New FF: New York times with Maan and Geet - Page 28

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Part 21: Sunday Brunch…

Meera:"Hey…I think we should invite MK and Yash for an informal lunch/breakfast…whatever…but what do you think?

<Geet's monologue>

I had waited almost a week for her her say that. I had not thanked him enough for getting me… actually us out of the dire situation…or perhaps I never can…but I wanted to do something nice for him in my own way.

Meera called them on Saturday night and asked them to come over for Sunday brunch…

We took a whole week to settle in…we always discovered stuff that we needed that was still not bought from the numerous trips we had been making to Target…

I only talked to him about work in office…he was busy and he was still not making time for "people" in his life…I didn't call the whole week…we didn't meet for coffee either…

Yash always barged in for his Sunday coffe at our place and today was no different…he was in early as always around 9.00 AM…Ten minutes later the door bell rang again and there he was…

Maan:"Hi…Geet…kaise ho…"

<Maan's monologue>

She…..She had just come out from the shower…It was the sweetest smell…I didn't know if it was her…. Her hair on the right corner of her forhead was playing hide and seek when our gaze met…I looked away instantly…

Geet:" Ji…good…aur aap…"

Maan:" Good….Brunch huh!….kya banra hain…"

We walked in as we did our usual enquiries…I walked behind her…She was in a white and pink suit… she had her hair piled up on her right shoulder…a towel in her hand…her nape was in full view…I didn't have it in me to follow her to the kitchen…I raced to walk ahead of her…I wanted to be a gentleman today and I did not know if she was going to let me be one….

Geet:" I thought Meer said the brunch was at 11.00…didn't she?"

Maan:" tho main chale javoon? .."

<Geet's monologue>

I smiled…

Geet:" Ji…nahin…khana abhi tak bana nahin…so I was concerned…"

Maan:"Bahuth book to lag raha hain…but coffee chalega tab tak…"

I didn't know how to react…he was hungry?…I had not made Sunday morning breakfast for anyone besides myself in a long time…the urge to serve anyone had left me…but today I wanted to…for him.

I quickly made him coffee…toasted some bread and got him an omelette too…all quick and done in 9 mts…

I placed it on the island…He got on the bar stool and was surprised to see the spread I whipped up for him in such short time…

Maan:" I just wanted coffee…but thanks…"

Geet:"Khana banane keliye thoda time lag saktha hain…isiliye maine socha ki…breakfast bana de ti hoon aap ke liye…"

Maan glared at me…as if he couldn't believe what he just heard…

<Maan's monologue>

Does she understand what she just said? Only one man deserved such affection from her…the way she called me…ji and aap….She always did…but it seemed to be throwing me off today…I was strangely getting tangled between what I should be vs what I am vs what I wanted to be….in her life….

I had not seen her in a week….I missed her…and probably that was causing me to slip between her words…

Nakul whipped up the same breakfast for me everyday…but today it seemed to have an extra dash of something…I didn't know what it was…but I could very well taste it…

She was standing next to me and cutting vegetables….busy washing stuff…moving stuff around and I was sitting next to her and having breakfast on a Sunday morning…It was a beautiful Sunday morning in my life…but will I have many more of this…I didn't know…

<Geet's monologue>

Meer came out of the shower too and Yash was lounging with his laptop…Maan was still having his breakfast…

Yash came in to offer help…I was actually worried that he did…I didn't want the dishes to taste bad…I was cooking for him today…

Maan followed Yash…I didn't know what to say…he wanted to help too?

What was I in for today babaji?

Meer and I had decided to make… phulka...raita and lassi...mattar paneer...rice...chicken...halwa...

I know it was not the usual brunch menu…but I managed to change it by coaxing Meer…

We started off cooking…and were half way through the process…

Yash:" Chalo…let me make the dough…"

Geet:" Nahin….I will do it…tumhe pata nahin ke kaise karna hai…"

I was panicking…I wanted to do everything…Babaji…please Yash ko yahaan se haatiye…

Meer was making the rice and raita…she claimed only those items from our brunch menu…

Maan:" Actually mein help karde ta hoon Yash ko…You know I'm a good cook…."

He announced to all of us…

They got started on the Aata…I didn't know how the pulka's were going to turn out…

Yash took a large plate and placed it on the countertop to find the aata…Maan found it before Yash and added the aata to the plate…he started mixing it with little amounts of water…

Yash:" Yeh! Le…aur pani dalna padta hain MK…isse kaam nahin hoga…"

He took the glass jar and started pouring water…He didn't hold the lid…Babaji…our first accident…

He emptied the entire jug of water into the plate and water was running down along with the aata…It had splashed on Maan's shirt too…I was a witness to all the tamasha as I was stirring the browning onions for the chicken and matter paneer…

Yash was forced by Meera to clean up…

Maan cleaned up too and they again started the Aata…

I was half way through my gravies….

Yash:"Please…I want to help too Geet…but please aah! give me something simple…"

Geet:" Ok…I will give you the easiest…Take the curd and blend it into a milkshake consistency…here use this blender…"

He carefully took the curd out of the fridge…and with extra care added the same to the blender and with even more extra care added very little water and placed it on the blender base…

Meera :" Tum pagal ho gayi ho kya…phir se tumne ise kaam diya… I'm sure he is going to mess up…"

Yash:" Hullow…you don't know how I work in the kitchen…hum tho aisa… Aaaah…Aaah…"

He had done it again….he forgot the lid and while in conversation with Meera started the blender…the whole place was now covered with some liquid and semi-solid chunks of Dahi…

I was not prepared to clean up once again…Meera and yash together wiped down the countertop's cabinets and the appliances that had the dahi splashed on them…

Maan:" Ok I'm not coming in until Yash makes a move from the kichen…"

It was so much fun to have so many people around…I had not been in such family space since my time in Hosiarpur…

I didn't want to get affected..atleast not now…I'm cooking for him…

The gravies had a rich sheen to them…they were simmering towards their last minutes…I tasted the gravies one by one…they seemed ok…I didn't know what was missing..or was it that I was insecure… but I wanted to have a second opinion…

I tried the gravies with some left over roti…something was still running low…

I asked meera to try it…I fed her the same combination and she felt that it tasted good too…I still wasn't convinced….

Geet:" Mujhe ye kyoon lag raha hain ki kuch kam hain…."

Yash walked in and asked me to give him a piece…I tore another piece and fed him the roti along with some curry…

Yash:"I think….something is missing..but I don't know…may be it needs some tamarind…"

We all broke into a laughter…none of the dishes take tamarind in them…

Yash:" How am I supposed to know…I think they can be a little tangy…what else can be tangy…?"

Did he mean more tomatoes?…I was thinking…

Maan:" Lo…mein taste karta hoon…"

He walked towards me…He lifted his hands and showed me…they were covered in atta….he wanted me to feed him…

<Maan's monologue>

I was just done with the atta and was cleaning up when I saw her feed Meera and Yash…I was jealous…jealous in a way that I was not going to get it from her…I instantly dipped my hand in the atta again…

I shot straight to heaven when she fed me the roti with the curry…I didn't want her to read me and so I maintained that I was trying to guess what was missing…Internally I was experiencing heavenly bliss…

I wanted to see if I could experience that once again…Dil hain ke manta nahin….

Maan:" Hmm…I'm not sure…let me try once again…"

Geet:" Huh!...."

This time her hand was shaking…she knew what I was asking for…

She was about to back off when her fingers touched the corners of my mouth….I caught hold of her hand in the same instant and made her feed me the roti once again…

What was I doing? I was behaving like a pervert…

I walked away….She turned away too…Her right hand had gooey atta all over…

I washed my hands and didn't know how to face her…I decided to leave the place….

Maan:" Actually I have some work…I thought I will drop by for sometime and leave…I should be going…"

<Geet's monologue>

What? I didn't want him to leave…I know what made him take this instant decision…He was blaming himself…but I wanted to stop him…I knew what I had to do…

Meera and Yash forced him to stay but he was determined to leave..…Meer and Yash were checking something on the internet for the raita recipe…I washed my hands and started mixing the atta again…I called out to him…

Geet:"Maan…"

Maan:" hmmm…"

Geet:"Zara…yeh stove off kar dijiye na…"

He walked into the kitchen and switched off the stove…I called out to him…I hesitated…

Geet:" Actually…yeh gravy bhi hogaya hai…can you switch this off too….hold on…I didn't taste this…Can you help me taste it?…"

I raised my hands and showed him that it was covered in atta….he couldn't believe his eyes…his eyes had both shades of embarassement and surpise in it…He still tried to maintain a straight face…

He tore a piece of roti and dipped the same in the hot gravy and fed me a piece….I instantly turned away from him and started chewing….It was perfect…I smiled…I had to ask him…I didn't know how else to tell him that it was ok and that I did not perceive it as an act of perversion.

He smiled too…he understood why I did what I did…I wish he knew…that if I could feed Yash and Meera, it was not a lot different for me to feed him either…it was not exactly the same…but didn't deviate much either…

He stayed behind…ofcourse I still had to persuade him…

We sat in a circle in the empty living room and finished the lunch…I got many compliments from Yash and Meera…ofcourse he liked it too…Yash was lying down on the floor…he claimed to be suffering from good coma…

We cleared up and Yash gave me and meera two gift cards as house warming gifts…we hugged him together…

I looked at Maan…he was still in a serious mood…I wanted him to lighten him up…

Geet:"Maan...where is my house warming gift?"

<Maan's monologue>

She was standing with her hands on her waist and was asking me for the house warming gift…Is she kidding me? I buy her something…she gets upset…and if I don't…she picks up a fight…I could never predict her…I knew she was just trying to engage me in a conversation…I didn't want to stay down either…

She walked away from Meera and Yash and started cleaning up in the kitchen…

Maan:" Teek hai...card hi tho chaiye na...lelo...this is my charge card...raklo..."

I took out a card and grabber her hand and placed it on her palm…She started fanning with the card…

Geet:"But this is just a credit card...I'm sure I can buy only upto a certain limit..my tastes are high you know..."

nakre dikha rahi thee...

Maan:"This is an Amex black...there is no limit on this...just make sure you know my asset value...before you start spending...I hope you will keep your spending within that limit nahin tho main bankrupt ho javunga"

She didn't give up…she was actually enjoying it…

Geet:"Agar mein saari dukhan kareed le thee…aur aapke assets ka limit reach ho gaya tho..? Uske baad aap kya karenge…"

Maan:" Uske baad…mein….is apartment mein shift ho javunga…yahaan pe itna acha breakfast aur khana jo milta hai….kyon…wont you take care of me?"

<Geet's monologue>

I didn't respond…I continued smiling…I took his hands and placed the card on his palm and continued cleaning…

It was a strange morning….He was at HOME…I wondered if he was still fighting his feelings of guilt…I didn't want him to…I wanted to tell him I was completely at peace with it…in every which way there possibly was...