Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

White tiled floor. A white wooden table with dust brown legs. Dust brown chairs. Two cheese sandwiches. Grilled. Coffee.

“So, what do you do?”

She rolled her eyes.

“Umm…I do freelance work. Just started actually.”

“Whaa-kina-wor” Through a mouthful.

“Oh this-and-that…you don’t wanna know.” She waves her arm to and fro. Earrings dangle. Her red notebook is open.

He sneaks a peek over the black scrawl while chomping. Her coal-laced eyes take in his white-striped shirt. Tall, thin man.

“Hmm..I work with -----…you heard of it?” A sip of coffee. Grimaced smile. “The coffee’s bad,no?”

She takes her first sip. Crinkles nose. Smiles. Nods. “No, I haven’t heard of ----. What do you do there?”

“Oh, I work as a journalist. I write articles. For which I’ve to do a lot of fieldwork. Meet people. Talk to them. To tell you the truth, I don’t like the idea of reporting.” Another sip. Another grimace-smile “I mean, its sort of ridiculous to be the one to report. I want to be the one to be reported about someday. May sound a bit weird, y’know…,” a bite of the sandwich. “even egoistic or arrogant… but really…” the last bite of one half, “I don’t want to be the guy asking “aapko kaisa lag raha hai” I cannot be a mascot for world peace and campaign for it from the side. Y’kno wha-i-mean?”

She nods. Earrings caress the jaw line. She puts the cap back on her pen. Flips a page. Black scrawl all over.

“That’s a nice photograph no?” He points to a smiling man holding a tiger cub. Both face the camera.

She nods again. A formal smile spreads on the lower half of her face.

“So, what’re you doing here? I mean how come…?”

“Oh, am taking a course here…” Her voice trails off.

“What kinda course?” Picks up the last half of the grilled cheese sandwich.

“Creative writing.”

“Oh…they have such a course here?” Eyes bore into hers. She bobs her head up-down again. “I din’t know that…what do they teach?” Takes another bite. “I dunno…something’s the matter with these cheese sandwiches…”

“What do you mean?”

“Dunno…something doesn’t feel right…Oh, by the way, what’s your name?”

“N-----”, she grins, a bit sheepish. “You must know many with that name…”

“I’m V-----, oh yeah, I think everyone the world over knows at least two or three women by that name.” Finishes off the last of the sandwich. She squirms. One in many. Always. Sigh.

“Next time, maybe we can figure out a better place to have a coffee…”

Numbers are exchanged.

“So, how will you save my number…?...otherwise you’d forget which one I am.” She is curious.

“Oh… I had cheese sandwiches with you…so N--- Cheese Sandwiches! There’s no way I’d jumble memories up.” Smiles, triumphant.

Cheese Sandwiches and me.

***

A week later, her mobile blinked. He had messaged.

“Hey, those cheese sndwchs gave me food poisoning. In prtty bd shape. How’re u?”

Grilled sandwiches and me. A second later, she burst into light, mischievous laughter.