Date with a Delhi Babe!

13th of June, but the day was going fine for me. Received long separated college friend MB at 11.00, and then we set out on a temple trip doing touristgiri in south west delhi. Starting from the Qutab Minar, we rode ahead to the Chhatarpur temples where MB started feeling the heat and we decided to return. I still maintain that the day was going fine.

2 hrs rest back at home and then the short trip to the Bahai Temple. The bug struck in the middle of the journey and I called miss DS on her cell. "Ma'am is busy, can't u see????", my cell yelled. "Okie", I said. Repeated calls 3-4 times , no reply. Reached Lotus temple, there she calls. I told her," We are close to your home, drop by and we will enjoy the calm". I was wise enough to have taken a committment of MB that the latter will not interfere provided DS blesses me with her company. She said , " My car is in repairs, can you just hang around and check back".

I was done with seeing the Lotus temple and seen off MB too, then I decided to be proactive and arrange , what else, a dinner. So there we meet at 8.20 in front of HSBC, GK-I. She picked me up in an auto.

"So, how is Mr. PwC?"
Dumb that I am, I never knew whether she referred to the largest professional services firm or the smallest entity in the workforce of the firm that sat nervous at her side.

Next bombshell, "Till when are you out tonight"?
Excuse me! I thought! what is that supposed to mean??Mr. PwC ( now I know) dumbfounded again. I murmured something that i didn't want her to hear. I had hardly settled when I got rattled.

"Don't you look into the eyes of the people when you talk to them?"
Disastrously short of breathing space, I defended,"Well!!" It is not possible to look so much into the eyes of a person who is sitting at your side, and not in front".

A logical answer from an IITian, isn't it?

"I have no money, would you pay up the mechanic?" ."Of course, I will". Retorted the chivalrous Mr. PwC.

We drove ahead, when DS forgot whether she had paid the autowallah or not. My mind tried in vain to calculate the risk associated with a double payment :). She asked the autowallah and he was thankfully honest in admitting the receipt of 100 rupees.Somwhere then we decided that we will see "Laws of Attraction" at PVR, so to say.

Come Garage and I find myself examining the old Maruti 800 from all angles , trying to establish the service quality offered by the roadside mechanic having myself driven only for about 75 kms all my life. Satisfied ( we had no option) , we were presented with a bill of 1250/- . Bargain galored , of both the male and female varieties. Finally, we settled for 1000/- . There you go, the fun didn't even start and my wallet goes lighter by "1 rand", exactly the way DS puts it.

We drove on and then came the revelation that she did not want to go to a movie. "I am in a real bad mood tonight, you have met me on the wrong day". CAM , as they say in IIMC, cannot agree more! " I need a break, what about having some beer". Beer??? I thought.. " Where are we ( I meant her) gonna have it"? Right here , she said. In the meantime, I had to sit in the sultry environs of the "AC fitted but left unoperated at the discretion of the owner" car while she drew money from the ATM to pay me back.

We go round the Amity international and she spotted a beer shop. " Can you go and fetch a beer for me??" I was in deep thoughts, should I or should I not. The devil inside me pinched," You fool! this is your first date, there's no harm in doing her the favour". So I collected the specs and marched towards the beer shop. It was crowded like hell. But that was my maiden visit to a beer shop, so I did not have a precedent to refer to. I kept repeating the name, Legend beer, so that I do not forget it and tried to muscle my way at the head of the counter. But despite months spent at the gym, I could not muscle past the booz maniacs to reach the counter and was sweating like a pig.

She had pity on me when i came back empty -handed. What if there is not beer, lets have some narial pani. I exclaimed, "Nariyal Pani in Delhi?" And there she gave me the American retort, of answering a question by a question. "Who said that you won't find Nariyal Pani in delhi".

Okie, Nariyal pani, in the service of the lady. 12 Rs. per piece, any other guy, I wud have said that's straight away 100% costlier than what we had in kgp. But then when you are sitting in car and ordering,you can't bargain. Can you?

"Let's eat something light", she chuckled."What would you like to have?". I kept lookign at my watch, what wud become of my early morning work-out. You wud have never heard of the gal asking the guy, "Hope you are not getting too late." Poor me, i was on the receiving end when the sun rose from the west.

So after nariyal pani, she finally gave some regard to my wishes. We kept driving to the sagar ratna close to my home sweet home in MNagar. By this time, my head was replete with a collection of the most forgettable moments I had on my life and was busy trying to position this "date" at its appropriate position. "Why the hell did I ask dare to ask a Delhi girl out??" , I was asking myself in despair.

When we reached sagar ratna, I was for the first time looking for a place to park the car. First attempt unsuccessful, I was looking for another place. A momentary lapse of concentration, and now I was looking for the car itself!!! The pessimist that I am, I could not find it hard to assume that the gal has had enough of an out-of-time small towner and fled off.

But my travaial was not going to be so short lived. She reappeared having parked the car outside. We climbed the stairs to sagar ratha - south Indian. Story after this does not have much spice, except for her revelations as how she stayed out during her HSBC days till night with friends, hung around in pubs and climbed the gate to enter at 3 in the night in her flat. In the middle, I had a smirk on my face. She asked , "why the smile?". "Nothing", I said. " Be quiet right now and be prepared not to meet me again". "My pleasure", I wish I had said. But that was not to be. People like me would decide on a location ,set out for it and reach there, come what may. She was at the opposite end of the spectrum, her idea was to just hang around and changed destinations at the drop of a hat, leading her hapless date dazed and confused.


I sustained the conversation by coming out straight. "This is not the way I have been brought up and nor do I wish to let this metropolitan culture take over my faculties, you might have a similar upbringing as me ,okay! But you allowed the evils :P to influence you and now you can't live without it." She tried in vain to impose her "we are similar" over my "we are different". I left her at around 11.10 in the night guiding her to the geetanjali road. "While leaving , she said," I had a good time with you". And I was dumbstruck as ever.
Sometimes at the start of the date she had mentioned," I had thought we would never meet again". I wish we never did.