A friend called me for lunch yesterday. It was some holiday so it was also a wednesday off from work. I had no plans and was looking forward to a day of pleasant nothingness. Lunching at her place meant a two hour travel but I thought, what the heck - she’s called me early in the morning (at 7:30 am to be precise) and kept asking me to get there as early as possible AND that she’d make lunch. I’m game for free lunches as much as the next person so sure, I was in.
Reached her place by 12 noon and started chatting. Drank two cups of tea (in huge mugs) and was thinking - its nice to catch up after ages. Thats when two of her cousins arrived and she walked off to talk with them.
Leaving me alone, sitting and waiting for a long time AND feeling slightly neglected. Also start feeing hungry around the same time.
“What do you want to have for lunch? Noodles or roti?” asks my friend emerging from nowhere.
I am hoping either of them are already cooked since the last time I looked at the clock, it was already 1 pm.
“Noodles will be fine.” said I. “Its meat noodles, isnt it?”
“Oh you wanted meat, huh? Okay, I’ll tell the cook to chop up some”.
Again, the last time I checked, I was and still am a pure non vegetarian.
So while the cook gets busy, I start wondering whether my friend really mentioned about her making lunch previously or not. This is one of the reasons I do not like sleepy conversations.
The cook finishes his leisurely chopping but the actual cooking seems to have left his agenda way back.
After half an hour of sitting alone while my friend chats on with the cousin in the next room, I am finally fed up and tell her I’m leaving.
“What!! Why??? The cook has already chopped the meat and is about to cook lunch!”
“I dont know… its going to take a lot of time to finish cooking and all…”
“Well, its not as if you tell him to cook and he’ll produce an instant meal in 5 minutes. These things take time!”
***
Well, yeah. Lunch takes time. I know that. I’ve known it all along when I’ve had friends visiting and spent long hours of the morning cooking and cleaning and delivering magnificient five-course meals for them.
But when you travel quite a distance to meet a friend who DID SAY that she’d have lunch ready, you expect her to spend time with you rather than what just happened.
I then made a hurried excuse about visiting my sick aunt in a bid to leave the place without hurting any feelings. (Quick rewrite: Since we’re being honest here, I might as well admit that by this time, I’d made up my mind to catch Quantum of Solace, matinee show)
Its not about the stupid lunch.
Its just that I didnt feel wanted. Maybe she had a lot of things going on which had distracted her already. Maybe she wasnt in a mood to entertain people. Whatever be the case, I didnt write about it to blame her. Plus, I dont want my other friends reading this and me risking the chance of never being invited to any lunch cause I crib about the bad parts in my blog later.
Its just that if you dont want to talk to people, dont call them. If you do, then better treat them as though the Pope were visiting, only with more alcohol offered. Or else, it isnt really worth it in the end.
P.S. If that friend of mine’s reading this (which’s a long shot but you never know), please do remember that I love you and I care a lot for you to be thinking of skinning me alive the next time I visit with - yes, the same cook’s knife!
your title - The lunch that wasnt at RingChen - caught my eye on the google blogsearch. Thanks for writing this, I’ve added ringchen.com to my reader, and will look forward to your next post.
Hey, thanks
Comments like these make me happy to be a blogger. Did I say thanks already? Thanks!
Some questions that went unanswered
What did u go about the lunch and did u watch the movie ??? 
I would love to be invited to your 5 course meal
I’m now an expert at doing question-raising posts, I realize
1. Headed towards the movie hall, had momos (with meat) for lunch.
2. Was about to enter the theatre, in the nick of time when I realized I nearly bought tickets for Dostana. Eeeeee…
Came back, bought some DVDs along the way and watched them till midnight
P.S. One five course lunch in the pipeline. Soon!
Hi
Good work Rinch..
LOL. Good read! And yes, I would have done just the same. Probably even spell it out that I am annoyed, and such behaviour is absolutely not accepted.
I am scratching my head now, pretty much close to guessing who this friend could be!
Thanks, Sree
Yep, Shaliya. You are right
Good guesser!
I have some R.E.L.A.T.I.V.E.S who fall under the same category.They serve Bfast @ 12pm,Lunch @ 5pm and Dinner @12 am
Hey, there’s nothing like free lunch. You need to work for it, prove it that you truly deserve it and also prove that you need it right then
Lol, Riya - some timing! I get cranky if I dont get served in time
Guess thats why I got bugged.
Long time, Vinay. That first sentence was my working title for this post until I changed it in the last minute
Pope?? Eww.. That’s quite a stretch!
I’ll tell you what I would have done in such a situation. It would have gone somewhat similar to your case, until your friend made that smart comment about the cook taking time and all.
Then I would have gotten angry, and said that he/she shouldn’t have invited me in the first place if he/she was ignoring me like this. (Yeah.. say the plain truth right in front of his/her face) Then I would have stormed out of the house, after making some more movie-ish comments.
That’s why I don’t have too many close friends.
I would have probably cooked the lunch my self in her kitchen, Rinchen, because if I go cranky it will be worse than what Deepak told.
Deepak - I cant tell my friend off because I’m scared of her. Didnt you see the last line
Sree - I used to adore cooks till this one came along.
I will allow you three guesses. Naah, I prefer being a strange stalker from a far-off land.
Three guesses without any hints? Thats going to be hard to crack! Okayyy… who do I know from Holy Cross who has a younger/elder brother… hmmm…. (thinking; may take more than a few hours to contemplate)
She’s actually from PNG. I also am in constant touch with a frequent commenter here. All right,that’s a lot of information for you to work with. It’s time for you to wear your Sherlock Holmes gloves and let Winkie (did I spell that right?) do a little sniffing around. Who knows all that hard work might win you the dubious distinction of being the first Gangtokian with access to my blog? Ahem, ahem.
The frequent commentator from PNG here would be Shaliya, is that right? Arrgghhh… highly mysterious case, this one! I shall be needing Sherlock Holmes’ entire gear, including his cape, hat and magnifying glass
Ah, so you blog too! Thats the third thing we have in common - I’m weaving a little mystery of my own and will leave it upto you to guess what the first two things are
What are the first two things? All right, help me out here. I could state the obvious, but that wouldn’t be so clever.
Well, your sister and our mutual friend
Who by the way, is Shaliya or not - you still havent disclosed!