The Yellow Tea

Seldom boredom is acceptable. But when you are so bored that you have to eat alone in a busy restura, then boredom is succeeded by frustrations.
He opened his eyes. Opening eyes always doesn’t necessarily mean just opening the eyelids, its understanding through feeling the moments. He turned his head to a complete 360, but there was nothing around that could indulge him with.
I looked at him from a nearby corner which Is my regular booth. I was smiling at him, he was an imperfect blend of mr bean, Charlie chaplin with some touches of pseudo grandiosity.
“whats up with this place, kiddo” he commented while ordering the boring sausage. At least he felt the sausages boring too.
“whats up with you instead, there hasn’t been any interesting day like this since last September, john” the kid grimaced.
I wanted to call that kid and give him some lectures, which I mean physical! But anyways I was enjoying the man.
 He got a bang out of the kids words. We was self convinced that the day was boring, but the later part gave him another bang.
“since last September” he murmured to himself.
“oye, what happened in September?” he yelled while the boy went towards the bar.
“haha, are you even a man? Cuz me knows that every man around here knows about the September”
He returned with the chicken sausage and some complement potato fries. “that September man, this desert was gifted rain” he tortured him with unprecedented bolt from the blue.
I could see he was feeling restless, his eyes were popping out of his orbit to make him occupied. He bent his neck towards the table beside him and saw two brothers who seemed to be regulars in that restura.
He couldn’t even touch his sausages until he knew about the September. He looked at his belly and I felt it was swelling as if the story behind the September could only fix it. He walked and sat on the table with the regulars.
“which one of the brother is older?” he spoke as if trying to be frank by birth.
The younger one eyed him with awful face. “what the hell, he is my father bruh!”
“my bad, but I would be really glad to know something folks.” He continued when he felt those guys were hospitable. “its my second week in this place. I stay just a block away. I come here like everyday since then. But there is not a single day I smile here. its always the same. Same single gents and same chicken sausage which I feel boring already.”
“what the hell you want to know, pig??  The father interrupted. “we don’t have whole afternoon”
“umm when I inquired why this place is always like this, he said there has been no inquisitive day like today since last September”
I saw his interests growing larger and deeper. He is still a newcomer and behaves like us I thought. But I bet his face Is worth looking, with the big nose as big as he is nosy in peoples matters.
“look bruh, we don’t know you, so if you don’t want trouble, forget what the kid said and finish up your sausage and return home.” The father said him gently but I was sure it felt like a punch to his guts.
He got up without smiling and went to eat his cold sausage. I was glad that I had friends like them. I myself ordered some tea with joy inside when I heard the father.
He called the kid waiter and put a 100rs note in his shirt pocket. “don’t play with my emotions and tell me what the hell happened last September?”
The kid looked at me nervously. I shook my head with anger. He preferred 100rs to my fear.
“look, last September,  a girl walked into this bar.”
“what? A GIRL”, the man exclaimed.
“she wasn’t just a girl. She was a living flame. Brighter than the sun were her eyes, fairer than snow were her skin, cooler than a breeze were her smiles. She literally paused this restura for minutes when she entered here.”
“she came here, sat in exactly that chair, she waited whole day for someone to approach her and no one had guts, until that guy offered her tea”,  he said pointing towards me indirectly.
the man looked at me as if I had stolen his new bride. I just replied him with a smile that meant that I had already won even before he knew the trophy existed.
“what? That guy with curly hair? So what now they are related? Do they meet often? Is he waiting her?” he fired bullets.
“noo! He just offered her some tea. He asked me hot water, and then he took a sachet from his shirt pocket , dripped in the cup and pushed towards her. “
“haha, what a gypsy thing to do? Is that how they treat a beautiful lady here?”
“that wasn’t just a tea bruh, it was some kind of yellow tea I heard. Some said it was magical. Some said he knew the lady since before. There were rumors that he met her again. But I am sure she never saw him after that day. Maybe she thought it was a boring thing to do.”
“so what is so interesting about today than?” he asked the kid.
“the girl, she came here and she reserved the very table she was here for 4pm. So everyone is waiting here. with more guts than every. With aftershaves and perfumes. Even I got this new apron.”
I saw their conversation was being strong than funny thing happened.
The man threw the oily fries on his apron.
“don’t take this personal. I am starting by cancelling you out” he said while he looked at the clock that showed ten minutes to four.
I looked around. It seemed an anticipated reception. Every one from teens to grandpas were eyeing on the door. Everyone was wearing brand new clothes which they changed when they heard about the reservation. One guy forgot to remove the tag from his rayban while another wore his pants opposite.
While I was waiting, patiently, poker faced, with the hope to impress her.
The clock stroke 4 and she came dashingly beautiful than ever, the restura again paused. Except me.
The man fainted.
People looked at one another.
They looked at me.
She went to her table. She sat there with cross legged.
“shall we have that yellow tea again” she winked at me.
I went to her, took out the yellow sachet and dripped it on the warm water and gently pushed it towards her.
“happy anniversary”, she said.
Remaining who were standing fell down on their chair. It was a year since we met last September. She wanted to mark one year in the same place we first saw us with the treat of the very cup of yellow tea.

The Girl

Wandering was i, through dark forest wild,
Torturous, tragic and so fearful a walk,
Beheld i, beauty, that got me in shock,
Those sullen smile, had made me a child!!

Went to my memory, trying her to know,
Saw her smiling, laughing, no less than a heavenly show,
She was young, she was gentle, so sure she was kind,
Her swift gait, her fair face, still gets me blind!!

Saw a photo, white dress with heels so high
Jaw dropping when i reckon, 'em oyster fading eye
More i see , more i want, more i adore,
Such beautiful creature, swear I, hadnt seen before!!

Thousand admirers has she, but hits them with bye
Accept i , that them admirers are no more than i,
Since the day i saw, i am drowning deep and deep,
Joyous I am, to feel the friendship she will keep!!!

The Girl With Skills

She smiled.

I looked at her, and when my eyes met hers, a sullen jolt of currents passed to my spine. I had read stories about fairies and mermaids. She beat them all. Those beautiful eyes when beheld, were like the first rays of sun in the first winter morning, the first rain in the monsoon and the first star in the spring  dawn.

“isn’t it too early for rain this year?” I tried to make a conversation.

I wasn’t there. The moment I felt her warm and soft perfume, I was already veiled by clouds of love and affections and literally I could hear “she is your crush..she is ur” humming by my heart to my brain although actually the song “stoney” by lobo was playing soothingly in my ear piece.     

“dude, its February. And it’s a sunny morning!” she shot me.

Is she this awesome that I loose all my six senses, god! I was blabbering.

She sat beside me. I could read those cross lines on her forehead that she was expecting an explanation for my weird line. A sane wouldn’t have pronounced them.

“oh sorry.. I have this habit of sharing the piece from my dream. My bad.” I went for an odd cover.

She smiled.

That was the last thing I needed to go black out.

It wasn’t a smile, it was like a slap by thousand rose petals. It was like bullets of warm snow flakes touching ur cheeks when you lie on the road with hands stretched across. It was everything that is beautiful and everything that can melt anybody’s heart.

I was thinking of ways to elongate a conversation with her and was fighting not to bore her with my weird tricks.

“so the dream?” she cross eyed me.

“ah huh.” I acted like a child, whose nickname was teddy because of the cuteness he held while moving his eye brows in agreement.

“do you remember your dream so precisely?”

“yaaas!”, I reflexed

“90 percent of dreams you see are forgotten while we awake, and you are telling me exact lines from your dream..”

This girls got skills too. I was silent for a moment when she counter attacked me with facts and tried to prove indirectly that I was hitting on her. I tried to be strong to my point and replied that I had the god’s gift of remembering most of the dreams.

“I shall believe you” she did a clever sarcasm. Many a times I have seen girls with beauty, girls who wouldn’t never have to stand in a queue nor would have problem for hitchhikes but those girls lacked brain. And many other times there were girls who could even name all the countries with their capitals but some of them had crooked nose or had a pony tails with jeans.

But this was a celebrated moment. A girl with best blend of beauty and brains was sitting right beside me. I wanted to know her. I wanted to be friend to her. But it would be blasphemy in the eyes of holy relations of love. How could anyone ask anyone to be friend to you when it was not more than 10 minutes and not more than 20 words being exchanged.

 But I knew it was more than enough. I was sure when she blinked the first time. I became confident when I read her smile. I believed those smiles were always meant to me. I hoped no other boys would be slapped by them petals of roses.

“I am isabella by the way” she put her hands forward to shake.

For the moment I felt the bus was empty. Then I made fool of myself

“east and west Isabella is best”

I extended my hands to for a handshake but then out of nowhere I raised it for a high five. I was wasted I thought. How can it happen? How can I not estimate the aftermath of words said when such immense creature was expecting the better of me?

“wont you tell me your name?” she said slyly. “you are an interesting guy, you know”

Again the clouds were pulling me with them but this time I fought with all the evil and romantic thoughts and tried to concentrate on her. Trying not to err any more.

“my name is bikranta” I said with a joker’s smile

“and my name is barak obama”

The conductor shouted at me.

“you are occupying two seats, why don’t you move little bit.”

I felt woken up. Woken up after a long sleep.

 And this time it was raining and it wasn’t February.

The bus was packed and every standing passenger was looking at me. Some were laughing.

“I thought u were taking a call with ur earphone plucked in, then you were doing solo handshake and high fives.” The conductor patted me.

“how long was I in phone?” I tried to act sane and tried to prove him that I was actually talking in my phone and not speaking to myself.

“haha, don’t kid me bro, I know what happened to you, five minutes before you entered this bus, a girl with wide eyes and a guitar left. We all thought she crazy when she hand shook alone and replied false high fives.

  

The Sketch

It was one of the winter days and I was reading the morning paper when at once someone came.

“would you mind sharing the table?”

It was 6 o’clock in the morning and I was still disturbed by my dreams and the unpleasant news in the paper. I wasn’t interested to even reply the unnecessary request but ineloquently I nodded. I gave up the paper criticizing the headlines as to how the media is exploiting itself by exaggerating seemingly small issues.

“Someone isn’t having a good morning it seems,”

I shrugged and then I realized that someone was there waiting for my attention infront of me.

“its not actually some favorable weather to make new friends” I shoot her rudely to check her reaction.

it was normal for me to be asked for company there in that place as we all were students and then I used to exchange smiles with literally every people who came there.

“hamal, would you mind pouring some delicious extra warm tea?” I ordered her tea without even asking her if she would like some.

“dai, u haven’t finished your previous one” hamal looked at me with dragon eyes.

“why don’t you just do what I asked?” I wanted her to show my superiority and my respect to her.

“obviously you seem familiar, but I am sure you are new here.”

It was more than a year since I stayed here.

I knew people well here. If its early in the morning, an old grandpa with a cane would cross the road at exact 6.45 . and then a dairy bike with 4 cylinders full of milk would horn the building right when I was infront of it. If it was evening, on my way to the café, a couple would feed a dog with no hair on the tail.

“ have you already forgotten me aadesh,?”

I was stunned  the way she knew my name and the style with which she pronounced. Only one person in whole world would call me like that. I didn’t want to disappoint her with such negligence hence I pretended something fiddly,

“oh I am so so sorry, I am still sleepy! Then slowly things came around. Hamal brought the tea to my table and he gazed at me with a surprise way , “you seem over glad today dai.. any good news?”

He looked straight at me. He didn’t even once look at her. He should have normally asked her what she would like to have for breakfast as other normal customers who come here. i didn’t feel right and I sent him away so that I could talk more to her.

I offered her tea and she was grateful for that. Flashes began in my head. I know this girl but how can I not know how. Her long dark hair that fell and covered her eye.. i felt those wide brown eyes so familiar and the tooth hidden behind such heart lined lips.

“aadesh, its not fair… yesterday u said that I look like your dreamgirl and today you are looking me with a strangers eye. Obviously I am not liking you aba..”

I felt that I woke up. I was like so sure, she was Isabella’s friend. But still I could fathom no conversations that I had with her. She just stayed right in front of me and gazed me with unrestrained affections. She wasn’t blinking her eyes.

“dai, Isabella di saga jhagada milyo?” hamal came to take the cups from my table. Again he stared at me anxiously.

It was day before yesterday when Isabella and I had a harsh discussion. How much I adored her and how much she knew, it was always assumptions. Everyone who came there knew that we were more than friends.

“and why would you order a tea if you aren’t even touching it?”

Again he was missing her. He nearly walked over her. He was standing right beside her but also I felt he didn’t notice her or he wanted me to believe that he didn’t.

 I thought this was his new trick to me and didn’t even care to ask if he knew her or if she did.

he pointed at her cup, which he claimed to be untouched when I knew she hadn’t finished drinking it.

“hamal, why would you take her cup without even asking her if she finished?” I was furious this time. His ignorance towards her was getting on my nerves.

“dai these few days its so hard for me to get you, is Isabella di joining you later or you are drinking for her too?”

“you know ni dai, what kind of people drink tea from two cups?”

I felt so odd, he was mentioning Isabella’s name again and again. And every time he talked about Isabella and me, I looked at her, across the table, I could sense she wasn’t liking that. Again I sent him away..

 It was so unpleasant. How can I be such forgetful? She means something. And what is wrong with this hamal? I felt humiliated infront of her. When I looked back to her, she was gone. Like disappeared.

I couldn’t even be surprised because I was so confused in a complicated way. I went to the counter to pay.

“which way did she go hamal?”

“please dai, don’t mess with me early in the morning”

I went back to my hostel. I was trying to think of the events since two days back. I saw the grandpa with the cane and the dairy bike. I was irritated due to such unexplained chemistry, I recalled every words and sentences of hamal, of the girl I met in the café and talks I had with Isabella until we had that fight.

I entered my room after ten minutes. I wanted to read something. I eyed my well decorated study table and saw something that dropped my jaw and took my breath,

There it was pasted above my study table,

a sketch,

of the girl I met in the café before 30 minutes.

The sketch was give to me by Isabella,

“aadesh, this is my dream girl.. keep it safe..i will wish yu will get someone like her in future”

 these were her words I could still read below the sketch.