‘Chal Aaj Chinese Khane Jate Hain’ says Hamid, out of blue moon, lekin kaha jaye iss waqt - said astonished Parvez, pointing time at his new branded watch that strike 10:15 PM. Happy Rizwan jump on his bike ‘Kahin Na Kahin Toh Mil Hi Jayega Yaar’, par aaj kiska turn hain treat ka? All hands were pointing on my side within no time - chal aaj tu party de Marial, bahut din ho gaye humne party nahin kiye says Hamid in his confident voice, as though it has been years that we haven't eaten Chinese at our local dhaba.
It’s hard for me to spend Rs 400 - 600 to fulfill my friends demand, as my pocket money restricts me to spend on unnecessary things. The soft tone of friends turned into an unavoidable argument as I objected of giving treat to them. The argument went on for next 15 minutes, and finally I was the ultimate Bakra.
We decided to go on two respective bikes as it avoid the time waiting for rickshaw. Wasting no more time we were on our bikes to our favourite Chinese corner of town. Vroom vroom and we were racing to the spot. It took at least 20 odd minutes for us to reach at the venue.
At Anthony Chinese Corner:
Ha, how are you guys? Says Anthony Uncle, as he was familiar with our faces. We are fine, thank you replied Parvez. We quickly went to our particular place where we generally sit at his shop. It seems the seats were reserved for us for the late night party.
Grabbing a seat Rizwan waved his hands to the waiter, who was standing at the right hand corner of the dhaba, where the kitchen was set. 'Aaj Kuch Alag Dish Khayege', was the call of Hamid as the waiter started approaching towards us. Being a foodie guy, even I like to order something different, then that what we usually have at the dhabas. We order all the spicy dishes which we can probably eat.
Gossip started as we wait for the waiter to bring the dishes. Hamid was the first one to start off, and what else you can expect when four guys are sitting around the table. He started his conversation with the girl he dated last week. His some realistic and sometime fictional long love story went on for the next 45 minutes, which finally ended as we finished our dinner.
According to Indian and southeast Asian tradition chewing sweet paan after meals is a sign of hospitality in both personal and social occasion. But here the situation was completely different for us; we wanted to have the paans just for fun and most importantly to digest the junk foods we had. Soon we were again racing to the spot where we can easily get paans at the night.
At M P Paanwala At 12.30 PM The ride was taking toll on us, as we zap on the streets to reach at the spot. Cold climate, breezing wind and silent streets were the only things we can mentally feel as we approach our destination. The fun and laugh on almost anytime and anywhere seems adorable when we are with good friends.
Crossing the busiest streets of Ulhasnagar, we reached at the M P Paanwala shop. I was surprise to see a few beggar kids wheedling money out of the paan buyers at the wee hours of the night.
The kids notice our presence at the shop and at once, one of them came running towards us. Me and Hamid stood at the bike stand, while Parvez got busy counting the remaining money and Rizwan was busy making fool of the kid, who approached him for money.
Realizing he won't get anything from Rizwan, he started walking back to the others who were enjoying vada pav given to them by a man who had his remaining pieces of breads in his plate. He sat down on the floor, where the rest were enjoying the left over food.
After a few minutes, I noticed him crying silently in the corner. He seems desperately waiting to earn something to quest his hunger. He looked tired, harassed and frustrated. He was all alone in that crowd. I went to him and asked him what the matter was. He couldn’t answer me, but his silent words were the louder shout, I can feel at that dead night. I removed my wallet to offer him something but unfortunately I couldn’t find any change in the purse. Mean time a man flips a coin towards this boy and walked away. The shinning silver coin fell right in front of him. It was a new five rupee coin. Silent tears gave way to tinseled charm as he picked it up from the ground. Noticing the joy on his face, I asked him what he will like to do with the earned money. Running towards the other end of the road, he screamed and flinched as the pain tormented him…. “Saheb Main Isse Roti Kariduga”.
