An Evening with Friends.

An evening with friends:

It was the usual cold evening of the Monsoon hit Bangalore city when all of us came to work. It was decided that Poonam gives a party for her birthday, which was long gone, a month ago; typically, Indian. Everything can be postponed.

It was about 9 in the evening, or should I say night that we decided to go for the dinner party. As usual, a debate over the venue for dinner. Benazir had gone out of the office earlier to drop her brother to the bus stand, as he was new to Bangalore.

I called Benazir, who told me that she was walking towards Mayuri, an Andhra Hotel, which serves authentic Andhra-style spicy food. We decided against it as the major item of eats would be rice and we were too well fed to put on any more weight; well at least me. We decided that we go to “FRIENDS,” a restaurant, which served all kinds of food, Mughlai, Chinese (Indian Chinese of course), and also Continental food.

Next, the problem was how to get there. We had two bikes, a Kinetic Honda and a Pulser. Shil and Poonam decided to leave together and Sadath volunteered to pick Benazir from where she was. That left Vicky and me; and we decided that we take a rickshaw. We walked about one-fourth of a mile and got into a rickshaw, who was Michael Schumacher incarnate; at least he thought he was. We survived three accidents before we reached the dimly lit “FRIENDS,” which was less than a mile away. We, Vicky and me, waited for about 10 minutes before Shil and Poonam joined us and we took a table for six in the café.

I could see the dimly lit café surprisingly crowded at that time of the evening, mainly because the location was not very popular. There were three girls, giggling away to glory on something, probably a story of their latest boyfriends. One of the girls was constantly over the phone, chatting. She was probably the leader of the pack, giving Gyan Sessions to the other two who were listening to their leader intently. The other side of the restaurant was a boy of 18 – 20 years of age, (probably) patiently waiting for his girl friend, who was on her way. He looked to be more of Chinese origin. The restaurant smelt dully of cigarette smoke combined with the aroma of food.

We sat at the table, right behind the Billing counter. We were waiting for Benazir and Sadath to come down. Finally, after about 5 minutes the duo arrived. I had to get up and go as I got a call from Rajani. That call, I would not miss for the world. I spoke to her for about five minutes. In the meantime I happened to see a couple of worried faces passing by in the darkness of night. Traffic gradually dying out and most of the vehicles hurrying back home. A lot of FORMULA-1 drivers of Call Center vehicles driving at top speeds trying to beat time at its own game. The call ended and I re-entered the restaurant.

My friends were still discussing as to what they should order. I sat next to Poonam, as that was the only seat vacant. Shil told me that they had ordered some starters and were waiting for me to order the main course. It was evident that they had made up their minds, all except for one, Sadath. He was still very intently studying the menu. Finally, after a couple of minutes we arrived at what to order.

Next to me was a busy couple. All they did was silently eat. As usual, I began thinking, they must be a couple who would probably have had a fight and just wanted to try and end the day on a pleasant note. Food came. In no time, the starters were empty. We were all chitchatting and the noise of the restaurant drowned the old English Music they were playing. The faint music actually reminded me of school days. Nobody really bothered what exactly was being played. On the far end of the restaurant was a middle-aged couple; they had probably seen the good days and were fighting life. They were arguing upon some topic, which obviously we could not hear considering the noise in the café. Behind us was another couple; these people probably were the ones who came in there for a special occasion, but unlike all the other couples I could see, were very happy and cheerful. They looked like the ones who saved their entire month’s savings for that day. What made me come to that conclusion??? Well, I could see that they were not wearing the usual city kind of clothes, second, they were having soup first, which meant that they had not come in to grab a bite, but have a proper three-course meal. They were not very well off, but they were happy. A table away was our group, who were complaining about everything and anything, right from the weather of Bangalore to Saddam’s plight; and then there was the couple sitting beside us, happy and immensely contended. Seeing them, made me feel really happy and contended that there were some people who did not care about the world, but for them that special moment was that time that they shared amongst themselves; their private party.

First came Vicky’s chicken fried rice with Gobi Manchurian. Then came Poonam’s food, Chicken Pepperonata, and then began the interesting part. The food was bland and she complained. She asked the waiter and the steward to make it a little spicier, and sent it back. Some time later arrived the parathas and the Chicken Kadai. A little later came my Chicken Pantoque, which I quietly started to eat. Benazir had ordered for a Vegetable American ChopSuey, which finally came at the end; guess they had then gone to find vegetables. A few minutes later, Poonam’s dish arrived with a different flavor, more pepper and again complaints and outbursts were heard. Poonam was very disturbed for the fact that there was too much pepper in the Pepperonata. I did taste it, but felt it to be okay. She would not agree and blasted the waiters, stewards, and everybody who came to the table to help, finally canceling her order. She had a bite from our plates and that’s how the evening came to an end. It was already 10:15 in the night and we had to get back to work.

I was just thinking how complex the FEMALE SPECIES was. On one side, I have seen Rajani, who does not complain at all and on the other side was Poonam who complained about everything she had.

God obviously couldn’t rest once he made the female species!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!