A Friday's Gyaan

It was finally one of the Fridays. The clock showed 12 noon. Amid Happy Friday wishes in office, I contemplated what to have for my lunch. Here I was back to my client office for a meeting this Friday and happened to bump against few acquaintances. Slowly everyone pitched in suggestions for some Indian Food. And soon we found ourselves standing across the Indian Café staring doubtfully making up our minds before entering the Cafe.

Settling inside on the warm velvetty couches, we quickly browsed through the menus and ordered few stuffed parathas. Ah! the taste of Indian Parathas here are hugely different from what is served in Indian countryside. Of course, that’s widely expected in a Firangi Desh.  We were busy chatting away.  Mostly chatters spanned from project related cribs to work related stress, gossips and family matters at times. One of my friend said she hired a personal trainer for herself. And the others exclaimed “Wow.. then you could have ordered something healthy from the menu rather the the Ghee paranthas.”  “Oh,no..Am not starving  myself too much” she whimpered an excuse. Soon to everybody’s surprise, she irresistably ordered veggie cutlets on top of it.

We all love giving excuses. If you had ever asked me the previous year, my orders  were been meagre comprising of either dal khichdi or idlis or roti with sabzi. Today I no longer feel the urge to diet, having grown back to my earlier plump size. I always wish to start dieting over again maybe to loose couple of pounds. But that inner voice in me still echoes. ”Enjoy your life.. life is all about trying yummy dishes” Maybe which is why I cant resist shopping deliberate cookies, sweets and ice creams till date.

The steward soon brought in hot huge sized stuffed parathas with curd, pickle and onion slices along with mango lassis and piping hot veg cutlets. We all devoured to our fill.

“Excuse me sir, one of the cutlet is not properly baked”, the fitness freak complained. Within few minutes, we found the waiter rushing in to serve an extra cutlet to replace the half baked one.

After we were done with eating, the old man who came down to clean the table where we sat; asked my friend, “Madam ji, how was the cutlet?” She answered..”Yes, this one’s fine. The previous one wasn’t.”

“Ok. Anything else you need to comment on… like food, service or anything?” , he asked politely.

“Uh.. No. Thank you.”

He requested, “Ok Madam ji. If you have any complaints or negative feedbacks to share, please let me know right now, but kindly do not put it on the internet.”

We all could not help smiling and nodded our head in affirmation.

Then he further checked whether she would like to finish what’s remaining on her plate. She moaned, “No sir. I have had too much already!” He smiled kindly and mouthed few words for the wise. “Madam, never waste food on your plate. Afterall you have come so far leaving behind dear ones in your country just to earn this food.“

After he left, the other friend sighed, “This piece of enlightenment certainly deserves tips worth ten dollars.” Everyone grinned ear to ear.

The Rush

There are several contradictory situations in life. We react differently. It does not define who we are, but defines how we react under certain circumstances.

This incident took place three years back when I was working in Mangalore - India.

One night I was rushing from office to board the last bus to my home as usual. There were lots of hustle bustle and the crowd jostling on the stairs. So I decided to take the elevator instead. 

My watch showed exactly five minutes for eight. I waited impatiently for the elevator to reach my floor. Hardly had door the opened, I rushed in without checking whether it was vacant or there was a crowd waiting to pour out. Luckily it was vacant.

First thing I did after setting my foot inside was to press the close door button on the side panel. As the door was about to close, from within the decreasing gap I could spot a guy running breathlessly towards the lift. There was just 3 mins left now.

Having no other choice but to reach bus depot on time, I quickly pressed the close button firmly, so that the door shut close even before he could reach me. 

And in the worst case even if it did not, his pressing on stop button outside wont trigger the door. Though I was never this rude before, several experiences of missing the last bus had turned off my humane side. That guy probably was also rushing for the last bus like me, but I did not prefer to give a thought about it.

After pressing the button, my conscience asked me.. "Really? Is that you doing this?!" I turned a deaf ear to my inner voice. Not at all a big deal at least when you compare to the crimes happening in the Nation I belong to! But mockingly, I saw the door sliding open. 

The guy quickly hopped inside flashing a merciful smile; thanking me profusely for opening it for him. Wait a moment, I was trying to close it on his face. No sooner than I gathered that my finger had pressed the open button instead of close, my face flushed. The panic to close the door before the guy reached; made me press the wrong button eagerly. By the time we reached the ground floor, the guy had already thanked me twice gratefully. I really felt guilty to accept it.

I was glad at the same time, that my finger did the right thing though though my mind raced to do the wrong! I was glad that external forces of nature helped outweigh the rudeness in me that day.

P.S.: This is my first blog in blogspot.com. I wanted to start posting right away and could not think of better idea  than revisiting old memories at the moment.