3136
Raj Kadyan
Last Sunday, we took the granddaughters for a day out at a swanky mall in Mumbai. At lunch, the girls and their grandmother decided on burgers. I chose cheese pizza. While the wife occupied a table in the crowded eatery, the girls and I went to place our respective self-help orders.
The place was crowded. My poor hearing is even more awful in noisy places. I have to rely on sign language. I put my finger at the required item on the cardboard menu and pushed a Rs 500 note across the counter. The girl said something. I pointed at my ear to indicate my hearing problem. She lowered her mask and repeated. In the surrounding din it, too, went unheard. She then wrote, ‘Do you have change for Rs 200?’ and showed it to me. ‘Sorry, Nandini, I don’t have change,’ I said, noticing her name tab. She lowered her mask and spoke loudly for me to hear. ‘Thank you, sir, you are the first person to address me by name.’ Some 10 minutes later when I went to collect the pizza, there were three customers ahead in the queue. The moment she saw me, instead of waiting for the delivery boy to bring the order, she herself walked to the service counter and picked it up.