It was a special day since chicken was in the dinner menu. Normally, it would have made me very excited but on that day, I was not really looking forward to it. The reason was that I was not going to be there for dinner and that is exactly why chicken was in the menu.
In our flat, on a weekly basis, people assumed the responsibility to run the expenses. We used to pool in the money (100 Rs each) at the beginning of each week. The money was then given to the person-in-command to run the show (only the kitchen) for a week. Then it was the person-in-command's responsibility to (a) decide the menu for the week (b) ensure that the expenses do not exceed the budget (c) ensure that people get good food. For any person-in-command, it was impossible to score heavily on all three criteria, especially in a budget of INR 700. Moreover, every person in the house (in total 7 regular occupants) had a different style of running the show and had different priorities. Except Amit and I, everyone usually focused on criteria (a) and (c). Both of us were particularly interested in meeting criteria (b)!!!
It was not surprising since both of us used to receive the smallest amounts from our respective families. I used to get between 3,000-3,500 every month. A good portion used to go in fixed expenses (rent, maintenance, electricity, maid, cook etc). I used to spend a sizable amount on telephone calls. For me, telephone calls used to always get higher priority than food. There was a phase during those MBA days when I used to skip meals in order to save money for calls!!! Enough of my sob story.
Coming back to the incident...it was a Saturday night and I had plans for the evening. I was going to my cousin's place for the night. I had recently handed over the person-in-command's role. My week in command was pretty eventful as I was committed towards cutting down the expenses to the extent possible. I was short of money and the group had made some unnecessary expenses on luxuries (like good food!!) in the week before my command. I was determined to bring the monthly expenses back on track and in that pursuit I did not allow chicken to be included on any day during my command. This naturally attracted a lot of criticism.
After my week in command, I had handed over the responsibility to Bhaskar. It was during his week in command that I decided to go to my cousin's place on the Saturday. Saturdays used to be the Khichdi day so I was not going to miss much. However, as soon as Bhaskar came to know that I will not be around, he decided to include chicken in the dinner menu. Someone did point to him that I will not be around and he responded "so what"; loud enough to ensure that I hear it. Nothing wrong on his part as I had asked for this treatment. But I felt bad and angry. Bad because my friends did not understand and appreciate my situation and angry because I was going to miss chicken. It would have become 3 weeks without chicken; a little too much to handle!!!
I decided to sabotage their joy. Before I left for my cousin's place, I sent the cook to bring some stuff. The cook requested me to take care of the chicken, which was in the 'work-in-progress' stage. It was in the cooker and was almost ready. I took the container of red chilly powder and added a 'generous' (read: substantial) amount in the cooker. Then I left for the my cousin's place.
On my way to my cousin's place, I was feeling extremely happy about what I had done. The thought of the expression on their faces while eating the chicken and hopefully in the morning made me laugh. However soon I started to feel bad about what I had done. It was childish and naive on my part to do something like that. After all it was not their fault that I was having a financial crisis.
The next morning, after I returned to our flat, I casually asked about the chicken. It was as if I had asked a bunch of kids if they want ice cream. Everyone got excited and told me that the chicken was mind-blowing and the cook had done an exceptional job in making a really spicy and delicious dish!!! The cook was sitting in the corner, accepting all the admiration and adulation with a big grin!!! A mixed bag of emotions engulfed me. I was feeling stupid, angry but also a little relieved.
This was a conspiracy that clearly back fired!!! Thankfully!!!
But those were the days. Today, all of us do meet occasionally but a chicken dish or a beer bottle does not excite us like before. Those days were much better!!!
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