Guy's Nightout...

When I wrote about rat meat, I had no idea that the very next thing would be me having a dinner with a guy who eats almost anything. Should I try to erase that dinner memory? No, it was one of the good memories I would like to keep in my memory locker coz it was a rare moment since 12 years.

I am in this city since 12 years or so. And the thought of the last time I had a dinner with my friends too pulls my memory back to 12 years. Strange days and strange things, couple of recent days looks like that......

I had no idea that the person I got acquainted very recently was someone who played basket ball for my country, a national level player…I had no idea that he did some movies, TV serials and ads. I was seeing this guy for the past 2 and a half years and only now we got acquainted….strange (oh yeah? You said strange? Man, its all coz of your introvert attitude !!)

Somewhat same with another guy that I met in the recent past. I had no idea that he holds a high position in an MNC and he travels to many countries very often.

Then suddenly this happy night came into existence when one of those guys suggested a dinner out. We all had a common friend, none other than our gym instructor. So, it became a ‘Four married men turns bachelors’ affair.

I was bit exited about this coz I never had such an outing since many years. Such moments were very common 13 years ago. That time, though I had other friends, my colleagues became good friends too and hence almost every day, we used to sit together for a cup of tea or coffee. Things started changing about one year prior to me moving into this city when guys started moving to other organizations. There weren’t any internet or mobile phone that time and none of us had any pager too. still, we managed to keep in touch, somehow, and we used to meet on weekends…and then, all of a sudden…

The one who planned it was the tall boy among us (6 foot 3 inches). The short guy (our trainer, who is about 5 feet something) had a problem leaving early plus he said he wont come to the restaurant the other guy suggested since its managed by his employer company. Then the fourth guy did not turn up…It was a disappointment for me. But somehow I convinced our trainer and we called the fourth guy; he too said 'OK, I am coming'..finally !

Two of them wanted to go to a restaurant which serve beer or liquor but here in this city, they are not allowed to serve such things after 11 pm and many of them won’t take orders after 10 pm. The time was already 9.15 and almost all such good restaurants needed at least 45 minutes drive (coz of traffic).

At last, we stopped at a place…it was a bar and restaurant. I don’t know why, but there was a broad smile on my face..

“Me and Sir will have some orange juice” said the gym man (by ‘sir’ he was referring to me).

“This milk drinking boy, huh ” said one

“No, you and Jay are too drinking….” said the third one… they both belonged to the same religion which is against drinking.

The place was crowded and we moved on to a hall which had a tag ‘Family Room’. Then a staff came and said:

“Sir, that’s a family room, you cant sit there”

“We are family, we are brothers” said the tall guy….

I could not resist laughing… one was very tall and fair and even did not look like a South Indian, one is short, one wearing glasses and one with a french beard...none of us had same built, looks, or even skin color…the only common thing among us was that we all looked physically fit.

That staff guy smiled and said:

“No, sir”

"What is this yaar? you people don't allow even brothers to sit together?" Asked the spects guy..

We moved on to another place which looked quite. None of use felt like sitting in a crowded place, especially the tall guy. But there the only table available had a tag “Reserved”

One of the staff allowed us to sit there, though another one raised some objection. I wasn’t bothered about the situation coz those two guys who came with me were highly capable of handling people and situations.

“Vodka, Cut green chilly and lemon..” says one

“Me and sir want orange juice” says another one

“So, you don’t drink?” one of them asked me

“hmmm, No…” I said

“You don’t mind a beer, at least?”

The gym man was looking at me as if I am his savior…but I failed

“No problem….”

There was this ‘you shouldn’t have said that’ look in gym man’s face…

(They ordered some chicken to snack and I ordered a plate of ‘Gobi Manchurian’ – Cauliflower)

One of them talked about cooking..

“YOU cook? I asked

“Aary Yaar ! I am an awesome cook” he gave me a kind of look, as if I asked Bill Gates ‘do you know computer programming?”

That was time I came to know that this guy eats meat…

“You eat pork?” I asked

(Other two too were non-veg but they do not eat pork coz its not allowed as per their religion)

“Pork, duck, horse, crocodile, tortoise, fish, crab, chicken, beef….I have tried all these…I could not eat octopus though, I had to spit it out”

His ‘I did not try’ list had items like scorpion, dog, rat, worms etc…

We went to another place to have food, which was on the same road..it was closing time. It was a restaurant run by Muslims and hence we can hardly expect anything Veg. They had Roti and Paneer Butter Masala but I thought I would try ‘Egg Biriyani’. The Biriyani was same for Egg and Chicken Biriyani…the only difference was I got two boiled eggs and others got one egg and one chicken leg. The guy used same ‘thing’ (that forceps kind of thing – what was its name???) to pick the chicken legs and then eggs. Usually they do not do that in a restaurant which serve both Veg and Non-Veg….I said to myself :

‘Just forget it’

I drove very slowly, while coming back…enjoying the talks…At last, when I entered our apartment’s main gate, one of them commented:

“What happened to him? He was driving so fast before and now, after having a beer, he is stopping at every hump..”

All of them laughed, including me.

Guys, you don’t know how happy you made me (though I thanked one of them, next day)…

Thanks for gifting me with a good n memorable moment (that I had been waiting for the past 12 years???)...May God bless you all...