To all come crashing down...
"You remember that brawl dont you?" Prakash muttered softly, as Rao and him lifted inverted chairs off the table and set it down for lunch
Manjunath was missing this morning, the part time cook and one he brought along were
inside, a cook that will be paid at the end of the day and may or may not show up the next day
Trisha was chopping carrots and cabbage lengthwise for the asian noodle recipes
"There have been so many" Rao Anna mumbled confused
"There were a few big ones, the biggest atleast for me was when my son left me... though that was not even the biggest,
no windows got broken no dishes were broken no food was wasted, so much emotional destruction!!!!"
Rao Anna sat on one of the chairs to catch his breath
Prakash sat by him
"The one with those 4 or 5 or 7 North Indian boys on summer vacation?"
"Oh yes yes, one boy was from Andhra...?" Rao Anna reminded
"Yes" Prakash nodded
"The waiter's wife was sitting in a corner one of the boys walked over and pulled her hand, and I slapped that boy and the boy standing with him, and Sanchet" Prakash broke down
Rao Anna sighed audibly groaning, patted his friend's back
They used to have a married waiter back then whose roof leaked and sometimes during monsoons he brought her with him for dinner service
She helped out in the kitchen a bit, and the rest of the time she sat in a quiet corner behind the bar.
She didnt speak any Hindi or English she only knew Tulu and she was very wary.
"Yes yes... Praveen" Rao Anna said sadly
"Well one of those boys has married Trisha" Prakash spoke almost inaudibly
Rao Anna stared stunned...
"what are you saying?" "No I dont believe it"
"You must... I am right... I looked up the names this morning at 3:18 AM" Prakash sighed and leaned back
He was exhausted... the weight of that secret already beginning to weigh him down and he had only held it 10 hours inside
"What a shock... what a complete shock" Rao Anna was baffled
"I slapped Sanchet and he ran away that night" Prakash sniffled, and snorted and wiped his eyes on the edge of his dhoti...
"He would not listen to you he kept serving them liqor" Rao defended him
Prakash nodded sadly tears streaming down
"That poor girl was barely 21... he just grabbed her arm like that"
"He was on drugs much like the foriegners" Rao Anna accused
"There were seven boys... u are right, there were seven" Prakash nodded realizing
"What ensued was a lot of drama, you called the cops, they were all booked. Sanchet ran away"
"one of those boys was Shanbag"
"some tried to escape by running away didnt they?"
"Yes yes... the two that were sozzled the most were helped by a third one and eventually 5 were captured"
Trisha came outside
"Aanu the new guy seems very skilled"
"Really?" he bend down trying to rock the table, pretending to test if it was wobbly
He crouched
"What are you doing Aanu, dont pull something bending down like that wait for Manjunath to come"
"Its very wobbly, I put a fanta cap underneath that foot and it came loose, any food kept on it will all come down"
"I will call the guy" she said seriously
"OK"
"Any way the new man...He does great prep work"
"You are going to force me to retire" Rao Anna teased
"And? What will happen to Aanu?" she smiled
"Your Aanu has you now"
"Umm.. yeah" Trisha nodded losing the reluctance quickly
"You dont wear contacts anymore?"
"Only because of the onion chopping role" she smiled evasively
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