the restaurant which, with its bare white walls, reminded me of 8216;Indigo8217;. Something which immediately made me feel more comfortable. We south Bombay people are like that. I consulted her and settled on a bottle of Hardy8217;s wine and said. 8220;Let8217;s order.8221; Going down the menu I saw 8216;oysters8217;. I asked her, 8220;Should we order oysters? I have never had oysters before.8221; She said, 8220;Sure thing.8221;

We ordered oysters and some spring rolls as starters. The bottle of wine came first. It was first class. Not too sweet, not too dry and I prayed not too expensive. And then came the oysters which came on a bed of ice in open half shells. They looked off-white, almost fragile and extremely tempting. Without waiting to offer it to A, I just placed a shell on my platter, scooped out the contents and put it in my mouth. When it touched my tongue, it erupted, enveloping the mouth with the taste of the sea. It was delicate and salty but that only partly describes it. It was the sea, with all its taste, scent and feel. And before I knew it, it was gone. It had slid down down my throat. For a moment I felt enveloped by the sea. More so then when I spent hours swimming off the beach of Baga. Much more so then when I walked by the sea on a beach.

By the time I got to the second oyster, A had taken charge. She instructed me to squeeze a drop of lime on it and also a drop of tobasco, too. She said it will taste better. Better, I wondered. What could ever taste better? However I followed her instructions. I put a drop of lime and a dash of tabsco. It was very good. But better? No way. The tobasco and the lime seemed to detract from its original primeval taste.

We then ordered a lot of food 8212; chicken, prawns, mussels. We talked a lot, trying to bridge the gap of 20 years in an evening of incessant talking. We laughed about friends and college days. We talked of how we had become older but not necessarily wiser. We talked of books we loved. I am amazed how Vikram Seth8217;s Golden Gate features in all my conversations about books. She said she was partial towards older authors: Dickens, Woolf, Thackeray.

We finished our bottle of wine, ordered another. By the end it was a splendid evening. But what I am sure I will never forget is my first oyster. Simply the taste of the sea.