Pulpy Fiction

 

1. Men on the move

London, England, United Kingdom
 

It was a very tough day at work as we went directions all four to get the developed code deployed in the client’s production system. It was supposed to be a momentous occasion but as it happens many a time, the black cat struck and the release was delayed. With my best friend away on holiday and things not going as expected, I was waiting the whole day for this very minute when I could shut my system down and leave for home.
 

Watching the locust like people movement on the roads, I reached the tube station and boarded the Jubilee line train from Barbican towards Stanmore. My daily commute ends with a twenty minute bus travel from Stanmore to home. Exiting the Stanmore station, I saw a bus go past me and ran as fast as I could but remembered my entering the thirties only a few weeks back. The bus gave the right indicator and I missed it by a few seconds.
 

The freezing cold was biting and even the thick winter jacket couldn’t stop the icy breeze that looked for openings to penetrate my skin and tear it.
 

Finally, the next bus arrived and the gruelling fifteen minute wait at the bus stop ended. About twenty of us boarded the bus but as it happens on most bad days all seats had been taken. Wondering what my son and wife would be doing, I leaned against the metal pole and became aware only after about three minutes that the vehicle was still stationary. What I was oblivious to until this minute and suddenly conscious of was something the others around me had been witnessing all this while. There was a man pleading with the driver to let him inside the bus. After closely following what was being discussed, we understood that he had no money to travel. We vaguely heard the words ‘Jesus...my mom’s sick...No money...promise to pay it next time...Let me in’. The conversation didn’t seem to cease and we were starting to lose our patience. There were a few murmurs but no one really bothered to stifle the conversation. Unable to either move the vehicle or convince the person to alight the bus, the driver switched the engine off.  I was boiling from inside and had no sympathy whatsoever for the pleading guy whilst my anger grew to the point that I started cursing my ill luck for all the bad things that happened since the day’s morning.
 

Amidst the clamour and my internal fuming, a sexagenarian (or at least that’s what my thoughts were of his age) rose and politely reminded the participants of the discussion that many people were waiting for the bus to move and offered to pay for the guy.
 

The conversation ended, the penniless guy thanked the old man and boarded the bus with all smiles. The vehicle moved and all was well. The old man who paid took his change from the driver and walked past whilst my fellow passengers and I watched him like he was a hero from one of those western classics. At least for that moment we had to give him the honour for he did something with his presence of mind that the others didn’t think of.
 

Realising how self-oriented I was, I felt sorry for the guy who couldn’t pay for his ticket.  I could easily have done what the old man did and become a hero myself and for all we know, someone else could now be writing this story recording my heroics. The unknown hero showed that there are worse things in life than what you think of and sometimes a very simple solution would be sufficient to solve a problem.
 

2.     Secret eyes

 

My wife and I had returned only recently from our honey moon trip to Kulu and Manali. With the vibrating thoughts still lingering in my mind, I rose from bed, dressed myself and got ready for work.

Ours was an arranged marriage and my sweet wife had got up before me and prepared ghee pongal. Breakfast ended with filter coffee, the aroma of which filled the entire house.
 

All set to go, I kick started my bike and pushed off with a smile but not before returning the flying kiss that my wife floated to me. It is one of those things that make you oblivious of the hustle and bustle of the city, which had hitherto been a big issue.
 

Two hours into work, I received a call from home and my wife wanted to know when I’d return that evening. I said I’d call back to inform her and left my cabin just in time to overhear a conversation between Ramu and Somu, two clerks who had been with the company for many years now. Ramu said times have changed and that women had their share of freedom these days. Somu winked and agreed. Ramu added that whilst their husbands were busy at work chewing the wood, some wives, apart from enjoying the luxuries doing nothing, also went about cheating on their partners.
 

I was furious but, at the same time, very disturbed at hearing these comments. To avoid ruminating on that, I went to the lobby, picked up a cup of tea from the automatic vending machine and settled with the day’s newspaper. Apart from the mundane headlines and talks on Padma sree, Bharat ratna and how the government tackled the recent inflation there was nothing much that attracted my attention. But page three suddenly brought back that disturbing thought. It read ‘Husband kills wife on suspicion of infidelity’.
 

That was that and I couldn’t work anymore. I was also curious to know why my wife had asked when I’d return home. Packing my stuffs, I headed for home. I parked my bike some metres from home so that I could enter home without being noticed. The welcome door mat at home invited and the self obliged only to notice a pair of men’s shoes outside. The door was ajar and I heard people talking. Nearing the door, I heard laughter and it was indeed a man my wife was conversing with. I let the conversation continue without looking at them but when my wife said ‘You are so cute’ and with osculating sounds in the background, I entered to catch the culprits red handed.
 

My wife was shocked to see me and so was I. She was holding a three year old girl in her lap and was kissing her. The male companion was sitting opposite to her on the sofa and a lady suddenly appeared from our restroom. My wife came out of her reverie, introduced me to them and turned to me. She said that Shilpa was her college buddy and she was visiting our city and had come home with her husband and kid to say hello.
 

 She also enquired why I had returned early. I, in a state of ignominy, took time to respond. I lied to her that I was having a bad headache. After briefly exchanging pleasantries with the visitors, I headed to my room.

Post bidding adieu to them, my wife entered our room with her speciality filter coffee. I smiled and opened my eyes only to close my secret eyes.
 

3.     A cuppa tea

Srirangam, Tamilnadu, India
 

The morning sunlight woke me up from my reverie and it was so bright that I was in no mood for a day dream.
 

My college life put me into a private accommodation far away from home, located in a different city. Dad is the sole bread winner but he ensured that I always received my pocket money on time to take care of my expenses.
 

Finishing my morning ablutions, I groped for my eyeglasses and searched the window sill for some change to buy a cup of tea but there was not any. I searched my shirt pockets that were hanging on the self made hanger but could not find any there either. That’s when I remembered my lending two hundred rupees to Ramesh as he needed it to take care of some urgent expenses.
 

That was the only money I had and Ramesh promised to return the money that afternoon. So I neither could ask him to return it nor was the money from dad due.
 

Musing on this and my sudden need for the beverage, I stepped out of my house to think of a way. I sat on the veranda of my colony and looked at the passersby. Twenty minutes passed and Saroja aunty entered and said hello. I returned her greetings and asked how Mani uncle was. She said he was alright and asked me for a help. She said she needed some vegetables but could not go to the market as her baby sitting work was keeping her busy and asked if I could help her.
 

I gleefully accepted for she is one person who is liked by all in the colony for her amiability. Aunty gave me the list of vegetables and said that it would cost no more than eighty rupees and produced a hundred rupee note from her little red purse.
 

I requested aunty that I would need five rupees for tea and will return it once I get the money back from Ramesh. Aunty smiled and nodded affirmatively. The vegetable haggling was done and I managed to get everything.  I decided to give her the vegetables first before I went for tea.

With M.S.Subbulakshmi singing one of her devotional songs from the old audio player, aunty was reciting the verses along.  I gave her the vegetables and the change and she gave me back five rupees for tea.
 

But before I left, she said she had made some tea herself and I could have it here if I preferred, with one of her opulent smiles. I thanked, returned the money and went to the veranda with the tea glass in hand.
 

Sipping the first few drops, I knew this cup of tea was sweeter than the shop’s tea for it had auntie’s motherly affection in addition to the added sugar.

4.     Hold on

 

Mylapore, Chennai, India
 

Reflecting on the things to do, I hurried towards the metro railway station in Mylapore. Though I hate vegetable markets as they don’t help my dust allergy, the daily chore had to be done.

With my shirt drenched in sweat and the haggling over the greens complete, I walked past the hundreds of people who do these daily rounds in crowded markets to meet their ends.
 

I looked at my shirt pocket that was torn and the left pocket in my trousers that had no inner cloth to hold coins and other items it was designed to hold. So, I had to stuff all my coins into the right pocket as the tailor who stitched these pants forgot to add pockets at the back.
 

What with soaring electricity bills, kids’ education, inflation and all that, a man’s earnings disappear by the twentieth of a month and this continues in a vicious circle.
 

Preoccupied with all these, I climbed the stairs of the station.  I stamped on the lace in my right shoe and it got untied. Resting all the items I had in hand on the floor, I tied the lace, got up and wiped the sweat off the forehead. Distributing the weight of the items equally across both hands, I walked on.

The train I had to board was on the platform and it started to move. It picked up speed and I started sprinting. Tightening my pant, sans a belt, which was loosening every minute, I ran to catch the moving vehicle.
 

I panted but managed to get into the vehicle. Realising that I had failed to hold on to the iron pole, I sensed the super fall that was imminent.
 

Neither the apparitions of my older generation were seen nor the white body images of the recently dead people figured in my visions but I could sense that odd feeling which moved from the stomach to head. The electricity bills, my kids, my wife, the groceries, the debits and credits all featured in that fraction of a second. But I knew I had to forget those for everything was going to end and I closed my eyes to enter that deep abyss.
 

Just when I was about to meet my end, there was a sudden flash and I heard people speaking, chatting and shouting around me.  My hand was held by a tall man, who was probably in his late thirties.

It was an afterlife for me and the man said ‘Hold On’ and I thanked him. Suddenly, all the others in the vehicle turned to me to check if I was ok. Embarrassed for being the cynosure of the small group in the train, I assured them that all was well. The man who helped me alighted at the next station.  I thought about my duties and the golly bills and smiled.
 

I got down at my station and spared a few coins to a beggar at the station and walked home with a relief.
 

My daughter ran towards me and hugged. I thought of the man who saved my life. I do not know if he was Jesus, Allah or Krishna but he was my God that day.

 

5.     Plastic pranks

 

My friends and I are a jolly lot. But we are insane when it comes to our fantasies and the kind of childish pranks we play on each other.
 

Whiling away the lazy daytimes of our semester exam holidays, we got ready for some evening adventures. Each person had to suggest an idea to the person standing adjacent to him in the right and that person had to do the act. This continued in rounds. When my turn came, Samir pointed to a shop and asked me to buy a condom packet. I was shocked and never expected this coming my way. Shaking my head in denial, I said it was impossible. But the guys protested and called me a spoilsport and so finally I agreed to do it.
 

By nature, I am a very bold and daring person but this task seemed to be daunting because I have never used a condom in life and I was no exception to the many who get embarrassed just by hearing that word.
 

Mustering up my courage, I entered the shop and started browsing. To my surprise, there were no male staff in the shop and that is when I realised the depth of Samir’s prank. He had chosen a place where only members of the opposite sex were employed.
 

Moving here and there and touching this and that, I tried to find where that goddamn thing was. But it was not to be found. I was a bit relieved and texted Samir from my cell phone about the status quo. Samir, however, dismissed the status quo and texted back saying ‘Mr. Brave, condom packets are near the billing counter. Good luck!’  Wanting to corroborate, I walked past the shoppers and found those packets, in which a man’s leg was twisted in a woman’s, just standing above the lady at the counter.
 

I picked up a biscuit packet and stood in the billing queue, which had an old man in front of me buying his house hold stuffs. His billing seemed to go on for eternity. Just about when it was my turn, a lady with a kid stood behind me. I smiled and asked her if she wanted to proceed before me. Acknowledging my chivalry, she smiled back and did what was necessary. By the time her billing was over, there were about three people standing behind me. I knew I was never going to do this task. Allowing every other person to go through with an opulent smile, I took the last position. The gruelling wait lasted fifteen minutes. I was finally alone with the lady at the counter. She was in her thirties and I decided to speak but no words came out. The next time I tried, words came out not from me but from the lady at the counter. She said hello to someone standing behind me. I turned to look at a lady in her late twenties and offered her to do the purchase first. When she brushed past me, I could smell her hairspray and stood there mesmerised by her body curves. My silence was suddenly shattered when she pointed to the lady at the counter at one of the condom packets and asked for it. The two ladies discussed the brand and the one before me paid for her purchase and waved to say goodbye to her friend at the counter.
 

Seeing this I was super thrilled and thought what a fool I had been in this age. Raising my collar, I asked for eight packets thinking I could gift one to each one of my friends. The lady at the counter smiled for some unknown reason. I paid and took the packets. When I turned, everyone in the shop was looking at me. I had been so loud whilst ordering those golly packets that the whole store looked at me with surprised eyes.

Unfazed, I opened the door and exerted a sigh of relief.
 

6.     Dark night

 

A man saw a building. His yearlong reticence had relented and his hands were itching to purloin. It was very dark and the time could have been midnight. The building was big enough to have a couple of house maids employed but he thought he could handle them with his might and power in case they came his way.
 

Bracing to face any challenge that he might encounter, he quietly jumped over the locked iron gates. To his surprise, the front door of the house was not locked. He opened it and entered the house. He heard a faint noise of a radio but he was not sure from which room it came. The house was a duplex and had six rooms.
 

He noticed a lady with a buxom figure walking past in the floor above. He was immediately attracted to the lady’s figure and slowly walked upstairs. She was oblivious of the man’s presence and entered the bathroom. She did not lock the door and prepared for body cleansing. The man followed her and stood outside the bathroom to peek at what she was about to do. She was facing the other side of the wall and removed her tight fitting trousers that until now were highlighting her curvaceous figure. Slowly she removed her sleeveless t-shirt. The man could not believe his eyes and kept starring with mouth agape at the woman standing in her black brassiere and red panties. He felt an erection but got reminded of his purpose at the house.
 

So he dismissed the thought from his mind and turned away. He looked above and breathed through his mouth once. He entered a room to the left of the bathroom and looked for a safe or a bureau where valuables could be kept but found none. He groped the room for laptops, digital cameras or other electronic goods that he could use to make easy money. But again, none were to be found.

He decided to search the other rooms in the house. When he exited, he heard the sound of shower in the bathroom. He imagined the lady sans her clothes. He felt an erection again but this time he decided to satisfy his carnal desires. With a firm mind of having sexual intercourse with the lady, he entered the bathroom. The shower was running, her clothes including her undergarments were lying on the floor but the lady was not to be found.
 

He thought she might have stepped out to get soap or a bathing accessory. But her towel was still on the bathroom stand. He savoured the thought of catching a nude woman unawares.

There were only two rooms in the first floor and the bathroom was in the middle of them. As he had already explored one, he went on to check the other room. When he opened the door, the radio buzzed aloud and a man was reading the day’s news. The voice, which was faint when he entered the house, was clear now.
 

He climbed the stairs down to check the rooms in the ground floor. There were four rooms and he entered one by one surreptitiously. He covered three but the lady was not to be found in any of them. He ignored the valuables in the rooms. His only thought now was to find the lady. He imagined holding the lady and touching her private parts. His adrenalin pumped. He entered the last room in a rush only to find a man sitting in a chair in the middle of the room with his throat slit. He turned to run but was taken aback seeing a figure. Suddenly, he was hit by a thunderous blow to his head. The woman, whose body he was admiring all this while, was standing unclad but with a mace. The mace was dark red stained with his head blood.
 

The man slowly started losing his consciousness but he managed to hear the man in the radio reading ‘A lady serial killer is on the prowl and the police are making their best efforts to catch her’. The lady lifted her mace and brought it down one more time and for the man, the night’s darkness engulfed the entire room.
 

7.     A perfect man

 

My name is Jathanu Mansikar and I wish to narrate an incident I witnessed at a shopping mall one day and the events that followed it.
 

That day whilst browsing through miscellaneous items in one of the cosmetic shops, I reached the men’s aisle. Dismissing the razor blades and shaving foams as I was both hirsute and bearded, I tried some sample deodorants that were on display.
 

Suddenly, I heard a scream and stepped outside the store. Someone spoke indistinctly that a lady was molested. Before anyone could react, we heard footsteps and two men, one in blue pants and the other in black pants, started chasing a ruffian. The ruffian gave them a tough chase and reached the floor below where his pals were gathered and teasing the girls who were passing by their way.

The man in blue pants, who appeared to be the lady’s husband, confronted the ruffian and after a brief discussion, gave him a punch on his face. When the ruffian’s friends tried to attack him, the other man (who I later understood from my friend to be the fighter’s brother) joined and attacked the men. The two men though fit were not brawny but there was something special about them. They fought like warriors. The ruffians were no match for their might and were actually relieved when the local police intervened to take them into custody.
 

After this, the man in blue pants came up and checked if his wife was alright. The man in black pants stood beside him but said nothing. After a while, the lady smiled and appreciated the men for their courage. She looked at us and her untold words told us what a perfect man her husband was. She crossed her hands with her husband’s and the trio walked away.
 

They would not have taken fifty steps before they met another man. They chatted briefly with him and left the mall. The man started walking towards me and when he neared I realised that it was one of my friends from the office. We discussed the incident and he said that Bhaskara Manivannan, the lady’s husband, and Sulaksh Manivannan were not just brothers but real life heroes. Bhaskar had great love for his wife and Sulaksh was devoted to his brother. Both men underwent training to join the Indian army but had to abandon their plans for personal reasons and the lady hailed from a royal family.
 

In a few years’ time, luck made me meet the family again. I applied for a job at Dasharathan cements and the man who interviewed me was none other than Bhaskara Manivannan. Work brought us closer and we became family friends.
 

Days passed by and I was impressed by Bhaskar’s management and leadership skills. More than a leader, he was a good friend to all our colleagues and became a great friend to me. I became loyal not just to the company but also to him.
 

On his thirty fourth birthday, we decided to felicitate him and wear t-shirts with his face printed. We hid the t-shirt under our formal wear in the morning but after work, all my friends decided that I should be the first one to reveal it to him. So, we all gathered and I opened my shirt to show him how much I revered and loved him.
 

8.     Sura Velu

 

Dumeel kuppam, Chennai, India
 

My name is Saravanan and I was born and brought up in Dumeel Kuppam, Chennai. In my childhood days, I used to observe many men who lived in my locality for their unique traits but the protagonist of them all was ‘Sura’ Velu. As his name suggests, he was revered and feared like a shark.  Velu sported a handle bar moustache and had knife-like sideburns. He was always clad in a ‘lungi’, the garment men use to cover their lower body. A man who drunk arrack, he lived a life by selling contraband items & drugs and importing illegal goods. Despite these, everyone in the area either respected him for he also did many a good thing or feared him for his unusual temperament.
 

One fine day, I was getting ready for school. Suddenly, we heard a few men running past our house. I wanted to see what it was but my mother stopped me. She noted that two local gangs in my area had indulged in a brawl and it was dangerous to go out. I bunked school that day. I did this and that in the morning but got bored in the afternoon. The fight outside seemed to have abated and I told mother that I wanted to meet my friends and play some games. She hesitated but then let me go provided I listened to her instructions. I was strictly asked to avoid certain areas, where the violence was likely to prevail.
 

Nodding my head, I ventured out to see the heroics of Velu. I walked for about twenty minutes and moved towards the area’s graveyard for I knew Velu always rested near the graveyard with his buddies. Suddenly, a very dark skinned man ran past me. He was about to dash at me but I moved aside and he missed me by a whisker. I started and turned to see Velu chasing him. Velu was dressed in an orange shirt that was two sizes larger than his build. He jumped in front of me to reveal his striped underwear. He was wielding a silver lance, which shone in the sun’s light. Before I could blink, Velu brought the lance down into the man’s torso. Blood splattered all over and Velu’s accomplices, who were running towards us steadily, suddenly braked. Velu, wielding the sword above his head rotated it and proclaimed to his fellow mates that he was the ruler of the area. He knew that everyone was afraid of him. Even the local police feared him. His friends carried him on their shoulders and praised him for his act of valour. They said ‘Hail Sura’, ‘Hail Sura’. The day ended.
 

After a few months, a big crowd had gathered near the sea shore. The local police had arrived and were trying to clear the men who had gathered to witness the incident. News spread and my friends and I decided to go to the beach. Passing all the standing men, we managed to get a glimpse of the corpse. It was the mighty Velu. I had never seen Velu whilst he was asleep, so this sight was very different as he lay there with his eyes closed. Rumours had it that Velu had gone into the sea with his girl friend in a boat to celebrate his success against a rival gang. Over drunk, they went too far inside. Velu was dancing and enjoying himself but bad luck struck in the form of a giant wave. He and his girl friend fell into the sea. Velu was a trained swimmer but the alcohol mixed blood slowed his movements. Velu held on to the edge of the boat but before he could climb, he met the animal in his name. A huge shark opened its jaws once and closed it.
 

The curious onlookers were not afraid of him anymore. Even his friends enquired when the police would hand over the ‘body’ to them for burial. Even to them, the onetime king who ruled our area, the great ‘Sura’ Velu, was not a human anymore but just a corpse that will never resurrect.

It was ironical that the shark man’s end came with the bite of a shark. Twenty years have passed and the only remnant of ‘Sura’ Velu is his black statue in our street, which has now become grey, thanks to the birds and their droppings.

 

 

 9. Mumbai to Frankfurt

 

Manish smiled at the lady at the check-in counter and boarded the flight EZ-138 from Mumbai to Frankfurt. It was his first trip outside India and also his first trip on an aircraft. Verifying his seat number, he placed his bag in the overhead luggage compartment. He sat and opened a magazine kept at the back of the seat in front of him. Browsing a few pages and looking at brands he had never heard of, he replaced it in its place.

 

After a few minutes, a flight attendant announced that the flight was ready to depart and all passengers were requested to fasten their seat belts. Manish found his seat belt but did not know how to fasten it. He tried applying his engineering skills to put the two parts of the belt together but did not succeed. The man sitting next to him scowled at him suggesting ‘Is this your first time on a flight?’ But one of the flight attendants came to his rescue. He asked the lady to wait for a few seconds until he fastened and unfastened the belt a couple of times. Satisfied that he would be able to do it without help, he let the lady go. She smiled at him and left. After a few hours, Manish felt like sleeping but wondered if his luggage overhead would be stolen. So, he took his bag and placed it under the seat. It was big and did not go in easily but he somehow managed to squeeze it in.

He slept like a log and missed all the meals that were served. Once awake, he was extremely hungry but the flight attendants refused to offer him food as the landing procedures were already initiated. After thirty minutes, the flight landed but Manish wondered why they stopped serving food thirty minutes before landing.
 

Inside the airport, he strolled for about an hour admiring all the big shops. He smelled perfumes, tasted sample chocolates, used trial headphones to hear songs and tried winter jackets but bought none. His immigration clearance took fifteen minutes as he struggled to understand the officer’s accent. Taking his checked-in luggage, he got into the prearranged cab that was waiting outside.
 

 It took him to a hotel, where a room was pre-booked for him. After checking in, he changed his clothes and settled on the bed. In a few minutes time, he sensed a bowel movement and realised that though he had used the flight’s toilet a few times but hadn’t defecated. So, he rushed to the toilet but found no tap or hand flush as they follow the dry sanitation standards there. He thought of a solution and took the water bottle kept on the room’s table back to the toilet. In the evening, he decided to go out for a walk after setting everything ready for work the next day. Sporting a jacket he bought in India, he stepped outside the hotel and felt a chilly wind tear his face. Unfazed, he started to walk for about ten minutes and noticed that there was no one on the road except him and all he could see were the fast paced cars using the road’s space.
 

He returned, slept and arose in the morning. He sat at the reception lobby ogling all the women in their western outfits until the cab arrived. Manish had come to Germany for three weeks to attend a training course. At work, his client manager offered him black coffee but he struggled to finish the drink that was sans sugar and milk.  After work, an Indian colleague who had been living in Frankfurt for a while took him outside to see the city. They took photographs at a few popular locations and visited malls. Whilst walking on the road, Manish spotted a man kissing a woman with his left hand on her backside. He was shocked but his friend politely explained him how different their culture was. For lunch, he ordered a cheese burger and started eating. His friend who joined him late noted that cheese burgers had beef in them. Manish immediately threw the burger away for he was one of the many from India who consider cow to be sacred though they can digest other animals.
 

His three weeks ended and he boarded a flight back to Mumbai. Sighing with a relief, he smiled at the immigration officer in Mumbai reflecting at those three weeks in Germany where he learnt many a thing.
 

10. Siblings’ day out

My sister and I entered the restaurant we had come to breakfast and chose a table in the middle. She, being a waist line watcher, ordered only two idlis and a coffee. I, being the opposite, ordered a special masala dosa, a pongal, two vadas and a cup of tea. She looked at me like I was something that could not be beheld. Though we lived in the same house, we never hung out enough to understand each other’s daily activities.
 

She had wanted to meet one of her friends who lived far from our house. So, they decided to meet at a place that was convenient to both parties. My sister’s scooter had broken down and so she asked me if I could drop her. I tried to avoid but I did not have a reason to refuse. So, I agreed to help her.
 

Whilst I was in the middle of feasting my tiffin, she had eaten her slender idlis. Before she could enjoy her coffee, her mobile equipment buzzed. It was her friend who noted that she would be late by about four hours as something important had come up. My sister sulked but told her friend that she would wait. Her friend apologised mildly but my sister smiled. She said goodbye and cut the call.
 

I burped and she started. She told me that I could leave as she had to wait for four hours. On another day, I would have happily left but that day I told her that I would also wait. She didn’t react much but thanked me for my help. For the next ten minutes, I ate, drank and burped once again. She smiled at me and waved at the waiter to bring our bill. I was not sure why she was in a hurry to pay the bill when there was time aplenty left.
 

We exited the restaurant and wondered what to do next. Out of nowhere, she suggested that we could go for a movie in a theatre nearby.  I was not exactly sure how to react but the idea sounded good. We watched a comedy movie and started discussing the film’s scenes and its progress. During the interval, we bought pop corn. She had exactly four pieces and touched her belly as if she had eaten a plateful. I was happy to indulge in my snack and finished the whole pack sans those four pieces by wetting them with intermittent cola sips.
 

The movie ended and her friend, to whom my sister had texted from her mobile about our whereabouts, was waiting outside the cinema hall. After exchanging pleasantries and asking her how long she had been waiting and all that, they discussed the purpose of their meet. I did not pay attention to what they were talking but started ogling all the pretty girls who exited the theatre. My sister’s friend suggested that we should have lunch together and discuss the rest of their topic at a nice restaurant. I smiled at her brilliant idea but my sister gave me a frown that hinted ‘Will you ever say no to food?’
 

They started chit chatting but I diverted my full attention to the full meals I ordered. The air conditioning was good and some Tamil songs were playing in the background. Soon after, all three of us engaged in a conversation covering local politics, film gossips and our future goals and plans. I must confess my sister had a lot to offer and her friend was equally knowledgeable. I, though a glutton, also showed interest in current affairs, politics and world cinema. So, all three of us enjoyed the conversation before it was time for us to depart. Like typical girls, they kissed and hugged each other and exchanged toodle-pips.
 

I kick started my bike and whilst mobile, I received a call from my friend who wanted to chat with me briefly. We met at a beach near our house but he left in about twenty minutes. My sister and I looked at each other and spent the evening there enjoying the cool breeze. We started for home but not before having a north Indian dinner at one of the famous restaurants in our area. Reaching home, I hit my bed and wrapped myself. Slowly relishing the day’s events and my sister’s company, I closed my eyes and began my journey of eight hours.