The motorbike revved past the honking ‘yellow-n-blacks-on-fours’. Seated on the pillion, there were a million thoughts racing through my mind. Not knowing someone was one thing, but going with that one, to meet another, was something that could never be expected of yours truly. What gave me solace was that I kept reminding myself that I was a big girl who was going to meet someone for work. It helped keep my nervousness in control.
Seated where I was, I hadn’t even had the opportunity to see the face of this new friend clearly. It was all in a split second that we had met and contrary to the customary “hello” I had been greeted with “You are late for your first date.” Spoken completely in jest, the words brought a smile to my face - the first, of the series of smiles that were to follow throughout the evening. In retrospect, if I could go back in time, the one thing that I would like to change of the evening would be the fact that I kept smiling throughout. I must have made quite a hilarious sight perched on that chair at Barista, giggling away like an awkward teenager.
What seemed quite unbelievable was the fact that he seemed so perfectly at ease. I said to myself that such comfort came from years of knowing how to deal with silly shy creatures like me. But then, how was I to know anything? This was my first time with a ‘friend’ I didn’t know… Did I mention ‘friend’? Oh yes, that’s what I thought of him, when the other boy walked in. Suddenly, I was with two people – one who I had just met, and the other who I had met about 20 minutes earlier. Undoubtedly the 20-minute-old friend seemed more familiar, and of course, he was “Bawa” too… And that breeds familiarity in any corner of the world!
The “work” that we had met for was wrapped up in about 15 minutes and then I sat there laughing along with them, discovering things about my new friend! Apart from getting ‘hot’ coffee when asked for ‘cold’, there were many interesting things about him that I was learning. A complete contrast to the “shy” Pearl, he was a natural smooth-talker. He also successfully shook up the image of the conventional Parsi boy that I had in mind. Here he was, talking in his Parsi-accented Gujarati at one time, and discussing S.W.O.T. Analysis and Murphy’s Law, on the other.
After the friend left, I was quite unsure about what was to follow. To my relief, he suggested that we take a walk, as opposed to remain seated at Barista; at least that way, I would appear little less foolish even if I continued to smile, as he wouldn’t be able to see it. As we walked around Phoenix Mills discussing (if it can be called so, considering that I contributed barely 10%) Murphy and S.W.O.T., I kept wondering why he was taking the effort to do so. Hadn’t he already been nice enough to volunteer to help me without actually knowing me? And hadn’t I already been ‘weird’ enough for him? Perhaps he had some time to kill before he headed for dinner and that’s why he was spending it with me. And when he had bored himself enough, he decided that the washroom was a better place to keep him company!
Not very surprising considering that we were complete opposites! He was someone who took very easily to people, whereas I would take my time to get to know them. When he re-appeared, I thought I would free him from the torture of my company and suggested that we go home. I am certain that he must’ve been thoroughly happy at that! On our way back, he spoke to me of his love for curry-chawal and his fear of virgins. As we approached my place, I was, to my surprise, extremely happy with the company that I was in. I realised that nothing about the evening had been all that weird. I had met a nice person and spent some good time with him! Nothing at all seemed as absurd and as strange as it had at the beginning of the evening. Just as I thought of that, I wondered if I had in turn, ruined that boy’s evening completely thanks to my lack of conversation. He stopped his vehicle when we reached my building, and as I got off, he said, “We will meet again!” All I could do was smile…
So much for being polite and chivalrous!
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