Sending off a friend on a short assignment out of town is a difficult task. More difficult if she is a 21-year-old pretty girl.
Today one of my girl colleagues left for Mumbai on an assignment. She would be away from office for close to a fortnight and we are all going to miss her.
You might doubt our intentions because she is pretty and had joined our company only a day earlier…but we are definitely going to miss her.Being the most enterprising, during a casual coffee break I suggested that we give the girl – for convenience sake let us name her Harini – a quick farewell. The fact that the girl was pretty (and had a sexy voice!) had nothing to do with my suggestion.Somehow, the other girls in the group weren’t very keen. “She will be back in a fortnight,” they frowned in unison. I wasn’t surprised because these were the same set of girls who only minutes earlier had said: ‘Sushmita Sen isn’t sexy!”
The other guys in the gang were willing to host the farewell – and I think her beauty & seductress-like voice had to do something with that. But when they learnt that they had to shell out Rs 300 each for the farewell, all backed out.
Being the gentleman that am, I couldn’t go back on my words…and told Harini that a farewell party had been arranged and she had to be at the Pizza Hut on J.M Road by 7.30 p.m.. When I told her about the farewell party she was surprised by our magnanimity and team spirit…and like a train under Lalu’s rule, was on time.
Needless to say, nobody else turned up.
After waiting for half an hour (which I knew was waste of time) we decided to order. The true gentleman that I am, I ordered vegetarian – she was a vegetarian.
“So, where did you work before True Advantage?” she asked me.
I began talking about my past and finished when the waiter turned up to clear the soup bowls.
Being a smart girl, she didn’t ask any more questions.
I had kept staring at her even as I spoke. At this juncture, I would like to introduce what an astrologer friend of mine called Kennedi once told me: “Keep looking at a girl for more than an hour and she wouldn’t seem as pretty as you thought she was.”
Believe me guys…Kennedi is wrong. I kept staring at Harini and by the time the bill arrived I was in love with her. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t even look at the bill when it arrived. Being the angel she is…the 21-year-old beautiful girl footed the bill.
Wonder why…when we left the Pizza Corner, Harini gave me a warm hug. I would have held on…but she pulled herself apart and walked away towards her car without saying a bye.
Note: I have lost my wallet and if you find it please get in touch with me. We can meet at the Pizza Hut – the place where I lost it.
