(The first few lines in green are from the last blog. They have been written here to form the continuation of the story.)
Angel then pulled an empty stool
and sat beside me. “Are you fine now? Need more water?” She asked with a
concerned look.
“I am fine now. But the chicken
here is quite hard to bite I must say.” I told her as I examined the piece from
where I had taken the bite.
“It is not chicken if it was
hard. It must be rhino meat or bear meat.” She said casually.
My eyes just popped out! I was
about to puke! Rhino meat? Meat of that fat bulky ugly piece of mass? Oh God,
is that what they eat here?
And I fainted, Angel splashed water on me about 4-5 times
only then did I decided to face the reality that I had eaten rhino meat.
“Rhino meat? Oh God, is that what you eat here?” I asked her
startled.
“Well it depends. We also have chicken here. Wait I will
bring it for you.” Angel said as she left me to get some piece of meat which
would be edible for me. Still some
faces were staring at me turn by turn. Was it a very big thing that I can’t eat
rhino meat? It seemed rhino meat was their staple diet. Angel came back with 3-4 pieces of chicken.
“Here you go. This is chicken and lamb. Hope it will be easy
for you this time.” She said
“Yeah, hope so.” I said as I took the first bite. “Umm, this
is nice. Thank you my dear, thank you for being there.” I said as I put my hand
on hers.
She put her other hand on top of it and said “Anything for
you.”
As I was enjoying my meal now, she too got something for
herself and started munching it. It did not look like the piece I was having,
so it was certainly not chicken. It wasn’t even like the rhino meat I had
tried, it was completely different. However, I didn’t dared to ask the animal
name as it might spoil my taste also.
“Angel, Is it a crime to not eat rhino meat here?” I asked
her.
“No, why?” she said
“Then why everyone was staring at me when I puked it out.
Even when you left to get me chicken, people were still looking at me with
suspicious eyes. I hope it is not a ritual to welcome the new guest with rhino
meat!” I said jokingly.
She signaled with her hand to wait as her mouth was full. I
continued to finish mine.
“Not eating rhino meat is not a crime but wasting food is a
sin here. We are very grateful to God that he gives us something to eat, and if
we waste it we believe we are a sinner.
We owe him an apology.” She tried explaining me.
She continued, “You should be grateful to Sir Lemo that he
came on the right time and subdued the issue before it became too big. Except
these 30 odd people, others don’t know about it. Or else you might have been
put to trial here.” She said with a bit of concerned look.
“Angel, do I look frightened?” I asked her
“Ahh…only slightly I would say.”She said.
“You are wrong; I am frightened to the core. If you serve
rhino meat in dinner which was more than a punishment for me, I don’t even want
to imagine what I would have been sentenced to had Sir Lemo not been there. I
take back my words, he doesn’t have bad timing at all.” I said and put my
concentration back on the more enjoyable thing, chicken.
The atmosphere became normal and the eyes which were staring
at me were now enjoying fruit after having their quota of meat. I too had enough
which was necessary for me to sleep well, though I wanted to enjoy other
variety of fruits present there as well but had to keep in mind my slightly
bulging tummy. I should remember that when going out with a beautiful girl like
Angel, I should not look like a pumpkin with a flower.
While all this scary experience was going on, the only thing
which helped me come out of this was that Angel had asked me to meet after
dinner. It ought to be special. Slowly the place got less crowded and Angel too
had left me with Sir Lemo to meet other important beings present there. I met
the head cook, the head of hospitality, head of cleanliness, head of dressing,
head of housing, head of water supply, head of illumination etc. Meeting too
many heads made my head go bonkers. I could hardly remember their names as the
only name echoing in my head was of Angel. Nevertheless, the list of heads did
come to an end and Sir Lemo asked me to walk along till my room. I could not
say no to the head (oh god, another head) of the place where I had to spent the
rest of my life.
Sir Lemo was quite inquisitive about how I was feeling here,
the people, the food, the atmosphere, the water etc and for all I just said one
word, “good”. He left me outside my room
and walked away to his. Just to show him, I went inside and then peeked through
the doorway to see if he had turned round the corner. As soon as he was no more
visible, I rushed back to the spot where Angel had asked me to meet.
I was left speechless on reaching the spot. I again took
back my words, “Sir Lemo DOES HAVE BAD TIMING.” He was standing there with
Angel. On seeing him there, I came to a screeching halt which was enough to
grab his attention. He looked at me and said, “Yes Sir, what makes you come
back here?”
What excuse shall I make? Do you have any excuse in mind???
