Scene 24: Ashok ruined it

From Abinaya's perspective

"I am on my way", I said and cut the call. Pushkar, the second guy, whom my mom asked to meet for a wedding proposal. During those meetings I realised how idiotic I had been to not find a loving partner myself. This matrimony based system was so dumb. I had to meet and talk with all types of random idiots and reject them.

It wouldn't be appropriate to use a plural because till then I had met only one person, that stupid Ashok. He simply acted creepy. Probably he had the qualities of all types of idiots that I felt that I had met too many idiots at once.

I was hoping that at least this date wouldn't get ruined like the previous one. "One ruined date was more than enough", I thought. My mind continued, "No. This is not a date. It is an engagement meeting. No. It could be a proposal meeting. Or simply a coffee time. Or something. One horrible something was more than enough". With that thought I reached the entrance of the cafe. It was a huge one, larger than the one, where I went to meet Ashok. Geographically it was on the opposite side of that cafe. So, I was hoping that everything there would be much different.

When I parked my car, I realized that I was five minutes early. I remembered how I went in the last time with all the hopes of meeting a sweet person, who could carry himself like a real man, who would muscular and tough outside, sweet and soft inside. All I got was Ashok, the complete opposite of my expecations. He had zero discipline, zero communication skills; He wasn't even punctual. He should have waited for me. "Why would a girl has to wait for a man", I asked myself. 

My phone was ringing. "Where is he", I looked around without getting out of the car. All I could see was the wall of the parking lot and cars on both sides. I took the phone and as I guessed, it was Pushkar. I answered it.

"Abinaya! I am in parking lot. I will be there in five minutes. Have you reached already", he asked. I paused for a moment and said, "I am yet to reach. I'll be there in fifteen minutes. There is heavy traffic here". He said, "No issues. Take your time. Hoping to have a delightful time with you" and hung up the phone. I burst out laughing immediately after he cut the call as I had successfully lied to someone and made him wait for me. It took a while for me to come back to normal.

"This guy is really sweet. He reached on time and knows how to be polite", I thought. I didn't know what to do for fifteen minutes, so I just lowered my head and started checking my Instagram feed. It was weird to think about how badass it was to deliberately lie to someone and make them suffer. I knew it was wrong but I badly needed that to overcome the previous experience.

After a while, I ran out of new feed in Instagram. I checked my watch and I still had about five minutes. "Oh! Let's prepare to do everything different this time. What did I do last time? I smiled at Ashok. Let me not do it. I initiated the conversation. Let him initiate it this time. Ok. Last time Ashok went straight to washroom. Should I try that? No. It would be awkward. Let me be normal. Am I getting nervous? Oh shit! I have been thinking here for a long time. What's the time now", I was thinking. My mind was already sending panic messages. I checked my phone. The time was 5:07. Still three minutes to 'late by ten minutes'.

I thought that my phone was showing the wrong time and checked my watch. It was showing the same time. For a moment it felt like time was going slow for me. It looked like it would take forever for the five minutes to pass. I started to yell out my thoughts, "why is the time stuck at 5 hours 7 minutes and 41 seconds, 42 seconds, 43 seconds. No. I mean 5 hours 8 minutes. Whatever. Why is it running slow? I just saw in Instagram that time is dependent on gravity. Am I in a gravity zone? What is wrong with everything around me". I was sweating a little out of anxiety.

The time was almost 5:10. I thought that it would anyways take some time to walk to the entrance and I prepared myself to exit the car. I checked my face and saw a few sweat drops. I let them be there so that it would look like I was really making an effort to rush as fast as possible and not deliberately making Pushkar wait. I opened the door. The adjacent car was too close for me to get out. "Oh God! Why are you spoiling it again", I yelled. I closed the door and moved out to the other side with a lot of trouble. I opened the door and got out. I locked the door and really rushed to the entrance.

When I was nearing the entrance, I looked through the transparent door to find where Pushkar was sitting. I couldn't find him from that distance and I was growing impatient. I moved even faster only to be stopped by a muscular hand of a man standing near the door. "Abinaya! No need to rush. I am Pushkar", a voice came out of the man.

I looked at his face and I was speechless. He really waited near the door for me. He was tall and fit with trimmed beard and moustache. His hair was gelled and combed. I had never expected such a well-groomed man. I took a breathe and realised that I was standing too close to him. So, I stepped back.

"Are you alright", he asked and made sure I felt comfortable. "Take your breathe. We can go in any time. I had reserved a table for three hours", he said. Oh! He was really sweet. All my expectations about getting married were back again. I finally got my hope in a dream wedding. I just wished that it had been the first date (or that something).

My phone rang again. It was my friend Swathi this time. I kept it inside and signalled him to go in. He looked at my eyes and smiled. That was the cutest manly smile I had ever seen in my life. He kept making me speechless. "Answer the phone call and talk. I will wait", he said politely. I followed his words without thinking anything. I answered the call but I wasn't speaking. My concentration was on his face. He got the wrong signal out of it. "Oh! Am I disturbing? Let me turn the other side. Have your privacy", he said and turned away. I went two steps back and finally started to speak to her. She was speaking about her boyfriend. I was in no mood to listen to it. So I said, "Mein thoda busy hun. Will call you back" and cut the call.

I called Pushkar and signalled him that we could go in. "Sure?", he asked. I nodded and we went near the door. He was smiling at me casually and tried to pull the door. He couldn't. His eyes were on me trying to make me comfortable. Meanwhile I looked at the door sign and told him, "Push kar", because the door sign said "PUSH". "Ya", he replied thinking I was calling him. I just realised what just happened. My face turned serious and I yelled, "Oh God". He left the door and looked at me trying to understand what was happening.

There was a gigantic image of Ashok standing behind him and laughing at me. The imaginary Ashok pointed his finger at me and said, "See. You are just like me" and continued laughing. I was frowning at Ashok. Pushkar came near me and asked, "Is there a problem".

I looked at his innocent face and said, "Nothing. Why did you pull the door? You should have pushed it". He looked at the door sign and looked at me again. "Oh! Sorry. I forgot to notice it", he said as he opened the door. "Please come in", he said with all possible smile in his face.

The image of Ashok walked with us inside through the closed door. It was a similar seat facing the washroom. I started to think, "Oh no! It was going really well. Why did it take an U-turn? Why should Swathi call me at the wrong moment? Why should he insist me to answer the call? Why should she speak in Hindi? Why should he not look at the door sign? Why should the door even say PUSH? Why couldn't there be a two-way door? Why should there even be a door? The dream husband is sitting right before me and all I could think about is Ashok". I felt exhausted. He saw me getting tired and told, "No worries. Just make yourself comfortable".

I didn't focus on anything that was happening after that. My mood was off and Pushkar kept trying to make me feel better. For the first time, I got annoyed by politeness. I just wanted to go out from there. Whenever I gained confidence and looked at Pushkar, I could hear Ashok whispering near my ear, "Pushkar, please push kar". I didn't utter a single word while consuming the hot chocolate that he had ordered for me. His confidence was high, face was smiling, and energy was up the entire time.

After a while, he said, "Abinaya! I don't know why you feel so uncomfortable. It could be something personal. I don't want to ask you about it unless you want to talk about it". He expected me to reply but I was in no mood to reply. He continued, "However, this conversation is too one-sided. So, why don't you get back home and leave a message? When you are ready to talk, we can meet again".

I felt pathetic about me. I finally spoke, "Sorry Pushkar. I didn't intend to ruin this. In fact I was so happy to meet you but when you couldn't open the door...". I stopped it right there. He asked, "Was there a problem". I replied, "No no no. I can't explain you now. It has got nothing to do with you. Maybe you're right. I'll go home and text you. Or call you. Let's meet some other time. I am not usually like this. Please don't judge me based on what happened today".

"Ok. All good. It was wonderful to have met you. Hopefully we would meet soon", he said and stood up from his seat. He left some cash on the bill and waited for me to get up. He walked me to my car in the parking. There was a disturbing silence between us. When we reached the car, he said, "Don't worry. It is usual for people to get nervous and behave unusually during such meetings". "Or maybe act weird during such meetings", I replied. "Don't be too rough on you. It's OK", he said. I was about to say, "I wasn't talking about me. I was talking about Ashok" but fortunately I stopped and zipped my lips.

He waited till I got in my car and said, "Drive carefully. Text me when you reach". I smiled but in my mind I said, "Man! Don't be so sweet. I am no more impressed. This date or meeting or something is officially ruined. No. Ashok ruined it yet again".