"Sir, we are closing in 10 minutes, do you want anything from the kitchen?"
Lost in his thoughts, Amit completely ignored what the waiter said. He was still thinking something. Slowly sipping beer from his mug, he lit a cigarette and took his mobile phone from his pocket to check the time.
"Sir, we will close the kitchen soon, do you need anything?"
He gave a cold look at the waiter and told him, "Tell your manager that it's me or call him here."
After a brief conversation with the manager, Amit ordered another bottle of beer. The manager asked the waiter not to disturb the customer on Table no. 5 because he was a regular customer at the restaurant for the last 15 years, since the restaurant had opened.
Raghav, the manager knew Amit well. Fifteen years back when the restaurant opened, Amit was one of the first customers to walk in with his college friends. Those were the days, when the students from the local college used to gather at his place every evening. The place was quite small then but very popular. The guys from the boys hostel would turn up and spend late nights drinking and talking amongst their friends. It was Amit and his group who had actually named the place as "Raghu da Adda".
Amit looked at his watch and it was already 10:50 pm. With a tensed look on his face, he kept lighting his lighter on and off. He was nervous. Time and again he turned his neck to see if there was someone at the restaurant entrance. He was waiting for someone.
Amit was forty three. Divorced with his wife and living by his only son, who was in his wife's custody, he was a regular customer at the restaurant. He was alcoholic. He worked at a reputed Private Bank as a Branch Manager and earned enough to live carefree. His son was studying in a boarding school for which he sent money to his wife every month. It was more than nine years now that he was staying alone. He met his son at the school every six months to see if he was doing good. He had never met his wife again after they had separated. Later he came to know that Lalita, his wife had tied knot three years back to a UK based businessman, who supposedly kept her happy more than him.
Amit was now irritated. He thought of leaving the place. Age had made him more impatient. It was not the grey hair on his head, not the bifocal specs that he was wearing, nor the wrinkled shriveled face that he had acquired over time, it was more his lost life that had taken a grip on him. He now felt that the call he received in the morning was perhaps a joke. He stood up and took out his wallet, when he saw someone coming through the restaurant entry, smiling at him.
***********************************************************************************************
The traffic was worse these days in the city. If you were in a bus, it would take forever to reach some place, especially for someone like Zakir who was travelling from the outskirts of the city. There was no place to sit, he thought. Restless and nervous, he got down at a stop, half an hour from his destination.
"Hello, what's the time in your watch, Sir?", he asked the gentleman at the bus stop. It was ten-thirty.
The weather in the city had drastically changed in the past two years. It was hotter than ever, more humid and sweaty. Clad in a white full shirt, untucked, with an old style black trouser, and torn slippers on his feet, Zakir looked shabby. He hurried past the jostling crowd on the footpath in absolute haste, determined to reach the place that he had promised to be, tonight.
Zakir worked as a clerk at the city's insurance office. He earned enough to look after himself. He stayed in a small house for which he paid a rent of thousand rupees every month. He was unmarried at the age of forty one and had no one else to look after. His parents has passed away when he was a child. So staying alone was never a problem for him.
"Sir, is the Raghu Da Adda restaurant on the second right from here?"
He ran a little bit and then walked again when he realized that people were watching him. He knew that this was one of the most important days in his life. He was going to meet his best friend after twelve years.
**********************************************************************************************
"Hello!"
"Hello!"
"Yes, may I know who is calling?"
"Amit?"
"Yes , this is Amit", he looked at his watch. 8:30 am. Amit was getting late for office.
"Amit, this is Zakir".
Silence....
"Amit?"
Silence....
"How are you Zakir? Your voice has changed. You sound like an old man".
"I am old, Amit and so are you, it seems".
"Where have you been dude? It's been eleven years! And you call me one fine morning, out of blues and how am I supposed to remember your voice dude?"
"Amit I am fine. I stay in the same city where you are. I came to know from Manoj that you are work as the branch manager at the city bank. That's wonderful! How are you friend? By the way, it's been twelve years that we haven't met or spoken, not eleven".
They talked over the phone for around fifteen minutes and decided to meet for dinner at their old college hang out place "Raghu Da Adda". Zakir had met his college friend, Manoj, at his office a couple of weeks back when he had come to know about Amit. He preffered not to ask about Amit's family over the phone, for he knew it was not one of the topics that a friend would talk, especially if they were talking after a long time.
The next thing Amit did was to call Manoj from his office. He could not imagine that Zakir had called. Zakir was his room mate and best friend in college. They had spent good old times together in college. He remembered his old days when he and Zakir were best buddies. It was Zakir who had introduced Lalita to him at college. It was Zakir who prepared cheat sheets for him late nights, before exams. He remembered those late nights, when they would come back hostel drunk from the bar, and then slowly slip through the hostel gate at night, after bribing the watchman with cigarettes. He also remembered how he had lied to his father asking for money, only to share the cost of the mobike that Zakir always wanted to buy. He also remembered how they had got drunk the last night at their hostel, before everyone was leaving college. Zakir had come to see him off at the railway station with his friends. That was the last time they spoke or saw each other.
Amit learnt from Manoj that Zakir had lost his job at the insurance office few days back and he was in grave need. He wondered why his friend did not mention about his job. He wondered the reason why he was meeting him. But then he told himself that Zakir was his one time best friend. If he needed any help, he would help him without a single thought. He smiled at his thoughts and got back to work.
***********************************************************************************************
Zakir was just a few yards from the restaurant. He was very nervous. He was meeting his friend after twelve years. Destiny was giving him a chance to meet his friend again. But he knew that his friend was in pain. He had lost his family. He was alone. He wondered how Amit spent time all alone without Lalita, the girl whom Amit loved so much in college. He thought how painful would it be for a father to stay away from his only son and being allowed by the court to meet him only twice a year. Times had changed. It was twelve years. He thought if it would be comfortable for his friend to discuss his personal life with him. He knew that Amit was very protective about his personal life and never shared a word about his love life with anyone, even in college.
***********************************************************************************************
Amit was shocked to see Zakir. He closely observed his friend while he walked in. Thin and lean, unshaved face, grey hair with a loose fit old faded white shirt and black trousers that were quite above his ankles. Amit instantly felt an immense pain at his heart. His heart cried out for his once best friend, with whom he had spent the most unforgettable days in his life. He did not know how to react. He shook hands with his friends and hugged him loosely and asked him to sit.
Zakir was immensely impressed by Amit's style of dressing. He observed that his friend was still smart and wondered why Lalita had left him. He sensed that Amit still did not lose his flair and flamboyance and still carried himself with a lot of smartness.
Everyone had left the restaurant by then. The waiters had cleaned the place. Chairs put upside down on the tables. It was already eleven thirty. The manager walked to the table smiling, carrying two bottles of Fosters in his hand. "The beer is on me, guys", he smiled. "Enjoy! Don't worry, the restaurant never closes for you!"
Amit and Zakir did not know where to start from, what to talk about.
"Should I ask?", Zakir thought.
"Should I ask him directly if he needed help?", wondered Amit.
For once in both their lives, after a long long time, the guys were happy again at their hearts. They just decided to ignore their apprehensions and miseries for once, and let their heart speak. They both knew, whether be it one's lost job or whether be the other's lost family, the pain would die out tonight. They both did not know that the other was aware of the other's misery but for once they decided to be happy. Just happy.
The two friends thought the same thing. Solitude was perhaps not the only companion in their lives. They both felt secured tonight.
The manager closed the entry door of his restaurant, so that the local police would not trouble him. He brought his beer bottle to the table to join them.
It was twelve midnight. Raghu Da Adda was closed, but not for three souls.
All that was heard tonight, was three open voices who joined pitches together to say,
"Cheers!"
