Dilemma at the counter

A couple of days back, I decided to take a walk. Nothing great about that, apart from the fact that it reminds me that I’m getting older. You think ‘take a walk’ and you think ‘OLD’. It was not the desire for exercise, but for money. I needed to go to the ATM which was a bit too close to catch an auto and a little too far for just a short stroll. It was about 10 minutes away. It was around 7 PM, after office, mid-week, and my tryst with the ATM was very quickly done with. Too early for dinner yet, and I didn’t feel like having dinner at the company guest house yet again. I figured I would walk a little more and walk into a restaurant on the way.I took a road that looked like it had brighter prospects.

It took me around one hour of walking (I just happened to keep walking and walking) till I came to what was one of the more happening places in the city. MG Road. I later found out that I had walked for around 3-4 kilometres. Women here were at their attractive best. I kept walking, a little slower though.

It was a meaningless stroll, no actual sense of direction, but I soon found myself on a familiar street. And a very familiar looking building too. I recognized the street and the building as where I had been the previous weekend. A pub. I wondered whether to walk in. This would be the first time in my entire life when I would be having a drink alone. That sounded very lonely. I pictured myself sitting on the bar stool and sipping my mug of beer in isolation. Didn’t look very bright a picture, but I was thirsty and the prospect of finally sitting on a barstool was appealing too. So I walked right in. The place was slightly crowded and Coldplay was playing over the speakers. And yes, there was a vacant bar stool right at the center of the counter. I walked straight over and plonked myself there. I ordered for a mug of beer. I observed the bartender filling up a mug from what looked like a slightly ornamental tap. If only I had a tap like that in my house.

I took a look around..the usual suspects were there..in front of me, behind the bartender, was a lavish display of arty bottles and other knickknacks. There are 2 sardars to my left, engaged in animated conversation over a bottle of beer. And to my right..to my right, at the corner of the counter, seated on a bar stool, leaning against the pillar, was a single woman…Was it opportunity knocking?? There was an empty stool between us, and I wondered whether I had blundered in not taking that straightaway. And she certainly didn’t look like she was expecting someone. My mind harked back to all those English movies, where this was just the time when the two strangers struck up a conversation. Would this be one of those times?? I was just about telling myself why I should (alternatively should not) occupy that next stool, when suddenly she was obscured from my view. I just saw a flurry of blue for a very short while. When my eyes regained their focus, and I stole a stealthy look out of the corner of my eye, I saw that there was a guy between us. And she no longer had that vacant expression in her eyes. She was all eyes..her mouth was laughing a little, coyly smiling a little..

I turned my attention back to where it should have been – my beer mug and the television. Look at the bright side, at least he wasn’t a stranger to her. Now that would have been unbearable.