Once Upon a University Campus

Picnic

Shivaay with Annika walked into a jewelry store recommended by the resort manager just as the shutters were being raised and the staff were busy gearing up for the day ahead of them. The courteous staff welcomed warmly their first customer of the day.

Shivaay asked them to show them traditional Malayali jewelry. Annika was confounded. Were they not there to get her bracelet fixed?

An array of necklaces, waistband, bracelets were paraded and Shivaay choose a heavy necklace and a matching pair of bracelets.

"Who even wears these things" Annika exclaimed unmindfully.

"Some people do. Like my mom" Shivaay answered without batting an eyelid. It was only after paying for his purchase that he held out the broken bracelet that needed mending. Looking at the flimsy jewelry, and the makeshiftness of it all, the salesperson offered to show them a variety of better made bracelets or even make custom ones he promised could be delivered within a day.

Annika politely refused and requested them to keep the bracelet just the way it is. The only thing that needed to be fixed was the broken hook.The salesperson had seen enough to understand that this piece of jewelry had more sentimental value than its worth as an ornament. But it would take them a few hours to get it ready. That worked well for Shivaay and Annika who decided to get themselves a breakfast.

They sauntered down the narrow road with shuttered shops on either side of the road. Mornings were way more lazier here compared to Delhi. Most shops had tapering clay tiled roof. The boards were all in Malayalam, a script that resembled Jalebis more than anything else. But the air was so clean that Annika felt her lungs joyously swell as the air made its way in, something that was way to scarce in Delhi. Though it was the main market area, there was enough green grass, climbers hugging electric poles and bushes at the edge of the road to make the whole place look so lush.

Annika spotted a small building with tapering brown tile roof and tin awning, unremarkable, unmarked but had many people park their two wheelers at a distance and walking in. It must have been a restaurant Annika sounded confident and she was right. When they reached the door of the restaurant, Shivaay grew a little apprehensive. The door, the walls, the windows looked dusty. Could they expect the place to be hygienic if the exteriors were ill maintained? For Annika these things did not matter. She was a Chandi Chowk regular and this was way more well maintained in comparison.

There were no ushers, just plain old fashioned no nonsense eating. They just had to walk in, find a place to seat themselves. There were no table for two as Shivaay would have wanted, instead there were long tables arranged parallely. Annika choose a table closest to the door, lest her mighty man felt claustrophobic. A bald mustached waiter followed them with two stainless steel tumblers of water and two banana leaves. He spread the leaf in front of the two touristy patrons and tried to chat in broken, thickly accented english. Neither Shivaay, nor Annika understood him.

Shivaay requested for a menu and the waiter pointed out to a Malayalam sign board hanging on the wall.

"Forget it!" Shivaay sounded vexed but one look at Annika and he shook his head and tried again.

"Appam and fish curry for me, Idiyappa and vegetable curry for madam"

" kadal curry, stew" The waiter replied.

"Vegetarian?" Annika interjected

"Ade, ade, aama " the waiter nodded his head vehemently and disappeared briefly. But the service was quick and the food was served soon. Shivaay requested for cutlery. The boy who served them food looked at him like he was a martian with two glowing eyes and yelled something in Malayalam. The bald waiter returned with cutlery and gave a submissive smile.