“So that we
are very sure what we are putting in front of the committee.” Naveen smiled. He
was going to follow that up with a joke, Anindita thought. She had a sense
about these things. She could feel jokes coming from a mile away. Even as it is
being conceived in another’s brain. This has got to be the lamest superpower
ever. She thought, smiling.
Sure enough,
the joke followed. “Granted, for us to do that, we have to know what they want
and thus they have to know what they want. Which, sure as we are sitting here, they don’t
and so we don’t.” Naveen chuckled. “Effing Morons!”. Riya snorted with laughter
while sipping on her lemonade.
Mohit
raised his glass with a “You said it Boss!” and let out a half laugh and half
sigh. He knew in his bones that not knowing what people want generally
translated into multiple rework requests on review decks.
Anindita
looked around for the waiter, maybe she should have another iced tea. It was
going to be a long day. That’s when it happened again. She felt another prick
in her right eye. Again she pushed at her eye ball from over her eyelid with
one finger. Careful not to smudge her kajal. But this time the prickly feeling didn’t
go away. It just turned into a constant feeling of irritation.
“Oh god! Its
prickling me now” Anindita said out loud without really meaning to. “You and me
both lady. You and me both!” murmured Naveen. “May be we should talk to them
for some clarity” he went on.
“No! My
eye. My eye is bothering me since a while ago and I am wearing lenses. Without
which I am practically blind” Anindita explained.
“Just take
them off and wear your glasses” Riya suggested. “Well, I don’t have my glasses,
lens container or solution. So as you can see, I am totally in control of this
situation. That seems to be our theme today”.
“Stupid
woman!” Riya said. “That’s fair” quipped Anindita. She excused herself with “I
think I need to go look at it in the washroom”.
Mohit
started sniggering. “Oh! Grow up will you?!” barked Riya. “She is talking about
her eye”.
“That wasn’t
made clear” murmured Mohit.
Anindita
made her way to the washroom. She expected a small albeit clean washroom as was
typical to these traditional yet urban restaurant in Chanakyapuri, Delhi. On
the way to the washroom, she crossed the maître d patiently explaining to a
couple why that variant of a dish was not possible to be served at this time of
the year. She crossed the bar and turned right for the washroom.
Two young ladies
were standing in front of the closed washroom door chit chatting. Anindita put
her hand over her eye and pressed on it for effect. Without saying so she
wanted to get ahead of the line because hers was an emergency. The girls looked
at her from top to bottom and resumed their tales. Anindita leaned against the
wall and waited.
After what
felt like an eternity, the washroom was finally available to her. She entered
and found a somewhat clean washroom. She stood in front of the huge wall mirror
leaning over the sink and tried to see what was going on in her eye. It had turned
reddish from all the poking and pressing.
She had
been using lenses for years now. She had gotten so good at it and had so little
trouble with it that she never really carried any lens solution or spare
glasses. She chided herself. You deserve it, she thought to herself. Why are you
never prepared?!
As much as
she was admonishing herself now, she knew she would carry on living the exact
same way in the future. And that enraged her even more. You ARE stupid,
Anindita. Stupid and incorrigible. I have to take the lens out now and I need
some solution to put it back in. No tap water won’t do, she thought. She had
learned that from experience.
She was in
the middle of the self-admonishing exercise when the washroom door made a noise
behind her as it opened. Anindita jumped and turned around with a start. A
woman was standing looking at her, holding the door open.
“Hey! I am
in here!” complained Anindita, loudly. “Hey! I am so sorry. I just saw that the
door was opened and I.. I am sorry. I will wait here” the woman smiled.
“Ah.. no
problem. I should have locked the door. Don’t worry about it.” Anindita heard
herself saying gruffly while turning back to the mirror. Her mood slightly
improved on hearing the woman apologize.
She was
still deciding whether to pull the lens out and spend the rest of the day
seeing through one eye. Or alternatively, going back home to get her glasses or
lens solution. Or may be a pharmacy nearby would help. That’s when she noticed in
the mirror that the woman was still looking at her through the partially open
door.
Anindita
turned around and said, “This washroom can only occupy one at a time, really.”
What ever happened to privacy, she thought. The woman smiled and said, “Are you
having trouble with your lenses?”. Anindita turned back to the mirror and said “Yup”,
and I am not in the mood for chitchat, she thought. She wanted to close the
door on the woman’s face but decided against it out of curtesy. Wait your turn
lady, I waited mine.
“I have
solution, do you want some?” the woman offered. Anindita spun around and stared
at her blanky. She was suddenly out of words in the face of kindness from a
stranger. She felt her lips were smiling. “You do? ‘Cause that would be God
sent!”. Suddenly she felt bad about yelling at the woman.
Instead of
a bottle of solution, she pulled out a pack of disposable lens that was stored in
solution and handed it to Anindita. “You can just take the solution and throw
out the lens.”
“Umm..”
Anindita was even more baffled than before. “That will cost you. Can I please
pay you for the lens then?” she offered. “Arre.. just fix your eye first. It’s
nothing.” the woman smiled.
“Thank you
so much.. I really don’t have words to thank you.” Anindita turned around
feeling grateful and ripped the lens case open. There was just enough solution
there to help her eye.
Once done,
she turned and opened the washroom door to thank the woman again and may be
insist on buying her a drink. But there was no one there. She stepped out and
looked around, but she couldn’t spot her. Riya had spotted her though and
yelled across the floor, “what’s going on? You, okay?”. Anindita nodded a yes,
distractedly.
She thought
about asking the maître d if the tall stylish looking woman who was just
standing here was seated on another floor but it looked like he had his own
problems.
She walked
back to her table. “I am fine now, thanks to this lady who offered some kindness,
but she just vanished”.
“A lady
offered some kindness in the washroom?” smirked Naveen.
“These
things happen to Anindita only.” Mohit said jokingly.
“Never has
this kind of thing happened to me ever. I never expect kindness from strangers
in Delhi at least” said Anindita. “Well never is a strong word, but still. This
is certainly rare.”
“Well what
do we do about the review deck then?” Riya asked.
“I think we
should just sit across the table with them and listen to them with some
understanding and kindness. That will tell us where to go from here”. Anindita
replied feeling calm and wise.
Everyone at
the table looked at her in unison. “Mata Anindita, what happened in the
washroom?” asked Naveen.
Anindita
smiled.