i have pani puri daily before entering my dance class in the evenings
one day (after 3 months of silent transactions) the pani puri waala asked "u stay there?" pointing at the building across the road, "coz i watch u come daily from there."
i am like "no, i get down from the bus there"
him "and where do u go from here?"
me "dance class"
him "where is that?"
me "down this road, opposite Gold Finch"
him "u teach dance?"
me "no, i go to learn. my teacher lives there"
him "but i dont see u come back this way"
me "my return bus stops in front of their house, so i dont need to come this way"
him "oh"
me in my brain *sPy sPy sPy sPy sPy sPy sPy sPy sPy sPy. he is spying on me*
(why else would he want to interrogate me?)
next day onwards, no pani puri !!!!
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Every Saturday night i have sweet paan in front of my hospital
paan waala and me have a good jovial relationship
we joke, openly exchange information, i tell him he has no sense of business (who comes from UP to open a paan shop in deralakatte?!), he tells me the new recipes he has for paans, etc etc
it is a friendship based on hindi speaking bonding in a south indian land and sweet treats for my teeth
but one fine day, after this healthy exchange of banter and paan between us, i paid him the said amount for the paan and was about to leave like always
but he refuses to take the money sayin that the paan is free today. And im like arre bhai kyun? kis khushi mein?
and he is like no no, take it. i dont want the money. i place the note of money on his paan table and run away without waiting for my eligible change.
me in my brain *sPy sPy sPy sPy sPy sPy sPy sPy sPy sPy. he is spying on me*
(again - who comes from UP to open a paan shop in deralakatte? how else can a UP paan waala with a wife and kids back home afford to give away free paans? why doesn't he have the UP accent that rajeev shrivastav has on that comedy program on tv? somebody is obviously paying him more than enough money so that he doesn't mind distributing free paans once in a while. and here that spy / undercover agent thought that if he treats me with a free paan he can loosen my tongue and get more information out of me! humph! he doesn't know whom he is dealing with!)
Next Saturday onwards, no evening walks, no sweet paan chewing while doing weekly grocery shopping
Now I do all my shopping at the convenience store near college but before I enter i turn around 360 degrees, check for suspicious movement and then enter.
I just hope The Other Side doesn't recruit the convenience store staff too into their team. But I know its just a matter of time before they do. . . .
