First date

Hi!!!!!!

Actually another Blogger (http://www.bonappetite.blogspot.com/) whose blog I read regularly inspired this post. She had written about her first date experiences and it just took me into Nostalgia Avenue. So I commented on her blog and then decided that I can expand my comment and save it for posterity, so here goes….

My first date, it was my first actual date, you know the type when a guy and a girl decide to meet, eat and then see what will happen next (no wicked ideas please) kind of meeting happened in my first year of under graduation.

Those were the days when dating happened in Archie comics and not in the average middle class teenager’s social life. Anyway it so happened that one very pretty girl actually wanted to meet me and invited me for an “ice cream or something”. After the euphoria of getting a date with a girl whom my friend and I were drooling over for some time ended, realization sunk in. Where do you go for your first date? Where do you get the legal tender a.k.a. money to pay for it? (Dutch at that time was still a foreign nation.) How do you dress up for it? The questions flew back and forth and there seemed no answer in sight.

One problem that is the finance was handled by my then ATM, my mum who gave me 100 Rupees for a treat with friends, and some money which I had totaled to the princely sum of Rs. 150 or there about. Her ladyship who said that since Nungambakkam was an ideal location settled the problem of the venue, as she had to go to the NIIT nearby for her classes it was finalized as “Sangeetha’s”.

The time was fixed at 5 PM, this presented a small problem for me as my class timings were from 2 – 7 PM, a small problem that could be solved by proxy attendance or a simple bunk. I chose to do the latter.

So accordingly I waited for her to come at the venue muttering a silent prayer that all should go well. She arrived with a radiant smile carrying her files and her college bag which contained some photos. Now I must mention that showing the photos to me was the original premise of the date and the ice cream was incidental.

Then disaster struck!!!!!!! If I have not mentioned it before, I do find it very difficult at times to control my pent up feelings and end up sharing it with whoever cares to listen. Accordingly I informed my class gang of the proposed photo sharing. (We did not have Yahoo then, you see!!!). My gang decided they were hungry and promptly bunked class and ended up in Sangeetha’s.

I had to do the now mandatory introduction and my gang proceeded to take one of the larger tables as they were 5 in number. We chose the only available couple’s seat and as fate would have it it was in full frontal view of my gang. We proceeded to do our respective planned tasks, she and I the photo sharing and my gang eating.

I was so nervous as this was my first date and not to mention in full view of my gang who hidden behind the menu cards were watching the show on hand. She was totally at ease with the situation on hand and was a great conversationalist, tongue tied for words I played along. IF you are in a hotel, you must eat and so we made our orders. Call it nervous ness, cost consciousness, or call it simple madness we ordered the following:

She – Chocolate ice cream in coca cola
Me – Vanilla ice cream in Limca

I still don’t know who ordered these, but I think they stopped making those two concoctions again in Sangeethas. They were so terrible.

And at the end, my gang embarrassed me even further by paying for our bill too. When I called the waiter for the bill which I seldom used to do back then, I was told that it was already paid for.

I will never remember what exactly happened on my first date which actually ended well, but I do know two things that I विल नेवर सुग्गेस्त यू:
1) Tell close friends if I यू are going on a first date
2) Order Limca and vanilla ice cream.