Saturday, the 8^th, was a crazy day – actually, the afternoon was crazy. I left home with some relatives for the first birthday party of a second cousin’s kid (see, that’s crazy enough), and to our bad luck, we got stuck in the second worst traffic jam in the history of Bangalore (the first being on Monday the 17^th) due to repair work undertaken by the civic authorities at Brigade Road junction. So bad was the traffic pile up that it took us all of 2 hours to cover a little over 2 KM, I kid you not! We left home at 12 and got to another relatives place at 2, instead of 12:15 or 12:20, and we still had another 12 KM to go. So I got off and said I’m walking back home, and asked the rest to continue.

Since I hadn’t had lunch, I stepped into a new favourite restaurant of mine called ‘The Egg Factory’. It wasn’t too crowded (it’s a new place, so not too many know about it yet) and I managed to get myself a nice table by the window and was taking my time with the menu for several reasons: – its got some fascinating ’stories’ about the food, and a whole lot of dishes to choose from. After ordering a lime soda, I started going through the menu to decide what I’d be eating. I noticed that there were a couple of tables that had couples sitting there, while a few other tables had families and one group just concentrating on the food. At different points in time, I noticed a few people from different tables kept turning over and looking at me, and finally when my food arrived, the turning and glancing came one last time, almost in disbelief I might say, and finally died out. Thankfully, it ended there, but only because the owner of the place, someone I’ve gotten to know, came down and sat with me for a chat.

This isn’t the first time I’ve experienced this kind of public display of I don’t know what when I’ve been spotted or mentioned to someone that I had a meal by myself. I remember a time last year when I’d been to a book sale and decided to help myself to lunch while on my way back where I ran into an old acquaintance from college. After the customary “hi, how’re you?” and “where’re you working now?”, he asked me another customary question (I guess):

“Are you expecting someone?”

“Nope…alone”

(complete amazement) “You’ve come for lunch all alone?”

(bewildered look) “Er, yes, it’s still legal, isn’t it?”. Chuckle.

“Haha… yeah, just a bit strange, that’s all”. Chuckle.

My food arrived, and we said our byes (he was with another group). This sort of thing has happened quite a few times with me now. When I mentioned this to another friend, she said he probably thought I got stood up. Let me make one thing very clear straight away: I’m not the kind who wants to eat alone. Far from it. I always love company, especially while eating. But I’ve never once felt ‘weird’ about walking into a restaurant all alone and eating either. And I’ve never understood why so many people think it is, and I’m not trying to be sexist here when I say this, and it shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing, but this attitude is more evident among women than men (but I could be wrong). Going by the stares I got from some of the women in the restaurant, I think they all thought I got stood up by some chick.

However, coming back to the issue, what’s the big deal about eating alone? Can’t a guy or a girl be allowed to enjoy a meal in peace, without everyone around thinking he or she has been stood up? Ladies, I’m single, willing to mingle, come on over and let’s hit the town and paint it red. If I get a date, it’ll save me the lengthy explanations of how it’s perfectly normal for a guy to eat alone at a restaurant, and you won’t think I’m being stood up. And in the event that one of you actually agrees for a date and then doesn’t turn up, you’ve got a good excuse to say “…but you don’t mind eating alone, so tuck away, you pig!”. Oh, and did I mention that I cook too. See, more reasons to hook up with me, and we could discuss over lunch why dining alone isn’t such an alarming thing. And in the mean time, guys (men, women, children), don’t hesitate to walk in alone. Trust me, the guys working at the restaurant don’t care, and if the others around you care that much, you can ask them to join you, or just foot your bill.