18th Birthday: My first date with dad.

‘Monster, you better not miss your flight tomorrow’ she said with a twitch in the eye. Those hazelnut eyes, I’ve been seeing my reflection in them since the day I came out of her. She’s the reason for my beautiful eyes & chiselled curves. If I were a man, I’d totally do her, for life. But life is a funny thing. Mother, 41, is single, never married. And I’ve never seen my biological father. Mother never talks about him. He’s a ghost, an enigma.

Tonight I’m turning 18. I’m at the Singapore airport, flying to Bombay to meet him. I blackmailed mom into fixing a date with my biological dad. Until 3 days ago I didn’t even know his name. I still do not know how he looks or anything else for that matter.

‘Don’t hate him. And don’t fall in love with him for god’s sake’ she warned, gave me a quick embrace & whisked me away to the doors. I watched her walk away, there’s melody in her footsteps, oh those groovy curves. Boy, she takes my breath away.

At 9:35pm, India time, I got down at this chaotic airport. He stood at the arrivals waiting for me. I had imagined & re-imagined this moment million times in the past years. There he was, oh, I shivered, all of me. He was tall, lean, stubbled, brooding man. Wearing checked shirt, dark jeans & a grave expression. Not helping my nerves.

He sees me, shuffles, closes in, damn expression doesn’t change. C’mon gimme a half smile, fake it, dude. Nothing.

‘Hi, Manjari’ he says with a blink-&-miss nod. No half smile, still. I can’t catch a break.

‘Hi, Ranveer’ I say with a half-smile. I have just one back-pack, he lets me carry it.

I sit in the front of the car. Conversation remains dead. I’m so anxious that I can’t think of anything to say. And then suddenly I know what to say.

‘I don’t want to go home.’ I looked at him, eyelids batting rapidly. ‘Take me to your favorite place in Bombay’

‘Ok’

‘And can we please buy some beer’ I say it before I lose the nerve.

‘Ok’. Thank god, no lecture on how I’m too young to drink.

‘You don’t say much, do you?’

‘No, I talk. I guess I’m………………overwhelmed.’

‘Understandable. Take your time’. I say it so coolly disguising my nervousness deftly. John Travolta would be so proud.

I liked the fact he wasn’t going outta his way to impress or make me comfortable. I like it when people treat me like a normal looking girl than a pretty girl. Ya! I’m weird.

‘What beer’

‘Anyone with alcohol’. I retorted. He looked at me turning eversoslightly & went back to gazing into the road ahead. I followed his face, and then it happened. His muscles relaxed & he smiled.

‘Ok, then we’ll get the one with alcohol’.

Finally the shackles have broken. I like that.

He stops the car at a wine shop & returns with the beer ‘with alcohol’.

‘You got your mother’s eyes, Zōë.’ He said without looking as he kick starts the car.

‘Zōë, who the hell is Zōë’

He didn’t reply right-away, cleared his throat. ‘I mean…….Manjari’ he said plainly.

‘Why did you call me Zōë’ I probed. I knew it wasn’t a mistake.

Long pause.

‘When Isha told me she’s pregnant with you, I instantaneously named you Zōë’

‘You assumed it was going to be a girl’

Pause.

‘I knew’

Well, I had nothing to say to that. I let the moment sink in & let the Bombay wind hit my face, making my long hair fly all over.

He stopped at a serene secluded place. Grabbed the bottles, we settled in on a thick rock looking into the sea.

After the customary cheers I gulped down a fair amount. Bitter….bitter…. How can anyone drink this stuff.

‘Mum doesn’t talk about you at all.’ I re-ignited the conversation candle. ‘But one day I did make her tell me something: She said she let you go coz she knew in her heart you didn’t want the kid & there was no way she was nipping me in the bud’

‘That’s true.’ He replied with honesty, without hesitation.

Our eyes met. Awkward. Beer to the rescue: We both gulped down a hefty amount.

‘Did you get married?’ I asked.

‘I didn’t’

I looked on for further words.

‘I don’t know. After your mother went away, I never met someone with whom I wanted to live, to share all of me’

‘But then you also didn’t want to live with mom either’

‘I don’t have an answer to that’

‘Did you love mom’

‘How can anyone not love that woman? She’s got the guts of a warrior’

‘You bet’. We opened more beer.

‘Don’t tell mom I’m drinking, she’ll kill me’

‘You bet’. More cheers.

‘What do you do to pay for this: beers & stuff?’

‘I’m a writer’

‘Aren’t you? I knew it. I knew I had seen your name on a book my friend was reading’ Oh dear god my father is famous. ‘Don’t mind but what’s the name of your book’

‘I’ve written 5 but the famous one is ‘The Letters’.’

‘That’s the one, definitely. That’s the one Rachel had’ I was gushing. ‘Wow, you’re famous’

He doesn’t say anything. Humble man.

‘I want to read it’

He gets up, runs back to the car, comes back with a diary.

‘Here. It’s hand written’

‘Are you giving me your only hand written copy’

‘That’s the least I can do for my daughter’ he said & immediately looked away. Overcome with emotion. He turned back to me. Smiled, eyes shining with the water of love.

I’m not a very emotional person but it was one moment I will cherish, like always.

‘In all these years I missed you, dad’

‘I’m sorry, Zōë’

‘You did what you had to do. Mom did what she had to.’ I touch his hand. ‘I forgive you, dad’

‘How are you so amazing’

‘I’m the daughter of a warrior & a damn fine writer. I gotta be amazing’ I smiled. We smiled.

I think I passed out an hour later. He must have had to carry me to the car & then to bed. He woke me up just in time for my flight back home.

At the airport, he asked me ‘Will you meet again, Zōë’

‘As long as you gonna get me beer with alcohol, I’d love to’ I’m clever with words. May be I should become a writer. Ya right!

He smiled.

Then as I was about to leave he looked confused about the course of action. I moved & hugged him real tight.

‘Thank you’ he said.

‘For what?’

‘For making me so happy’

‘Oh, don’t say. I know I’m awesome’

He actually laughed out loud. Oh, I’m so damn funny. How about Stand-up comedy. Let me think about it.

It was time to get the hell outta Bombay.

When I reached Singapore, mom was standing at the arrivals, looking even more sexier. I broke into a dance seeing her & pounced on her like a mad cow.

‘Dammit’ she said. ‘I knew it’

‘What’

‘I told you not to fall in love with him’

‘It was impossible not to’

‘Yeah! You’re right’ she said & let me carry my backpack. She walked back to the car like she was lost somewhere down the memory lane. I knew exactly where.