Episode 7 : The dinner date

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Shayna is my neighbour. When we are not talking across balconies, she sometimes jumps over the common wall to sit in our garden and share a cup of tea with me. She’s a nimble, athletic girl with attractive eyes. She learns Jazz at a dance school nearby and regularly tells me stories about her experiences there. Her instructor is a lean, wiry man, a good twenty plus years her senior. He is one of the best jazz dancers around and people clamour to be his student, that is, if they can put up with his behaviour.

Her Sir is ill-tempered with frequent bi-polar moods. Shayna is one of the most composed people I know of, who is hardly ruffled by anything anyone says or does. One evening she confessed to me that her Sir taunted her so much that she cried. You can imagine my shock because I had never seen her cry till date.

‘What does he taunt you about?’

‘If I don’t get my steps right he is merciless sometimes. Some other times if I do the same mistake he is gentle and understanding. Some days he’s playful, other times he behaves sad and pouts and will refuse to speak. It is crazy; I don’t know how to deal with him. I cannot predict when his mood will change and that is why I’ve taken to praying before each class that his mood be good.’

‘Is he like this with everyone?’ I asked.

‘Yes. He doesn’t get along with the management either, having regular tiffs with them. But they don’t dare throw him out even if they dearly wanted to,  because he brings in the money.’

‘So they put up with his eccentricities.’ I said.

‘I do too.’ She said. ‘Tharun dislikes him.’

Now Tharun is Shayna’s current boyfriend. Like all boyfriends he is possessive and protective of her.

‘I told Tharun that my Sir made me cry and he was indignant. He wants me to discontinue jazz.’

‘Will you?’

‘No I won’t.’ She said. ‘I want to learn.’

 

Sometimes when I see her come back from her class she looks cheerful.

‘Today he told me that I have the potential to become one of the best jazz dancers in the world.’

Some other times she looks sad and angry.

‘He said to me that I have an inflexible body and that I will never do well and that I should give up learning jazz.’

 

One evening Shayna came home immediately after her jazz class. She ushered me into the garden.

‘What happened?’ I asked, surprised at her urgency.

‘Something strange has happened.’

‘Stranger than usual with your instructor?’ I asked, unable to stop the laugh that came out of me.

‘He asked me out on a date.’

I was stunned into silence. That was definitely not anything that I expected her to tell me.

‘Are you serious?’ I said after a while.

‘Yes. He asked me today. What do you think?’

‘I don’t know what to think.’ I answered truthfully.

‘You always give me good advices. I need one now.’

‘I think you should go.’ I said.

 

She decided to go. Tharun was shocked and upset.

‘Why is an eccentric old man asking her out on a date when he has a wife and a family? Why is she even going?’ He said.

‘It must be just a harmless thing. We shouldn’t read between the lines.’ I said.

 

That night after the date I was eagerly waiting for news from Shayna. She hopped into my garden looking excited.

‘It was good. Expensive food, wine, candle-light; all that.’ She said.

This surprised me even further. I hadn’t expected this.

‘What did you both talk about?’ I asked.

‘Oh just common place things, nothing personal or awkward, nothing about jazz either. We spoke about the things we like or didn’t like, the movies we watch, the music we listen to; more or less that. Though the entire appearance was romantic, there was nothing to imply that in our conversation. He was a gentleman and treated me well.’

‘Did he treat you as a father or an elder figure?’

She bit her lip. ‘No, we met as equals.’

‘Should I be worried?’ She asked when I did not reply.

I shrugged my shoulders. ‘If he did not make you feel uncomfortable in any way. I think it is fine. I would like to know how he behaves with you during classes now.’

But he continued being the tartar that he always was. I was truly baffled though I didn’t tell it to her.

Her classes continued unhindered and in the same manner as it always did till one day, around two months after her dinner date, she came to me hurriedly.

‘You know what? The day he took me out on the date was actually his birthday. I found it out from his files at the office.’

This was another shocker for me but I chose to stay calm.

‘He spent his birthday with you rather than with his family.’ I said.

She nodded. ‘I wonder why though.’

We made our speculations but nothing was conclusive. It was all a mystery. Tharun was furious about it being her instructor’s birthday on their date.

‘Why would he celebrate his birthday with you? I think he wants to get into your pants.’ He said.

‘He is my teacher. You shouldn’t talk like that about him.’ Shayna said.

‘Then he should behave more like a teacher and less like a lover.’

 

A month later was Shayna’s birthday. We cut cake in her room at midnight. She took pieces of her cake to her dance school. After her class she came straight to meet me.

‘You know what?’ She said. ‘My Sir got to know that it was my birthday and he got me this.’ She opened a flat box to reveal a pearl necklace.

We looked at each other in wonderment.

‘I think he likes you.’ I said finally.

‘He treats me as fairly as any other student with no distinction whatsoever.’

‘Maybe he secretly loves you or maybe he’s just eccentric and it is difficult to predict his behaviour…’ I said.

Both of us looked defeated. We were tired of speculating and decided to leave things as it is sans analysis. She took her pearls home. For Tharun the pearls were the last straw. He wanted Shayna to give it back to her instructor and give up on her jazz classes or change the teacher. She did none of it and they broke up.

 

Shayna and I were having a ‘break-up’ tea in the garden. A sweetened and chilled hibiscus tea.

‘An insecure man will not suit you.’ I said to her. ‘You need someone who will trust you and give you freedom at the same time.’

‘I shall wait for the right guy. Till then I’ll concentrate on my jazz and on my eccentric teacher.’

I raised my eyebrows.

‘No, it is not that.’ She said. ‘He is my teacher and I respect him for that. Whatever be his thoughts about me, it does not alter my respect for him even one notch. He is and will continue to be my teacher and nothing else.’

I looked at her face and was satisfied that she was speaking the truth. We ended our topic there. It was incomplete but rarely does life give you answers immediately. We had our tea at the moment and decided to just enjoy that.

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