a restaurant date with our omnipresent smartphones in tow... (Before Smartphones & After..)

I met my dinner date at a new restaurant and suddenly his iPhone went *beep beep* and it was an email notification. He went "Oh oh.." and proceeded to switch to the 3G network to check out the email and then incessant phone calls and some more email replies followed to and fro.

And was i fuming all this while? No sir, i was playing WordFeud(Scramble with people over the Internet) on my iPhone, completely oblivious to the corporate mayhem my date was in. Thats one of the superb advantages of being a freelancer. Corporate mayhem seems like a big funny circus to me and doesn't faze me a wee bit.

And what happened to the dinner? The waiter handed us the menus and i was told by his eyes to order for the both of us. I did so, but then his urgent con-call followed and the order was packed and we headed to the abode.

This incident later set me thinking that what would have had happened if that email notification wouldn't have arrived in the very first place? And how dinner dates were in a restaurant before the advent of "My Smartphone vs Your Smartphone" or even before there was GPRS.

We would have had smiled at each other and actually looked into each others eyes.
We would have had actually talked and laughed at the day's many anecdotes.
We would have had compared our crazy days and debated on who came out on top!

We would have had noticed new changes in each other.
We would have had at least noticed the clothes that the other was wearing or the *well-intentioned* lack of clothes at strategic places.. ;-) (i honestly don't remember his shirt's color on the last date)

We would have had flirted a wee bit or at least set the ball rolling..and then depending on the chemistry footsie might have followed..either accidentally or in a boldly acknowledged form.. ;-)
We would have had..opps..okay i *might* have had mentally picturised him bereft of his shirt.. ;-)

We would have had really taken the pains to read the menu and then debated the merits and demerits of the "semi-final-led" dishes before ordering..
We would have had noticed the restaurant's freebies (mint chutney, achaar, papad etc.)
We would have had seen the decor of the restaurant and trashed/commented on it based on the theme and what the designer wanted to accomplish and where he actually ended up..

We would have had salivated while waiting for the food and then actually eating it up there..
We would have had thought long and hard about dessert options and our waist-lines..

We would have had argued over the tip percentage and whether the waiter really deserves it or not..
We would have had thought about post-dinner catching up..


We would have had blasted the other on his/her roving eyes checking out the others..
We would have had debated whether we would come again to this restaurant or not..

We would have had talked aimlessly about the weather if the dinner date was not going in the right direction..
We would have had..We would have had..We would have had..




We "might" have had made plans for another date..or we "might" have had been glad to escape when the bill would have had come..
But it was not to be..i was actually thinking about my online game in which an opponent made a word "FEEBS" (what does it mean, in the first place? huh) worth 136 points against me..and he was thinking about corporate strategy and how to come out on top..and the telecom companies were milking us for our incessant 3G usage..

RIP Dad..

I bet they need u there in the Heaven's Railways Micro-processors Deptt..If they have faster micro-processors there, then am sure u would be over the moon and celebrating the fact with a nice cup of garam chai & regaling others with ur wonderful Earth stories in ur dramatic story-telling way.. :)

Woh Liverpool k letters, woh mera favorite salad, woh chinni k parathe, woh Physics ki har cheez ko ek Railway track/train k example se samjana, woh mom ki gossip karna, woh Sunday morning ki jalebi ki shopping karne jana, woh scooty sikhate huay mera aapko girana, woh raat main 3am uth k terrace par celestial event dekna, woh garden main tedhe-medhe plants lagana aur pir daat Khana Maa se, woh Chowk se parrots kharid k lana, woh PC-XT...

woh light jaate hi jhoole par baithe k liy race lagana, woh guest rm k marble floor ko chamkaane ka challenge, woh tanki paint karna aur apne ko Piccaso samajna, woh 'Close-Down' dekna, woh Maa k saamne ek-dosare k liy jhoot bolna, woh chai banwane k liy black-mail karna, woh mera migraine aur aapka seer dabana, woh aapka mere room se casette Lena aur mera rootna, woh mera aapka tiffin roz last minute par bana kar pack karna aur aapka tension Bhara Chehra, woh mera sabjiya 'ban' karna, woh aapke k liy woolen socks knit karna, woh aapka jackets ka craze aur hum sab ka collection dek dek k jalna, woh bees hazaar baar aapka "wahi" news dekna zor se, woh meri choti gori-gori meethi rotiya aapki pasand wali, woh mom ka aapse mithai chupana...

woh gate khol k Rakna main aur meri gaadi k liy, woh mere liy hailstones utha k freeze kar k rakna, woh aapka subah pyaar se uthana beta beta bol k, woh school mai itane saare uniform-clad bacho main apni beti ko pechaan nahi pana, woh dal na khane par daatna, woh Darjeeling ki roads par long walks mom ko hotel room main chod k, woh Tipsy k harkaate k elaborate coverups, woh "thoda prakash daalna beta", woh roz subah jaldi uth k morning walk jaane ka promise aur pir wapis aa k pir soo jana, woh Santa k jokes ki analysis, woh "Hello Papa aur Hello Beta" ka ritual, woh "nahi nahi ye bahut fried hai" kehna aur pir chip k pakore khana, woh "ye koi khaane ki cheez hai" aur "accha thoda dena jara", woh aapka chai ka glass garden main bhool Ana aur mera kehna ki ab usska ped ugega, woh aapke bade bade sweater jaan booch k pehena, aur aur aur aap...

Sab bahut pyari yaadein hai :)

- a father's li'l daughter...