Previous post - Classmates visit to Mizoram - Day 1
DAY 2.
As I mentioned in my previous post, we had a blast with our classmates at 23°N Diner. Azuala and Stephen drove the guys back to their hotel, while I headed back to the farm at Neihbawih because the plan was for all of them to come up to the farm the next day, where we would watch the sunset from my hilltop "spot" and then head down to Aizawl for dinner.
And so, on the second day of their visit, Thalavai and Eshwar woke up early and explored the city on foot.
Rumour has it that Eshwar was asking every random person he met on the road if they knew where Maria Grace lived. :P
Once the rest of the jet-lagged guys were up, they got ready and the Mizo boys in Aizawl took them to TLC where they had a grand meal of pizzas and burgers.
I, on the other hand, was busy that entire morning cleaning up the farmhouse, arranging snacks, and getting things ready for their evening visit.
And then… politics happened.
There was a massive protest in Aizawl that afternoon (30th Jan). Congress party supporters were demonstrating against some central government issues, and traffic came to a complete standstill across the city.
Naturally, my Mizo classmates were in no mood to attempt the long drive to my farm through that chaos. So after they had all eaten, we all decided to cancel the farm trip, and instead, they took our visiting friends to their respective homes, introducing them to their families.
Damn you, Congress. :(
But on the other hand, it was really nice of our classmates to visit all our homes (except mine, of course, since I was stuck at the farm).
Paul, who couldn't join us on our upcoming trip, also took time off to show our classmates around the city as well.
Meanwhile, back at the farm, I packed a small bag for the next day’s trip and headed down to Aizawl in the evening.
While I was on my way to Aizawl, the guys even played volleyball with some local kids, as Debo was our Volleyball captain and he still plays and coaches to this day.
I reached Regency Hotel and moved into Thomas Joy’s room as he was staying in a double room. I also informed the receptionist about my stay, so I could eat the complimentary breakfast buffet the next morning. :D :P
Thomas isn’t just my classmate from Class 7 to 12, he was also my hostel roommate during engineering college days. Many times, instead of travelling all the way back to Mizoram during short college holidays, I would head to his house in Pala, Kerala. Back then, air travel was a luxury, and getting from Coimbatore to Aizawl meant two to three days of train and road journeys. It simply made more sense to stay at his place. So bunking up together again after all these years was something we were both looking forward to.
Once everyone at Regency had showered and changed, we headed to Hminga's house, which was just a 2-minute walk away, waiting for the other Mizos to arrive.
There were rounds of excited storytelling about their day in Aizawl, and they were genuinely flabbergasted by how polite every driver was and that they hadn't heard a single horn honk since they arrived.
Soon, we headed next door to Hotel Platinum for dinner. Tables had already been reserved, thanks to Tlawmlova’s connections.
A live band was playing, and they were genuinely good. They alternated between Mizo and English songs, keeping the crowd fully engaged.
The band also played song requests. You know you’re officially an old fart when 80% of the popular English songs from our era that we confidently requested… they had never even heard of, lolz. But yeah, they flawlessly performed every Gen Z and Gen Alpha hit. Damn, we're old.
They served great mocktails too, kudos to the bartender.
The food was equally impressive. Juicy tandoori chicken, creamy butter chicken, and easily some of the best authentic naan in town. We absolutely hogged everything.
Before we knew it, it was closing time. Our classmates still couldn’t wrap their heads around how early establishments shut here. Thomas did manage to grab a photo with the members of the girl band, and they were incredibly polite and friendly.
In fact, they were so polite that when he invited them to visit his house, they politely refused. :P
Once we were all outside the hotel, we decided to take a slow stroll down Zarkawt and stopped for roadside tea. Our junior Marsh also joined us.
The streets were calm, with a cool winter breeze lingering in the air, and for a moment, it felt like the city had decided to chill with us.
Eventually, we said goodnight to the other Mizos and headed back up to our hotel rooms. Thomas and I stayed up chatting for a while longer, just like old times.
We also played around with AI and sent the photos below to our batch WhatsApp group, pretending we were in Pattaya or something. :D
Vishnu responded by sending this AI-generated video of us, lolz
That night was also the first time in my life that I stayed in a hotel in Aizawl. Yeah, that's wild. Anyhoo, the next day was going to be packed, so we finally called it a night.
Do visit my blog again for day 3. That’s when things got even more interesting. :)
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