A Fini Trip, a Caricature, and a Break

The day before was a Monday. Mondays are fine days. These two stay home for at least half the day, they cook what they call lunch, and sometimes, we all go out on a Fini Trip. Yesterday, all the three happened. What I enjoyed most was the Fini Trip, of course.

My long time blog friends know who Fini is. For the benefit of the new visitors, Fini is our car. I love going out in Fini, especially if we go early in the morning. In the afternoons you couldn’t drag me out of the house under the threat of making me fast for two days. Why? It’s simple. At 40 degree C (or about 100 F) I’d be transformed into a hotdog – and I mean literally – all you’d need would be some spinach – and you won’t be able to tell the difference. So, an early morning trip sounded good. As is usual, the moment Cameo asked me whether I wanted to go for a Fini trip, I went into frenzy – I leaped, barked, wagged my tail, wiggled my butt, and ran off to bring my leash to him.

In about a minute, the three of us were sitting in the Fini, I sat at the back while Mercury sat beside Cameo – that, of course is my favorite seat, but when she goes with us, I don’t get to sit in the front seat. I’ve stopped feeling bad about it – after all, there’s no point wasting your emotions on something that you can’t change. So off we went. We went past the houses and the park in our colony, and then past two crossings, then took a left turn to stop in front of a roadside tea stall.

There was a young man of about twenty, pouring tea for his patrons who sat on the wooden benches around his shop. Mercury and Cameo probably stop at this shop often, because he smiled at them and asked them if he should send two cups of tea to the car. Now that made me think. It meant that these two were having fun behind my tail! While I sat there letting this deception sink in, I realized that Cameo had a cardboard box in his hands. As you must know, all cardboard boxes in the house belong to me. They are mine to chew and to play with. How dare he pick up a cardboard box without my permission, and how dare he…

He called that young proprietor of the shop and gave him that box. “Here are some glasses, you may find them useful.” Glasses…what glasses. Then it dawned upon me. There was a set of small drinking glasses that had been lying unused for years – it must’ve been Mercury’s idea – to give it away – Give away the glasses if you want – who cares, but why should you give away the cardboard box…all cardboard boxes belong to me! I was angry and so I barked at them…all of them – the young man with beautiful eyes, Cameo, and Mercury – nutcases…all of them!

Then the boy sent two glasses of tea and three Matthis for them. Matthis are salted deep-fried cookies that Indians love as snacks (I guess that’s the nearest I can come to describing them – My culinary vocab is almost non-existent.) Completely unhealthy – all fat and carbohydrates, I tell you; but equally delicious. So we had matthis – all of us, and those two also had tea. I can’t imagine how they can have tea when it’s so hot – but Mercury says – “Chai ki Taaseer thandi hoti hai”, which translates to “tea has a cool after-effect”. Well. Who can argue with a person who spent a full month of her life dreaming to be lawyer?

Then they paid for the tea and the matthis. While Cameo was paying for the tea, another couple (about a decade older that these two) was getting into their car to leave. No…they hadn’t had tea at the tea stall – too high and mighty for it, I presume – and I presume this because of the look the lady had on her face as she looked at Cameo and Mercury. The look said it all – it said: Look at you – sitting in the car, wearing decent clothes, going on rides with a beautiful dog – but too cheap to go to a nice restaurant for tea. If you don’t agree with my interpretation, you can have your own. Here’s a caricature that Mercury made immediately after we reached home – and, it’s not an exaggeration, I assure you.

Woman Sneering at us from her car!

Now if you have the same question that this lady had, let me answer the question – of course, I couldn’t tell the lady this – but I can tell you all about it. There was a time in the lives of these two when their best moments were spent on a tea stall such as this one. When they’d save their bus-fare by walking the distance, so that they could go out and have tea on stalls such as these. That was the time when Cameo was studying at one of the best business schools of the country and Mercury at another, and their wardrobe had two threadbare shirts and a pair of shoes each. These tea stalls are symbolic of hope to many. These tea stalls don’t discriminate – they serve the same tea at the same rate to anyone who decides to go there. They are truly secular – They don’t mind if you go there with a hole in your shirt, and they don’t swoon if you go there with a diamond pin in your collar.

After we left the tea stall we drove around. The morning breeze sang in my ear – it sang the song of hope. If these two could pull through that – they can pull through anything…even this. The lady in that car may wonder why we’d go to a tea stall for an early morning cup of tea…but I should tell you that a cup of tea at a road-side tea-stall is more than a cup of tea – it’s a sip of life.