Pizza

‘Here you go with your large flat white with skimmed milk and croissant’ Mr Iqbal’ said the server at the ‘Glorious Day’ café on George Street, Sydney, Australia.

Perfect late Saturday afternoon is what Iqbal loved in his adapted (adopted) country. Sit back, relax, and reflect. Taste a cup of caffeine at his regular cafe. Sit back and see the world go by.

He could watch the light rail go by transporting people from one place to another.

He could see the many shoppers with shopping bags which provided the holder with some form of comfort coming from the purchase they had made.

He could see couples enjoying their time together walking by or shopping or eating or drinking or just being on either side of one another.

He could see families having some wonderful time together at a restaurant across the road or just walking past him.

He could see friends huddled together catching up on the events that may have impacted them in a good or bad way.

But there was one common theme in all these observations, ‘happiness and joy’.

‘How absolutely wonderful would it be to sit by my friends at this

moment?’ this is the thought which came to Iqbal.

Sipping his coffee, he thought of the days and evenings he had spent with his friends, years ago.

Iqbal had left his country of origin to pursue greener pastures. He kept moving, from country to another in search of his aim.

Six boys who seemed to be in their late teens came to sit on the table next to him. He watched them in silence and envy. The boys ordered a large pizza to share amongst them. Ten minutes was the time it took the pizza to come to their table. Precisely six pieces, one for each of them. The slices were big enough to satiate their need of hunger for food. Each had its own requirement of sauce and chillies. For instance, one poured tomato ketchup on his slice, one sprinkled crushed chilli, another wanted to have it as is and so on. While talking and humouring each other.

Watching the six boys, carried him to back in nostalgic times and

his teen days and friends. Oblivious to the future, they were together enjoying each other’s presence. Wherever he looked, it was crowded. It was merry and cheery as much he could fathom from the looks on the faces. After all it was a weekend.

Why am I sitting here alone when the world is enjoying itself? Asked Iqbal to himself.

‘Hi there Iqbal’ said Aeon walking towards the café where Iqbal was sitting.

Aeon was a colleague from Iqbal’s office and a close office mate.

‘Hey mate’ said Iqbal.

‘What are you up to, what are you doing here’ said Aeon.

‘Just having a cuppa, would you like to join me’ asked Iqbal.

‘Sure bro, I was just getting bored at home, so thought I would go out for a walk, saw you and came by, I hope you don’t mind’

‘No, not at all, it’s great to see you and thanks for joining me’

‘Do you come here often?’ asked Aeon

‘Unsurprisingly you will find me here every Saturday, same time, with the same coffee and croissant, possibly the same chair and table, ha ha ha’

‘How ironic, I find myself in front of the television at this same time every Saturday, watching something incomprehensible’ said Aeon

SOUND OF LAUGHTER

‘Why are you left watching television on weekends, I thought your family was around’ asked Iqbal

‘No, they live further in Armidale, I go see them on long weekends or whenever time allows, we have a decent sized farm and a quite house, where my parents live with their grandchildren and my wife’ said Aeon

‘Why don’t you bring them here?’

‘Or why don’t I go live there with them?’

‘I have always wanted to live in a city where everyone is on the go, so that I don’t have time to whine away – during the week is when I live my dream but on weekends, everything slows down’

‘Ironic, I left my country of birth to do the same and you are doing or chasing the same objective in your own country’

----SILENCE---

‘I am sure you miss someone, something, your home?’ asked Aeon ‘why did you want to leave all that you had?’

Iqbal took some time to respond to Aeon

‘You see these six boys, enjoying their time on a Saturday’ – I miss that.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I ventured enroute to materialism or greener pastures, you may say as you may deem appropriate, but the truth is that I belonged to a group of six friends. We were as much together like the six pizza slices, but we were as much further like each person in the group wants the slice to taste differently. Today I sit here with you, after having achieved, well almost, what I went out for. It has been almost two decades that I have left my country of origin and friends with whom I had promised to be with whatever happened. All those words had no true meaning. The fact is that I sit here miles away thinking of the life I left behind – not that I ask you for sympathy or empathy. Also, I do not regret the journey I opted to take and have endured all this while'.

'Only thing which I had forgotten at the beginning of the journey which I took many years ago is that when I would reach my aim and objective, I might be alone. Did I want it that way, maybe, but when I am here today, I want to revere whatever I have today with my loved ones. Where are they?'

Croissant was crusty and tasty with the hot beverage. As it is always, the crust and the tasty beverage finished, so did the bright afternoon which turned into heavy evening and darkness.

Time was upon us to leave for the day and say goodbye to a nice evening, cherishing the good old memories in loneliness.

#photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #tbt #igers #picoftheday.

#love #nature