A Tinder Tale.

The smell of aperitif was making Checki tizzy in his head. The appetizer ‘Edmame dimsum with truffle oil’ was not helping either. The ‘Double Zombie’ in the footed pilsner glass only sent his masseters into spasm. All the fancy names were no good on the taste buds. After all a book cannot be judged by its cover.  On the other hand, there was Annie who was enjoying her sparkling white wine, veg spring rolls and chicken lollypop. More so she was enjoying Checki’s embarrassment. “A rose by any other name will still smell as sweet” Annie poked with a silly grin.

It was only seven months ago when both Checki and Annie had swiped each other right on Tinder. Since then the digital dating had begun but due to geographical barrier this was the first time they were actually meeting in person. Annie was a dynamic IT professional. She was about 2 inches taller to Checki and at least 2 years elder to him. She was dusky, slender and her black hair falling just below the shoulder were stunning. The short blue dress ended just above the knee. The chain with amber pendant fell gently on her collar bones which complimented her deep brown eyes. She actually looked young and enthusiastic as compared to Checki who was more lethargic and laid back.

Checki was in his mid-thirties, round face, shabby stubble, slope cut but great smile. The eyes were dark black, cunning but caring. Checki was sceptical as all his pics on the social media were close ups in order to hide his subtle flabbiness and paunch. He had long stopped saying ‘cheese’ while taking a pic; now a days he just tried tucking his abdominal muscles in. The tailor makes the man, was the proverb never heard by him. Today also in front of this elegant lady he had come in olive green polo, jade blue denim and chappals. 

They had met in a hot spot buzzing club in down town Elphinstone. It was a claustrophobic pub. The decibels were so high that no one realized when the music became noise. The dance floor was dense; equivalent to the Mumbai local trains during peak hours. The crowd on the dance floor swayed and swung pretty much like the pivoted grab handles in the trains do; each time when the train is set in motion. The ambiance was dim and filled with nicotinic smoke. To add on to it Checki ordered a ‘Hookah- coconut mint flavor.'

The in drawing of the air from the mouth tip of the hookah pipe made crepitus sounds. With the tongs Checki poked the smouldering coal on the hookah bowl covered with silver foil. The meaningless head bobbing of Checki was not even synchronous with the ambient hard rock beats. Just for the sake of it he intermittently bit his lower lip and grimaced as if he was enjoying the unrecognizable melody. After each puff, he exhaled through nostrils the smokey waterfalls. The milieu of the place was electrifying but the conversations were lost in the iridescent haze.

Annie was now becoming unsettled by this pompous extravaganza. So far whenever they used to chat Checki used to have a verbal diarrhea. Some witty flirts mixed with few facts and lots of philosophy. It was the conversations which had got them e- close. But in persona Checki seemed inward and shallow. All they had discussed for the past 40 minutes was the menu, especially the bar menu. There was a certain arrogance and show off in his demeanour; the kind of flamboyance neither she liked nor which suited Checki.

Holding Checki’s hand she genuinely asked “Are you trying to impress me?”

“If at all I knew how to do that I would have done that long before.” Checki had to literally scream to convey.

“You know how to, but this is not the way.” Annie rolled her eyes around while saying this.

Uprolling his sleeves Checki asked “Do you want to go some other place?”

“Can we please.” Annie replied with more gestures and less words.

It was nine- ish in the evening. On the streets it was still noisy, but the cacophony was more genuine. The bus passing by. Someone talking on the phone. Horn honking to alert the pedestrians. Closing of the shutters. The street was about to sleep after the day’s work.

Checki held Annie’s hand, interlaced his fingers into hers and said “I really don’t know how beautiful you are. I haven’t yet passed your eyes.”

Annie melted to this and blushed like a sunshine. There was a moment of sweetest silence. Checki blushed too. His ears turned pink. Before Annie could say anything Checki asked “Tea at the tea stall?” Annie simply followed.

Two cuttings of chai, that’s what they ordered. In the semi- clean small glasses the boiling special tea was poured. Checki grabbed the glasses with a pincer grip. He could feel the warm vapors on his palms. He gave one glass to Annie and at that time, he realized the magnitude of her prettiness. He started fumbling and became fidgety. In his clumsiness he almost spilled some tea on his sleeves. He started making grammatical mistakes and that was cute. There was unplayed music mingling among the ambient idle talks and the intermittent cluttering of the cutlery.  “Hey, can I make a quick call?” saying this he went aside.

Annie exchanged awkward glances with the chaiwalla while continuing to sip on her tea. He giggled shyly. He continued with his chores. It suddenly started to rain. Annie just thought how few fancies come true. The chaiwalla called her and returned the change. Checki was still on the phone. With the change the chaiwalla also gave a small plastic carry bag to her and pointed towards Checki. She opened it and there was a red tulip in it with a note. She smiled in amazement, happiness. She pivoted sideways so that the light from the street lamp was a shade better and opened the note. Now she realized what Checki meant when he said that she makes him skip a heart beat or two. Now she understood what he meant by butterflies in the tummy. The note read….

‘I want to love you like, No one has done it ever so fine.

In my heart I want to write, Your name with sparkling shine.

Just to prove that you are mine and only for you I am dying.

All I would do is all you say, Without you I cannot stay.

 Never ever go away, As I need you every day, every time and everywhere.

And the only question is, Would you always  be there?’

Checki was only a handful of steps away pretending to be on the phone. The corner of his eye was constantly following her. He was grasping each and every expression of her like a sponge. Imbibing each and every moment. Annie on the other hand was trying to maintain a poker face. She removed her cell phone from the clutch and called Checki. His phone rang when he was still miming to be on the phone. His bluff was called off. He sheepishly looked at Annie. She was pacing towards him. She came close to him and without caring about the world her lips said yes to his lips.

‘It drizzled a bit, sky grizzled a bit

The happy gloom, got closely knit.’ Checki thought.