Podi Dosa and Filter Coffee

He checked his watch. For the hundredth time probably. Ajay hated this trait in her. He took a deep breath, realising he was getting agitated. She had to keep him waiting, because she was fundamentally incapable of respecting anyone’s time, least of all in this world - his. He fought the temptation to go ahead and order for both of them; he knew she'd order her Podi (gunpowder) dosa with filter coffee while he, his Rava (Semolina) upma. He decided to wait for her.

Trisha finally came in; twenty five minutes beyond the agreed time. There she was, not one iota of remorse for putting him through the mental torment of awkward waiting in an Udupi restaurant with nothing to do.

“It’s okay.” He prompted, once she slammed her bulky bag on the table and sat down.

“Fine, I’m sorry for keeping you waiting for like ten minutes.” She rolled her eyes.

“Twenty five freaking minutes. In this cramped place, subjecting me to the glares of those fast moving waiters, who probably have people waiting to get in.

“Fiiiine. Stop lecturing me.”

He swallowed his desire to throttle her and focussed on their purpose of meeting up. You don’t have to control the world around you, he repeated to himself.

He called a waiter, who took their order, followed by a cleaner who swiped the table with a cloth. The cloth missed removing specs of sambar at the corner facing him, and he looked away to not bring it up.

“Did we have to do this right now? Like this?” She asked, as she moved her bag away to make space for the filter coffee the waiter placed for her.

“What do you think?” He asked as he placed the bundle of sheets for her to sign, cautiously avoiding those specs of sambar. He didn’t push the pen to her, waiting patiently for her to finish her coffee.

She didn’t make eye contact with him while she sipped her beverage, looking everywhere else.

“Nervous, are we?” He teased.

“Shouldn’t we be? You realise this changes a lot of things.”

“Trisha, we agreed because we want this, these changes, right?”

“Yes, but the changes come with the tough bits too. I am nervous.”

“That’s true about any change. A couple getting married get the joy of being with each other while getting financially entangled. A couple divorcing gets the freedom of being away from each other while having to sort their own bills. A couple deciding to apply for adoption gets the delight of adding a new member to the family, while making peace with the fact that the child is not their biological one. A couple signing up a pre-nup gets clarity on who brings what to the table, while-”

“Touché," She interrupted. “Lovely that you’d mix our situation as an example with the other interesting ones. You know what, I know this is what we want, but can we put this aside for some time?” She gathered the papers and stacked them. He agreed, and started sorting the documents page no. wise, before carefully aligning them edge to edge and putting it back in the folder.

“How did the presentation go?” He asked as the waiter placed the Rava upma for him, and the Podi dosa for her. He stirred the sambar homogeneously onto the rava upma till it was evenly mixed out.

“You remembered?” She asked, genuinely delighted.

“Difficult to forget when you’ve been rambling about it these last two weeks.”

She giggled and shared that the panel had approved her report; they’d suggested some minor feedbacks, but overall it was on the right track.

“You make dinner tonight.” She said suddenly, then changed her mind, “No wait. I’ll make dinner, you clear and sort up after. And, did you think about Piya’s wedding? I have to confirm the count to her by today evening- whether I’m going alone or plus one etc.. Join me for the trip, it’ll be nice. Rajasthan - big fat wedding - couple days away from your office - me as your company - the works. Unless," She paused and shrugged dramatically, "you have something important lined up those days?”

“You do realise we have been married, and this very enticing way of inviting me sounds like two people who haven’t shared a wedding ceremony together. And a lot of other things.” He winked.

She blushed. “Fine whatever, just let me know by 6, I have to let her know. I do have other options, you know, the plus one, thing.” She smirked.

He felt mild irritation at that remark. On some level he knew it was irrational, but he couldn’t stop it. “No, not really. You know what?” He pulled out his phone, tapped a few times to check his calendar and looked at her squarely in the eyes. “26th and 27th, right? I'll have to move things around a bit but I’m in. Let's book the tickets tonight post dinner.”

“Oh, cool.” She said, surprised that he had agreed, and was willing to book tickets together. She knew it was an effort for him, the urge to not control or do everything on his own.

And,” He hesitated, “one more thing. My mother, she wants to meet us.”

“Again? Not about the same thing, I hope.”

“Could be about the same thing.” He murmured.

“Ajay, tell her clearly it’s not happening. I can’t tell her beyond a point, but you can make it clear. It’s not happening. It’s not what we want.”

“She’s in some sort of denial, Trisha. I’ve spoken to her so many times, alone. I’ve told her it’s not what we want.”

“She knows about the big decision we’re taking right? The documents, it’s real. Don’t see us having kids in the scenario.”

“In her mind - as far as kids are concerned - it’s one of the two things or nothing else. Either kids are the magic answer that solve every issue in life, or they are independent of any other big calls we take in life. Like I said, she is in denial that we’re not, you know?”

“Not what? Not having kids? Not going on with our lives as per her T&A plan?”

He shrugged helplessly. Then he realised it was getting late, “Okay look, I’ve not got all day. Sign the documents quickly, and we’ll meet up for dinner.”

“Fine,” She sighed and signed the documents, waiting for him patiently as he scrutinised her each signature.

"So," She asked, "when will you come for dinner?”

“I think around 8:30. Meeting somebody at 6, so 8:30 should work fine.”

She mildly fought the wave of curious jealousy that he was ‘meeting someone’. It had been a hard lesson at counselling, and she knew this was her tendency of insecurity that was coming to the fore. She distracted herself.

“I’ll be passing that Gourmet shop when I come, do you want anything?” He asked as she paid the bill.

“Yeah, maybe a block of Parmesan cheese might be cool. And a bottle of wine. We just signed off on one of the biggest changes of our lives. Let's drink to it.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”