# 2 - Vichitra and the Birthday Dinner

‘So, what would you like to have? Order whatever you want to… Normally I am not in such a generous mood.’ Vichitra was smiling all the time and he was looking his best.

‘Hmm… I don’t know! Have you come here before?’

‘Yeah… I came here with my family at my mother’s birthday. It was fun and I really liked the place and the food. This is why I chose this place for dinner tonight.’

‘Family dinners are always good. By the way, when was your mother’s birthday?’

‘4th August’

‘Then it’s been a long time since you have come here.’

‘Yeah… no one gave me the opportunity to come here for dinner!’ Vichitra gave a hearty laugh at this sentence.

Tonight was important to Vichitra Kumar in more than one way. For a long time he had wanted to go out for dinner with this girl. Tonight she had agreed, and now she was sitting in front of him at the dinner table at one of the most expensive restaurants in town.

Vichitra was eagerly looking forward to this day. Last weekend only, he had shopped for a new pair of brown corduroys and a black shirt, both of which he was wearing now. His face was also radiating a glow of excitement.

At the moment the girl, Chanchal, was the perfect counterpart of Vichitra. She was as calm and composed as Vichitra was confused and excited.

‘So you know what is worth eating here. I will eat anything as long as it won’t make me feel fat in the morning.’ chirped in Chanchal.

He thought everything was moving just as planned but until now. How was he supposed to know what wouldn’t make her feel fat in the morning? And his greatest fear was what if despite his best intentions she still ended up feeling fat in the morning!

Vichitra had heard somewhere that one should always consider the girl’s opinion before ordering something to eat.

‘Alright tell me… what is your favorite dish?’ asked Vichitra.

‘Hmm… I don’t know. I can eat anything as long as it’s not fattening’ Chanchal was playing it cleverly.

She had her own set of rules. And she strictly followed them whenever she was out for dinner with a guy for the first time. The rules were amazingly simple. She would just tell the guy whether she was a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian. The hapless guy would then have to decide what or what not to order. If she liked at least two of the dishes from what the guy had ordered, she would definitely come again for the dinner. If only one dish was to her liking she might come again. She had never agreed to come again if she did not like the food at all. Somehow or the other, these rules seemed to work for her.

Vichitra was of course oblivious that he was being judged by some outlandish dish-o-meter parameters.

He had to look for a way to decide what to order; and quickly. He looked at the diners at the table to their left. No luck. It was a group of five middle-aged men. He then looked at the diners to their right. Again no hope. They were two men; to his horror both were looking like gangsters. They were going after their food as if they were butchering a pig. Now and then, they would give dirty looks to Chanchal. Vichitra dared not look in their direction again.

‘What are you doing?’ asked Chanchal.

‘Oh… nothing. I am just trying to think what would be good for us to eat.’ casually replied Vichitra.

And the fact was that he was doing exactly this. Meanwhile, Chanchal was enjoying all this confusion on his face.

Vichitra was desperately looking for a life savior. Right then he heard a female voice from behind him. This was exactly what he was looking for – a female diner. Now it was just a matter of asking the steward what that lady had ordered. And Vichitra would then order the same thing for Chanchal.

He turned around to locate the steward. While doing so he also saw the female diner and all his hopes dashed to the ground. The lady was a fatso. She must have been weighing at least 180 pounds.

Vichitra stopped looking for the steward. He came up with a new idea.

He ordered the food according to his liking only and imagined Chanchal to be 180 pounds in weight. So now, even if she ended up being a little fatter in the morning, the change would hardly be noticeable, and she wouldn’t actually feel it also.

The food arrived and so did the accompanying wine. They started talking about general things – their work, people at their work, their likings and dislikings, etc. They must have sat at the restaurant for an hour and half, and it was time to head for home now.

Chanchal had made up her mind by now. She had liked only one dish.

They left the restaurant around eleven-thirty, and it had started to rain heavily. It was a good forty-minute ride her house.

Ten minutes into the ride and Vichitra started having a stomach ache. It was mild in the beginning so he didn’t care much. But it was growing worse and now he could not just ignore it. At the same time, he didn’t want to tell this to Chanchal. Firstly this would have embarrassed him. And secondly he didn’t want to appear not-so-manly in front of her. Five more minutes and it was proving to be unbearable. Chanchal was also surprised that Vichitra had not spoken anything for the last five minutes. At last, he had to give in. He stopped at a chemist shop, and bought a pain relieving pill. Only when he had it he had some respite.

All this while Chanchal was thinking how weird Vichitra was? He was having a stomach ache and that too when he himself had ordered the food. She considered herself fortunate that he had ordered such a food. She had liked only one dish. She still had the option to back out.

All the time that Vichitra was driving the car; one thing was constantly on his mind. When and how was he supposed to spill the beans? He was so much pre-occupied with this thought that what happened next came like a bolt out of the blue.

For a few seconds, they had absolutely no idea what had actually happened. It was dark all around, raining heavily and the car had also suddenly stopped moving. A man came in front of the car, and started examining it. Vichitra tried to get out of the car but he couldn’t as the door was also jammed. He rolled down the window and the first thing he heard was ‘Dude how did you manage to do it?’

They were in the middle of a traffic jam and the traffic was only inching forward. Still, Vichitra had managed to overlook a stationary truck in front and his car grazed the left side of the truck. What had really happened was that a rod from the truck’s front-left fender had wedged itself right in the middle of the car’s front right door, and so the car got stuck there. The man examining the car was the truck’s driver. He was more amused than worried about either the car or his truck. It was only after some clever forward and backward jolting of the car that they could get the car moving again. Everything was fine with the car except that there was now a big hole in the front right door.

They got moving again. Chanchal was shit scared now. She thought that she was the one responsible for the accident. She would not speak anything and this was a new trouble for Vichitra. He had never been with a girl who was shit scared due to any goddamn reason. What was he supposed to do now? Moreover, he still had something to say to her and this was what he had fixed the dinner for!

‘You look very beautiful’ said Vichitra.

Chanchal was silent and staring at the road ahead. He stroked her hair gently and complimented her with ‘You have nice hair’.

She was still silent but smiling now. More than being surprised at what Vichitra had just spoken and alarmed about what could come next, she was simply amused that how come could Vichitra turn romantic, after all what had happened just a few minutes ago? On the other hand, he thought that this was the best thing he had said to her the entire time he had been with her this evening.

It was only a fifteen minute ride to her home from where the accident had happened. He was still in a dilemma whether he should actually go for it. The bouquet was lying there at the back seat.

They had really gotten along well in the last few weeks.

It was now a ten minute ride.

There was no reason to believe that he was not in love with her.

Another five minutes, and they would be at her apartment gate.

System crash! Thinking aborted.

He stopped the car in front of her apartment gate. She stepped out of the car.

‘Hey, did you enjoy the dinner?’

‘Yeah, I have never had a better time but I am so sorry about the accident.’

‘Never mind. I will get it repaired.’

‘I think it’s going to cost you a lot?’

‘Don’t worry about it. Anyways, I wanted to tell you something.’

‘Yeah… tell me!’

He handed over the bouquet to her.

‘I love you’ softly said Vichitra.

Chanchal was bewildered and took some time to recover. Anyways, she had liked only one dish. She still had the option with her.

‘Vichitra, Happy Birthday!’ she smiled and walked away.

It was Vichitra’s birthday also that day!


© 2007 Ankur Shanker
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