Friday, January 02, 2015

My Year of Feminist Joys: Day 2

We go out for a romantic dinner. I order a glass of Italian wine after hesitating over it, feeling guilty, and finally going for it. I have never ordered foreign wine before (except when I was in New York and followed my boss' lead in ordering wine). The food is delicious, the service is excellent, and I even like the wine, though I barely finish my glass even with the Guy's help -- I'm not much used to wine. The bill comes and we feel a little guilty at how high it is. But it's the New Year, and we're both earning more than we ever had, and we're finally happy again, and these are some things we are celebrating.

We take a taxi, but get off a little before we reach our building. After much deliberation, we finally order vada pav at a street stall. The vendors are galvanized into action at our order of 20 vada pav. We clutch the bags and walk towards our building. There are homeless people on our street. The temperature doesn't drop much in Bombay even in winter, but the wind can set you shivering. We have stop at the first little family and drop off a vada pav. Even before we walk on, people's faces light up and they call to us. Our meagre stock of food is over too soon. A few children are boisterous and demanding: the adults are more dignified, but a few of them thank us with shy smiles. I smoothen and fold the now-empty bags and we walk on. I remember that woman's smile.

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