Radha Prathi

Drama

5.0  

Radha Prathi

Drama

Of Friends And Acquaintances

Of Friends And Acquaintances

3 mins
326


The other day, a fairly good acquaintance of mine asked me to accompany her to an open house discussion in the city that came under my area of interest.

She asked me to meet her at her workplace by mid-morning so that we could proceed together to the venue. I was there on the dot. She took time to wind up her duties for the day before joining me at the foyer. Once the preliminary social niceties were over, she asked me if I had come there by car. As I answered her in the negative, her query made me realise that she had been counting on me for transport. I had assumed that she would make arrangements for our commute since she had invited me over.


We were running out of time, so, we decided to take an auto-rickshaw. When it was time to alight, I dipped my hand into my bag only to find that I had not carried my purse. I felt extremely embarrassed, distraught and foolish. My companion was flustered. She brushed aside my apologetic chatter brusquely and settled the fare.


The programme had begun. We were ushered in, in a hurry. Soon, I was involved in the proceedings of the day. At the end of the session, I turned around, to find that the lady had chosen to sit at the back. When I went up to her, she said that she wanted to stay back for lunch. Though it was not a part of our plan, I hung around till she was done. When it was time to take leave, I hailed an auto-rickshaw and she surprised me by saying that she wanted to go back to work as against her original idea of getting back to her home which was on the other side of the city. She asked me to drop her at her workplace on my way home. Her change of plans seemed to be out of the blue but, she had her way. We indulged in some cursory conversation out of sheer courtesy. Having come home, I had access to my purse and I was glad to set right my folly. She too got off saying that a little walk up to her office would loosen her muscles a bit. I invited her to join us for a cup of coffee. Once refreshed, she was ready to leave. Since I knew her for a very short while, I decided to pay the up and down fare to compensate for the inconvenience. Although the lady had not once mentioned about the money, she was visibly relieved when I gave her the money with a warm thank you.


It was then I realised that the poor soul had been silently cynical about my integrity while I had been completely oblivious to her body language. I had spoilt her day out by my absentmindedness. I could have made up for my lapse by being more vocal and reassuring about paying my share. However, the experience reinforced the difference between a friend and an acquaintance!



Rate this content
Log in

Similar english story from Drama