#a_girl_name_disaster 2nd part My aunt from village, the local shopkeeper, my tution teacher, my neighbor’s maid-servant had all been victims of my disastrous company. But the saddest event perhaps was the one associated with my teenage cousin from France. She had come visiting us during the summer holidays that year. That day all of us had gone to attend the science fair. There, one by one, we perched on the Ferris Wheel. The Ferris Wheel had barely made a semi-circle and we had glided smoothly to the top when there was a sudden jerk and a stop! The Ferris Wheel just wouldn’t budge….And obviously at the top-most cubicle was seated, who else but I, with my panic- stricken cousin. “Oh puhlease….puth me dhown…”, she howled at the top of her voice. No amount of coaxing from me or onlookers could calm her down. From threatening to jump from there to biting my fingers red, she did everything she could in those fifteen minutes. Finally when we were brought down she had turned from tomato red to pale pink and had fainted. They never came back to India again! Prelude: Act 2 My game of chess with disaster continued to my college days too. Don’t know why but I was never allowed to go for excursions by my family. But the stories and experiences my classmates shared after-on were so exciting that during my second year I had made up my mind to go for the excursion. Lot of cajoling and coaxing later I was finally allowed to travel. The excursion began with a near-miss train accident, followed by a total-miss of the last bus to our destination and finally a night halt at a road-side hotel that had a single toilet for forty- five of us. The only food that the hotel could offer was a piece of bread each with a boiled egg. Almost all of us discovered the tinge of blue, velvet-like texture at the edge of our breads but were too hungry to protest. And as an obvious after-math, the excursion ended with a series of food poisoning cases. The next year I opted not to go. My classmates were visibly relieved ! Prelude: Act 3 I was of the impression that my free-fall would continue only till my adolescence and then Mother Destiny would be kind enough to lift me up. But that was not to be! I got the first proof of it when I began dating a young man who had as dissimilar background to mine as possibly could be. One of the prime one being the issue of vegetarianism – while we were voracious fish and meat eaters, his mother would not even hear of anything remotely non-vegetarian. So to impress my would-be mother-in-law I decided on a day-out with her. Just as my luck would have it there was a last minute call from my lover. “Sweetheart, I might just be a teeny-weeny bit late….Mom will be waiting near the staircase of the Silk House. Just pick her up and I’ll join you soon…very soon, I promise”. So with my heart going audibly lub-dub I made my way to the Silk House, though I really couldn’t fathom why she would stand right in front of the shop when there was no plan to buy sarees. Or was there one ? I didn’t know… I met her, hailed an auto and headed straight to an eatery I had known. “Narayana Eating House” was a well-known vegetarian joint, serving authentic vegetarian items like Dhokla, Masala Dosa, Uttapams. I knew she was fond of Masala Dosas and this was the only way I could think of, to put myself in her good books. “Aunty, they make such yummy food..you will just love eating those!”, I tried to break the ice during my trip but she wouldn’t smile. At the destination I volunteered to pay for the auto while I asked her to get inside the joint as the crowd would normally grow bigger in the evenings. I paid the driver and turned my head – only to look her face – pale and ashen. I couldn’t understand what was wrong till my eyes fell on the sign-board outside the eatery. Instead of “Narayana Eating House” the board read “Chicken Chomp Chomp”. “ The only restaurant in town that serves authentic chicken dishes”, it proudly proclaimed with the picture of a hen with a chef’s hat beckoning the customers (To eat it!) !! Just ten days ago “Narayana Eating House” was doing a roaring business. How was I to know…… I was embarrassed like never before and tried to mumble my apologies but she gave me a ‘curse- you’ look and took a return auto back home -all alone!..... #last_part within 15 min #Rocky...!! #Fb
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 13:04:42 +0000
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