“What do you want to eat?” Arjun passed the menu to me. I looked at the menu, there were so many things, appetisers, soups,salads, burgers and pizza. I wasn’t sure what I should order and I knew I would sound really naive if I asked Arjun for help to chose a meal for me. I have never been to a fast food restaurant in my life. I have only been to Indian restaurants that serve yummy ghee dosai or biriyani.
“What are you having?” I asked Arjun
“I think I will have the vege burger” He replied
I checked the menu and found the vege burger.
“I will have the same” I replied, silently sighing a relieved sigh.
When the waiter came, Arjun ordered
“2 vege burger, make sure you won’t put mayo in mine”
“What do you want to drink Nina?”
I chose the safest”Orange juice please”
“I will have a fruit punch and one orange juice for her” Arjun ordered
When the waiter left I asked Arjun
“Why did you say no Mayo on your burger?”
“mayo is made from egg and I am a vegetarian. I don’t eat egg”
“Oh, but you eat cake!”
“The egg in mayo is un cooked!”
“Oh”
I didn’t know that. I realized I had to read more about food, there was so much I didn’t know.
“So tell me, what are your hobbies apart from reading?” Arjun asked
He was the one who gets books for me, so he would know I like to read.
“Nothing else. I am not good at anything else”
“How come?”
“Don’t know. I was never interested in sports, was not good at drawing or any other artsy stuff”
“Hmm” Arjun mumbled
I remembered the same conversation I had with beautiful eyes and how much we laughed.
“What is your hobby apart from sleeping?” I asked him
“So you know eh? That I like to sleep till late morning?” He was smiling
“till late morning or mid afternoon?” I asked
“well, I would like to sleep till mid afternoon, but my pesky sister’s won’t let me, oh by the way they have been asking about you”
“Really?”
“Yes, they like you”
“hmm” I mumbled
I watched the waiter serving the food.
I picked up my burger to eat and even before I could take a bite, part of the lettuce along with the dressing fell on my lap. It was so embarrassing. I looked at Arjun to see if he had noticed. He was asking the waiter about the no mayo order. I quickly looked around to see if anyone else had noticed how clumsy I was. Fortunately no one saw. I used the napkin and carefully cleaned the sauce from my jeans. I felt so inadequate that I can’t even eat a burger without making a mess.
We ate in silence, mostly because I was concentrating on not to make a mess and eat my food properly and dignified.
“What time is it Nina?” Arjun asked
“6.45”
I noticed Arjun doesn’t have a watch. Why doesn’t he have a watch? How would he take the patient’s pulse without a watch?
“Oh no! I told my friends that we met them near Nilgiri’s around 6.30, come on Let’s go. We are late. Why didn’t you tell me that it was already 6.45 pm?”
“Arjun,You never asked”
He never told me that he was meeting his friends and how was I supposed to guess it?
“Come on let us go” He got up, picked up his jacket and called the waiter to bring the check. The waiter was serving another customer and I watched him going back inside the shop.
We both looked at the door for the waiter to come out. Every few seconds Arjun was cussing and swearing at the waiter and I felt so uncomfortable. I was just so relieved to see the waiter coming out with the bill. But to my surprise, he bypassed us and gave the bill to the diners at the other end of the shop.
“Mother fucker, lazy bone, I asked for the bill and he is serving someone else first.”
“Arjun Why are you swearing at him, they would have asked the bill first”
“But I am late”
“Arjun, you know that is not the waiter’s problem”
“Shut up” He yelled. I watched him marching to the counter inside the shop. I looked at the waiter. He was counting the money left by the diners. He picked up the loose change in the plate and I knew they would have paid very little tip. He must have been about 30 years old and just to earn an income he has to endure all these swearing by those who can afford to eat a burger paying 15 rs, pick up the loose changes left by the patrons like a beggar and then clean the table like a servant.
I watched Arjun coming out of the shop, he was still swearing.
“Come, let us go” He started to walk out
“Are you not leaving a tip?”
“What for? lazy bones like him don’t deserve a tip”
Waiter was looking at both of us and I wanted to apologize for the way my friend was behaving. But I couldn’t. I didn’t have the courage to open my wallet and leave some money as a tip. I was tied down by the friendship loyalty.
I hoped this guy would be working in the restaurant everyday, for I intended to pay him a good tip the next time I came here.
By the time we reached the Nilgiris a large crowd of youngsters were waiting for us
“Arjun” Screamed one of the girls “You are late, don’t tell me you slept off”
“Nina, meet my friends, the crescent park gang”
“Crescent park gang?” I asked
“almost all of them live in an apartment complex called Crescent park”
“Oh”
“So you must be Nina, I am sharon” One of the girls came and shook my hands,
I looked at her, her jeans was completely torn, her tee shirt had so many cuts in the sleeves and on the body. She was wearing stilettos. In one look you would know she was outgoing and a very happy person.
“Hey Sharon, is your earrings a new style” Arjun asked her
Only then I noticed her earrings, She had something like a piece of toothpick as earring.
“This one?” She pointed to her earrings. “No darling, I lost me diamond earring at the pool again!. When I lost it last time, my mother made me promise that I will wear a toothpick if I lost it again. I am honouring my promise”
wow, I thought. I don’t even own a diamond earring and if I lost it, I would have had to find a new place to live or my mother would have killed me.
“so Sharon, how many beers have you had today” Arjun asked her
“6.15” She replied. Everyone started to laugh.
“6.15?” What is that? I asked Arjun
“Oh that, Sharon doesn’t believe in cussing. So she says 6.15, letter F is the 6 the alphabet and O is the 15th”
“Oh”
Arjun introduced me to all of his friends, most of them were doing engineering and few were doing accountancy. Arjun and I were the only medicos.
“Can we go?” One of them asked and everyone started to walk towards their bikes and got ready to leave. It was fun watching the antics of Arjun’s friends. One of them tried to do wheelie every time he saw a pretty girl walking by the side. Then the tall guy on a yamaha bike motioned all the bikers behind him to watch him. He started to ride along by the side of another guy on a Yezdi bike and asked him if he wanted to share his cigarette. The 2nd biker was concentrating on the road and extended his left hand to get the cigarette. Instead of passing the unlit end, the tall guy passed the lit end of the cigarette and the unsuspecting biker on the 2nd bike yelped in pain and dropped the cigarette. Everyone started to laugh. I too laughed, because it looked funny.
Then I regretted laughing because I saw the way he was holding the bike handle and I knew he really burned his fingers and it would be painful.
By the time we reached the ground where the concert was happening, the area was crowded. There were so many people. The band started to play and everyone started to whistle and scream. I have never whistled in my life and I didn’t know how to whistle. Arjun and the gang were singing along with the band and I didn’t even know any of the songs. All the songs that I listen to were what my father listens to and I was sure Appa wouldn’t have even heard of a band named Rock Machine.
Soon everyone started to dance and I was like a flag pole. Apart from learning Bharatha natyam between the age of 6 till 9 and occasionally nodding my head to the beat, I have never danced. I felt so conscious of my body.
I watched in amazement as Sharon started to shake her body and dance. Soon one of the guys carried her on his shoulder and she was making so much of noise that at one time everyone forgot about the band playing the music.
I wanted to be like Sharon. I wanted the freedom. I wanted to enjoy my life. I wanted to come out of the malayalee cocoon I was stuck in, with layers of rules and regulations. The question wasn’t if it was right or wrong, it wasn’t about if I want or not. The question was if I would be able to break those barriers and if I did, how would it affect my future. Would I branded as a terrible person if I walked around in torn jeans or would I be labelled as westernized? If I was labelled, then would I be happy or not?