Gas Lamp Dinner

         With the end to Rahul's story, I stopped and turned back to check whether the lady is still awake or gone into sleep. To my surprise, she was staring me with her big blue eyes with a lot of questions on her face. I got shocked and asked "Hey, what happened?" She was completely indulged in the story. With my question, she came into sense and said "Sorry, what you asked? I was thinking of Rahul." 

I burst into laughter and said "What you are thinking of Rahul".

"Hmm, just like that. About the story, Rahul, Shrabs and all of them". She replied. She was going to say something more but the cab driver interrupted us. 

"We will take our dinner here" The driver said and turned the cab into a dhaba  near a petrol pump. He parked the cab and left for dinner. He didn't give us a option. As soon as the driver left, I asked the lady "So, what you are saying?"

"Hmm, are we not going to take dinner here?" She questioned me back.

I lowered the window , rolled my eyes and asked again "Do you really want to have your dinner here?" making a ugly face. She not only answered me with her eyes and ordered to accompany her. We came out of the cab and chose a table far away from the crowd. As I got busy in examining the cleanliness of the table, the lady sat down and relaxed. "Don't expect a 7/11 here. Its not your California gas station". The lady made fun of me. I got her and without any further investigation of hygiene, I preferred to sit. A kid came with two 1 liter glass full of water holing in one hand and a gas lamp in the other. He put the gas lamp on the table, then started cleaning the table with the uncleaned towel kept on his trouser pocket and made a hand gesture asking for the order. "Mutton Masala and Butter naan" The lady ordered and asked me "What you want". I have actually forgotten the names of Indian dishes. So with out wasting time I said "Same as her". But before I finish, the kid was gone and I saw him saying "Mutton masala , Butter naan" with his hand raised up having index and middle finger open, to a guy standing far away at the kitchen. I expect the guy in the kitchen and the kid both understood our order. The lady drank a sip of water and kept the glass on the table. I sensed that nobody is going to disturb us for a while. So I started again "So, you are saying something about Rahul".

"Hmmm, The story was nice, romantic and painful. But, this is the story Rahul told you. So, do you think it is real?" The lady fired the question. Frankly speaking I was expecting that. I smiled and replied "Look. This is the same thought we had the next day after the debut match. We also got a little be doubtful. But, as we started spending time with Rahul, we figured out that everything was true. He always started behaving weird whenever we discuss about love, passion and girls. He never talked to any girl in the four years. I mean, why someone gonna behave like this until and unless something bitter happened." I replied.

       The lady took a deep breath and paused for a while. After a moment, She started again "But, you never seen Shrabs, her pics, her love letters anything that prove her existence. May be, Rahul was just making a story" 

With that, the lady put me into a deep thought actually. I was forced to give a second thought about this. But the thing that really made me thoughtful was not the truthfulness of Rahul's story but a question, framed in my mind."Why the lady is trying to prove Rahul's story false".

In the mean time, our dinner came. The same kid brought our dinner with three plates one above another in the left hand and another plate having salt and chillies in the other hand. He put the plate with salt and chilly on my side and the other three on the lady's side. I got confused for a moment by his action. I couldn't get what the lady will do with two plates of mutton and one plate of naan. And, what I will do with salt and chilly. The next moment, the kid exchanged the foods in the plates so fast, everything looked perfect. He didn't do any magic but spectacular. He placed the second mutton plate on my side, picked one naan from her plate and kept on mine. He then picked a pinch of salt and a chilly from my plate and kept it on her plate. Everything is done. I got amazed for a second. With the first bit of naan, I started 

" I believe Rahul. May be he was making a story but I have spent 4 years with him. So I believe him though I have never seen Shrabs. May be she doesn't exist at all. Whatever, I am confused. Do I sound confused?"

The lady smiled at me and asked "So, is Rahul still single"

"No, not at all. He got someone, more lovable, beautiful and caring. I guess, they have been married and they must have some kid by now" I replied.

"Hey hey, excuse me! What do you mean by 'I guess'? You don't know" The lady asked with a shocking face.

"Yes, I don't know. And thats why I am here." I replied.

"And, what about Shiva?"

"I don't have any contact either of them"

"Why? I thought you said that you guys are best friends"

"Yes, we are. But, the things don't go as you expect. Thats why someone said that always expect the unexpected. Shiva got split from us in the last year of our engineering. And, I got split from Rahul in the mid of 2006 when he was going to marry. After that, we never met each other, never talked to each other" 

"Why you guys split?"

The same "girl". I smiled with that answer.

"Ufff. then who is this girl then" The lady asked me.

I was just going to answer the lady and the cab driver showed up. "Lets go", the driver said.

We finished our dinner in a hurry and get back to our cab. The dinner was awesome. Gas lamp, open sky with stars and a beautiful lady. As soon as we entered into the cab, he put the life into the engine and we started rolling again.