CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Hindi word for laugh is hasi.
It was already dark outside that evening when my home phone rang just as I sat down to relax after a long day.
I rushed to pick it up instinctively knowing it would be Kishore.
“Hello,” I answered apprehensively.
“Hello Julie,” he shyly replied.
Surprisingly, after our initial hesitation and nervous start the conversation flowed. We agreed he would pick me up at one o’clock the coming Saturday afternoon. Although to me, so far, Kishore’s accent was strong it wasn’t a barrier, just a small obstacle. After all, he had been in New Zealand now for more than two years and had become accustomed to the Kiwi accent. He was surrounded by it all day every day at work, in the street, wherever he went in his daily life.
I supposed it was up to me to get used to his accent.
Saturday arrived with loaded anticipation. I tried on practically every piece of clothing I owned. Mum popped her head around the doorway of my bedroom, seeing the huge mound of clothes piled on the floor and my perplexity she said, “Julie, don’t think of this as a date, imagine you’re just meeting up with a friend.” This worked for me as the word ‘date’ was pretty daunting. Telling myself I was merely meeting up with a friend calmed my nerves considerably.
I finally made my decision. I studied my reflection in the mirror as I turned my head from side to side to see every angle,‘Not bad' I thought, ‘Stylish yet casual.’ My image stared right back at me. I was dressed in a pair of black pants and a creamy white top. As an afterthought I tied a khaki-green scarf loosely around my neck. I had read somewhere that red heads look great in green.
Kishore’s blue Escort pulled up outside promptly on the dot of one o’clock.
In India people are more relaxed about time, it wasn’t a big deal to be half an hour late for an appointment. Maybe it was because of the population and traffic, it was unrealistic to have any expectation you would arrive on time. It could also be that people were more laid back and not so hung up on punctuality. Kishore quickly learnt in his new country if you made an appointment at a certain time, you had to be there at that time, on the dot. He realised in New Zealand, everyone is always looking at the clock and life is a continuous hustle, bustle and battle against time. If you were going to be late it was good manners to ring and apologise.
In India it was not uncommon to sit and chat late into the night but he had noticed in New Zealand, everyone seemed to be asleep by ten o’clock.
I met Kishore outside in his car, I climbed in and as the car pulled away from the curb, I peered back at my house. I could see the outline of Mum’s shadow as she stood on the other side of the net curtain at the lounge room window. I felt her maternal gaze as we drove away.
The chit chat soon flowed smoothly between us with no awkward silences.
“So, tell me, Julie, how did you know?” Kishore cheekily asked.
“How did I know what?”
“How did you know that the beautiful khaki-green scarf you are wearing is my absolute favourite colour?”
This brought a flush to my cheeks and I smiled. I turned my head and glanced out of the window, I liked the way he said my name, with accentuation on the ‘le,’ - ‘Ju-LEE,' it was kinda cute.
Kishore drove us to One Tree Hill, a well-known park. As we entered the gates he found a parking spot and we decided to stay seated in the privacy of his car so we could talk and get to know each other. It was a warm afternoon, the sun was shining and as I gazed through the windscreen I noticed there were a lot of people about enjoying the park. Kishore started by telling me if at any time I didn’t understand his accent, I was to say repeat. So far I had experienced no trouble at all understanding him but I agreed to do this. As we chatted, after every single sentence he said, I asked him to repeat. At first, he did this but when he caught the cheeky grin on my face he soon learnt I was teasing him. This was his first taste of my mischievous sense of humour.
I allowed myself to relax. A toddler, seemingly taking her first few wobbly steps, to the delight of her parents caught my eye. I smiled a little at the child and what was happening between Kishore and myself. So far we were getting on well. As I continued looking I saw other people enjoying the sun as they walked through the park or were playing with their children or dogs. Kishore was saying something, I turned my head to listen, he was voicing his thoughts on dating.
His eyes instantly met mine, he looked directly into them, “I don’t believe in relationships where people play games. If this works between us then I am willing to commit to you one hundred percent.” He swivelled his head to look out of the window for a few seconds, then turned back to me as he continued, “Julie, if we are going to make a go of this then I would like to marry you and be devoted to you only.”
The look of shock on my face did not stop him talking, “I don’t consider having a girlfriend, just to have a girlfriend, if you understand what I am saying. If you are the one Julie, then that is that, it will be us together for life.”
Whoa! I was absolutely taken aback. Did this guy just propose? Hey, I thought I only just met you. I was certainly not thinking about marriage, it was the last thing on my mind. But as I tried to think rationally I realised he was only trying to be straight forward and honest with me, making his intentions clear. He needed to be sure I knew how he felt but he didn’t understand he was coming across way too strong. This was our first date, for goodness sake, basically our first face-to-face conversation. I would have to take care not to let this guy’s straight forward attitude scare me off.
“Well….ummm, I think we better just see how things go between us,” I managed to reply.
When I arrived home Mum asked me how it went.
“You know Mum,” I answered, “I think he asked me to marry him!”
Mum raised her eyebrows and her voice, “Marriage Julie? But you’ve only just met him.” She then lowered her tone and added a bit more calmly, “Julie, just wait and see, give it time.”