To pay or not to pay
“I am going on a date tonight” chintulaal told me while we were coming back home in an auto.
“with a girl?” I asked him, surprised by his statement. The surprise expressed was not because we don’t like girls, but going for a date doesn’t come in our daily routine.
“yes, he replied. I met her while I did my intern in my 2nd year and today she buzzed me on gtalk to find me in bangalore, and we decided to meet”, he told me with happiness in his face.
“ohh cool! so best of luck, will wait for the stories” I gave my best wishes and in a few mintues we reached home.
He went to his room to get refreshed and came back a few minutes later demanding some money. I searched my wallet, there were 300 rs. in there. I gave him all as I felt there should be enough money in your pocket while you are with a girl to avoid any embarrassment or trouble. 
Mature thoughts do come to me sometimes. I asked him to cancel his tiffin for dinner as I thought he would be eating out. But he was pretty sure of coming home and have that tiffin. I again wished him luck and he thanked me with his as usual honey coated, sweet tone and expressions which I thought might be the reason for his going out today and my sitting in the room reading “how to win and influence friends”.
It was not until 10:30pm he came back when I was sitting with my other two friends, munnibai and lemon singh. They also showed their amazement when they heard of our chintulaal’s esacapades. Without wasting time further we took our places to share his stories like a bunch of 3 year old kids waiting for their dadimaa to start.
“How was your date?” my first question hit him.
“good” he said,
“haath pakda (my usual slang which means, did you hold her hand)” I asked
“no yaar, she is getting married”, now it was his chance to hit back.
“ohh… WTF” now all those questions about his romantic date which were so beautifully arranged in my mind tumbled like a house of cards.
“ok…who paid the bill?” I have an inquisitive mind in these discussions, I guess…
“I paid” chintulaal said with some wierd expression
“ok…good…good, so how much was the bill”…… inquisitive mind, I said…
“I won’t tell you…” he said but with a clear intent on his face to tell after a little pestering…
“common yaar…let us also have some experience about do’s and dont’s for date”.. I said with a plaintive face
“Ok…I will show it to you, only you” he told me…and with this he handed me the bill which he had placed so carefully in the side pocket of his wallet as a memento…I was shocked to see the bill not only because it was huge but because it was spent on a to be married woman which was not in conatct with him since 2 yrs.…
“Didn’t you see the menu before ordering” I asked…
“No, I handed it over to her, and asked her to order for me also…”
“brave chap you are, such a brave chap….we think about the budget, the mood, the food we want to eat, the friends who we are with, the place where we ate the day before….and so many things…. optimizing all of these before me make the best choice selecting a place to eat … and what you do…(some silent moments)… leave it….” lemon singh interrupted with a sarcastic touch and a burst of laughter….
and with this we left the discussion in there and I stood at the window of my first floor apartment staring at a bunch of dogs who were chasing another dog of some other territory…(For not so intellectual minds who did not understand the deeper meaning of this…. this expression was just to signify my dissatisfaction over the expected discussion) …to add let’s say that this time the dadimaa slept on waiting children…
Chintulaal was happy with the bill only because it would remind him of his lavish spending so that in future he can be more cautious. I also got to find the reason for his placing that bill so carefully.
After we had just finished, I gave a statement without much deliberation but everybody appreciated….
“Unless you are hitting on her, avoid paying the bill”
This also reminded me of some previous memories in which I was with one of my friends who is a girl in a restaurant and when she insisted on paying the bill, I allowed her to do so.
I would not have done so 
, but she gave me reasons for that. Reasons like “if we both are not earning then we should share the bill”. My part of the bill was infinitesimally small, as I only had one Appy Fizz to accompany her as I just had had my lunch before that meet. So I did not share.
So while I was jogging this morning, this discussion was circling my mind. I also felt that, usually it is considered a boy’s prerogative to pay the bill on a date, but as now we have heard enough of that women are leading in every field, they are no less than men, girls again proved better than boys in board results…..we should pay respect to those women activists….
I believe these statements and its true that girls have proved themselves so why should boys have all the fun. The male community should understand the importance of women, their rights, their feelings and should change this myth that they only have to pay the bill. I urge all the boys going for date tonight, tomorrow, this weekend…..in future…. that they should seriously ask themselves this question….
“to pay or not to pay”
