An Impossible Date

 

‘Should I, or shouldn’t I?’ Ishita gazes at the small cutouts of the vibrant food trucks glued at the arcade-shaped entrance for a minute. But she can’t afford to stand here forever. Either she should return to her ongoing illustration project or step inside the world of the food lunatics.

‘Ishu, you have to. There are no ifs and buts about it,’ says a voice in her head turning her unwilling gaze into a determined one.

‘Spicy Truckathon’ has generated quite a buzz on social media. And looking at the crowd, it feels as if the entire city is left with no job but to taste the treats from different food trucks. Some craziness about food!

‘How about some desserts first, Maám?’ a middle-aged man rings a bell to draw her attention towards an ice-cream truck of a famous dairy brand right after Ishita steps into the festival ground.

‘Sure,’ she takes only two seconds to point at her favourite mango flavour from the display. Ice cream is her weakness. Using a paper napkin to hold the chilled ice cream, Ishita looks at the sprawling venue carefully. She is concerned about only one food truck in this festive madness. Her eyes hover on the food trucks in the first row. She spots Dosa Express and then slides right towards Biryani Bliss, Sandwich Haven, Tea-Tanic and stop at a teal truck with wraps and vegetables printed on it. That’s the one she saw on his social media profile. Wrap ‘n’ Roll.

‘Aayush Roy…I hope you are worth enough to ditch my Netflix date this Saturday evening,’ a mischievous smile breaks on her face. Feeding herself one more spoon of mango ice cream, she wipes the corners of her mouth with the napkin. And then with a heart thudding enough to put even the loud Punjabi music from Flavors of Punjab to shame, Ishita takes small steps towards the big decision she will make about her dating life soon.

‘Aayush, pass the foil,’ shouts a guy as he tosses sliced cabbage and carrots on the frying pan. Three customers are waiting before him. And going by their looks, patience is their least favourite word at this moment.

‘Go and help yourself, Dhruv. Even my hands are full,’ comes Aayush’s empathic response from the other end of the truck as he hands over a wrap in brown paper to a customer on his side and starts stuffing some paneer inside a big chapati.

‘So kind of you,’ Dhruv throws a dirty look at his business partner.

‘So rude of you,’ Ishita wants to yell at the six-foot-tall guy wearing a red cap and red apron with Wrap ‘n’ Roll printed over it. So, this is the real version of Aayush Roy with whom her best friend wants Ishita to go on a dinner date tomorrow. God! He is so insensitive!

Her ice cream is over. Utilizing the chance of disposing the empty cup in the trash can near the rear end of the truck, Ishita takes the liberty to take a closer look at Aayush.

His thick black hair behaved well under the cap. His arms, which perhaps endure regular pushups, look attractive flipping the Rumali roti into the air and catching it in the blink of an eye. His eyes shine as he picks the chicken and the veggies for the next wrap.

‘Thank you,’ smiles the woman after grabbing the wrap. But Aayush doesn’t smile back. His lips under his chiselled nose don’t curl even an inch. Or is it his stubble that is doing a great job of hiding his smile? Ishita can’t figure it out.

If Ishita met Aayush two years back, she would have fallen for his looks instantly. A six-foot-tall guy with a brown complexion and a toned body with a set of intense eyes would have ticked off all her checkboxes for an ideal date. But thanks to her two back-to-back break ups followed by frustrating dating experiences with so-called Greek Gods who lacked basic human qualities, let alone anything godly, Ishita learnt her lesson the hard way. No more falling for only good looks and wasting her precious time behind tragic dates.

But when Nidhi became desperate to set her up with her husband’s best friend, Ishita had to break her no-more-dating vow. But she also wanted to meet the real Aayush before he presented a well-cooked version of himself to her on Sunday evening. His social media posts announced that restaurateur Aayush Roy will participate in the ‘Spicy Truckathon’ this Saturday with his food truck. So, here she is spying on her probable date. If only standing in the middle of a food festival and staring at the chef counts for spying.

‘What’s your order number?’ Aayush turns at Ishita all of a sudden while squeezing sauce on the veggies.

‘Order number? Oor what?’ Ishita swallows. Does he know who she is? Nah! Aayush Roy is too busy to stalk her on social media.

He frowns at her for a split second and starts rolling a giant wrap, ‘In case you haven’t noticed, we are selling wraps here.’

‘Umm…yeah, I know that,’ she rotates her neck towards the menu pasted on the truck. No, he didn’t recognize her. But he has a deep baritone and an overpriced menu. But I haven’t decided yet.’

‘Then leave the line and give way to the next customer,’ Aayush bends down to pick up something.

Ishita gaped. She can’t believe her ears. How can he be so rude to a potential customer? How does he manage a business with this attitude? She shifts away from the food truck and sits on a wooden bench fuming and fiddling with the idea of texting Nidhi and cancelling this date.

She makes a quick mental note – Aayush is insensitive and doesn’t know how to smile. He throws an attitude towards the customers and despite the nice smell coming from his truck, he charges almost double the market rates for his wraps. And…and…and…while Ishita searches for more words that best describe Aayush Roy, a bunch of underprivileged kids run from somewhere making a food vlogger lose his balance and drop the chicken wrap. Serves Aayush right. He and his wraps don’t deserve any publicity.

The kids, on the other hand, start jumping near the food truck to get a better view of the food inside. Two are begging the customers for money. One receives a half-eaten roll from another customer and bites it with delight.

‘Aayush?’ Dhruv screams after a couple standing in the queue decide to pull themselves out of this chaos.

‘What?’ Aayush asks while swiping a credit card.

‘Can you please…?’ Dhruv points at the kids who are still after the customers for money.

Aayush glances at the scene and nods, ‘I’ll handle it.’ Stepping out of the truck, he navigates the kids away from the customers. The kids beg money from Aayush.

‘No,’ he says in a stern voice. ‘Go there,’ pushing the back of a poorly dressed little boy, Aayush redirects the kids to his left where the exit from the venue is supposed to be.

That’s it. Giving a chance to a moron is still okay with her. But dating someone like Aayush whose heart doesn’t even broaden for some unfortunate kids is impossible for Ishita. Aayush is an impossible date. Nidhi will feel bad but someone needs to tell her about the wrong assumptions she has about Aayush. He may be a handsome man and have an enviable bank balance. Still, if ugliness had a face, Aayush’s would be the first to flash in her head.

Getting up from the bench, she unlocks her phone and opens WhatsApp. When she is about to text Nidhi while walking straight towards the exit, Ishita bumps into the little boy. She takes her purse out to give him some money but his hands are occupied with a Wrap ‘n’ Roll printed foil around a wrap. But his tiny fingers are unable to open it. He runs towards his left and stops before a six-foot-tall guy wearing a blue t-shirt and faded blue denim standing at the backside of the Wrap ‘n’ Roll’s truck. The guy hands over fresh wraps to another kid and looks down at the little boy. Aayush! Ishita gasps.

‘Let me help you, dear,’ he tears the topmost foil and lifts the boy onto his lap. The boy breaks into a smile and so does Aayush. As the little hands hug his neck and take a small bite from the huge wrap, the warmth that spreads on Aayush’s face is difficult to miss. It's an unimaginable sight for Ishita!

The image she has illustrated about a heartless Aayush in her mind is fading away somewhere. Rather a kind-hearted smiling soul is filling the space slowly.

‘Seems like ditching my Netflix date this Saturday evening isn’t a bad idea after all,’ Ishita smiles after realizing that she can’t take her eyes away from the most handsome man she has come across to date.

‘Aayush Roy. It would be my honour to go on a date with you tomorrow,’ with his gorgeous smiling face imprinted in one corner of her heart, Ishita walks towards the exit leaving the glitter of the festival behind.