Fiction
A meal at a Chinese restaurant
"As you enter", Nirmal-babu switches to second person; he is now not narrating his experiences, but imparting knowledge.
"There is a bearer with a white coat and a black tie who will salute you. But you should not take notice of him. He will ask you how many of you will eat and if are you expecting others to join you later. You must tell him the truth, two, three or four or whatever, it is important. I will tell you why it is important."
It is getting complicated for Hashikul. He doesn't ask why. Nirmal-babu continues with the details of the etiquettes that one should follow, as he himself did in his visit to the posh Chinese restaurant. Avita had painstakingly tutored him before they went.
It was Niladri who suggested that Avita and he took Nirmal-babu to the Chinese restaurant on Nirmal-babu's birthday. His birthday was fixed at 12thMay, by joint decision of Avita and Krishna, and the corresponding 27thBoishak was never to be raised again. It was year when the hundred year old peepul-tree was deracinated in the river-bank soil erosion and Nirmal-babu was born to the station master-cum-village postman, of Senhati village station on the Rupsha-Bagerhat narrow gaze railway line. None of these facts needs to be told.
This couldn't be avoided, because of the unpremeditated way Niladri suggested and the reason he put forwarded. It would be a good occasion to see his would be father-in-law outside the house, and it would be his treat for the head of the family. Avita responded to it in likewise improvised manner. But it gave rise to a project that must be handled professionally.
"The most interesting thing about the restaurant is" Nirmalbabu continues "that the food is not ready". Nirmalbabu makes this revelation with sparkle in his eyes.
"Oh?"
"That is the beauty. They will only prepare the dishes after you have ordered them. Timing is important. You must order the starter first. And, there are a number of them to choose from".
"I think the appetizers are always half ready, as diners would want them straightaway," Nirmal-babu says hesitatingly. By the sound of him, this is a guess work
"What did you have?" asks Hashikul
"I did not go there for food, it's only they insisted that I come. Sobita ordered fruits for me".
"Avita?"
"Sobita".Nirmal-babu reaffirms. He doesn't understand why the S get omitted every now and then when people refer to Sobita.
"The main dishes may take as much as half an hour to arrive. In the mean time you eat up the appetizer", Nirmal-babu continues. "They had prawns in pink sauce (prawn cocktail) served in curved wine goblet and you eat them with small fork and spoon. You must tie the thick folded handkerchief around the neck that will cover your shirt, which can be used to wipe mouth, if necessary. In between the time the main dishes arrives and you eat the appetizer you talk to each other while munching the chick-pea fried crisps like stuff that is there free of cost".
"What did you order?" asks Hashikul
"I don't know" He said in a washed up tone: "You very well know I understand very little about all these. I only followed what they were doing".
Some more details follows. But he elaborates a little on his main dish. It was a preparation of rice that was sprinkled with coriander leaves, fenugreek, small cubes of dark spiced chicken and peas. He very rarely has savoured in his life something so scrumptious. Had it been a different circumstance he could enquire and write down the recipe.
But could he do that there? Heck, no. He could not ask for a second serving. In fact, he had to cease eating half way through as Niladri sparingly ended eating, and put the knife and fork in parallel in the middle of the plate. He endeavoured to do the same, but in the geometric precision as if the plate represented a circle, and the paired off knife and fork were a diameter of the distance between two point of a circumference that went through the centre point of the sphere, spearing through the uneaten remains of the rice. Oh, the taste of it.
Hashikul enquires about the detail of this rice dish, and if it could be bought as take out or has a common name. Nirmal-babu fails to give a clue. He turns to Avita.
Avita has important thing to attend now a days than to attend to her father's palate. Her response to Hashikul, in a rather exasperatingly tone is that she has since then brought more than one takeaway of Chinese rice from other restaurants, but none has tasted same as that one. The restaurant that they went in is faraway; and the chef there has left. One other day this can be attained, until then what is needed is a little perseverance.
It is not important; Nirmal-babu has given up on ever tasting that preparation again. He holds no antipathy against Avita or her mother. He gets along with his normal life with reading books, attending to the house plants, while crooning tunes that have the semblance of Nazrul-geeti with classical overtures, while all the time carrying his hallmarked grief pasted face.
Niladri's probable admittance into the family has been stirring enough, so the thunder must be sustained, with grace and nonchalance, befitting descendant of an eminent family that hasa retired high court judge of the Raj era in the lineage. And the mother and daughter have instinctive rapport on how to decode the enigma that Niladri is. Between them they have acquired familiarity, gained from various sources ranging from acquaintance to hearsay (or even novels) of all the features that Niladri has on his one persona. For example, Krisna's nephew is being educated at a boarding school in Darjeeling. Moin Uncle's son Irfan did O and A levels and Avita herself is currently at master's level study at the Dhaka University. Rana master's son Anwar has secured first classes both in Honours and Masters; while Sahel from Boro-dighi, who is currently a serving Major in the Bangladesh Army was orphaned in early childhood and was raised up by his grand-parents. And quite a number of Krishna's male relatives were sought after bachelors in their time.
But the conundrum that Niladri is rests in two facts. It was virtually an effortless endeavour on Avita's part to charm her way with Niladri and the ensuing process of engagement was seamless. Secondly, Niladri's astounding capacity to become bemused but unaffected at everything that is thrown at him. To the extent that, sometimes Avita thinks that if by magic Avita disappears from his life or earth, Niladri's reaction would be to calmly wipe his glasses and walk away.
At the present time, Avita and her mother remain watchful. Ovi has consciously been maintaining proprieties with Niladri whenever he has shown any sign of interest and curiosity, with the skill and attained charm of a fresher from Foreign Service Academy. Even though, at times he looks weary at the emerging bond that become apparent when Avita and Niladri laughs out, when he tries harder to concentrate on whatever he is doing at the time. He seems to have his opinion about all these, but he keeps it to himself.(To be continued).
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