‘Aur Batao, What New Year Plans?’ That Question You Need To Find A Quick Answer To!

I am all of us.

Most of the times when I’ve called to wish you, you know I have secretly hoped that you wouldn’t answer the call and save me the embarrassment. I know this when I receive your text apologising that you were busy and I got the chance to wind it up easily. 

But then there are those unfortunate times when we do cross each other and have had to talk because we forgot our phones and we couldn’t fake talking over them as we walked looking away.
It also happens when one of us accidentally answers the unintended phone call.

So what happens when we finally come face to face?

We wave and hug each other with a big gaping smile, as if we’ve found our joy.
We ask of each others’ well-being with banal greetings.
Now comes the challenge of keeping the ball rolling.
Neither of us want to be there, yet here we are.
We want to wind it up as casually as we can and leave the scene immediately without looking too rude.
But we still continue saying ‘aur batao‘ again and again, as no one wants to be the first person to accept the awkwardness and finish the buffet.
It’s like juicing a sugarcane by passing it repeatedly through the crusher, only for it to result in garbage which you don’t know where to keep.
And if its the festive time of the year, especially New Year, then you’ve got nowhere to go.

All year long, a boring answer to aur batao  only meant that you had no news.
When it’s the year end, suddenly, ‘So what are your new year plans?’  becomes the ‘aur batao’ of December and there’s nowhere to run.
A boring answer to this would only mean that you don’t have a life. Even though the world is up kissing and partying, you’d love to laze at home and sleep.
But for the sake of appearances, deep in your heart you know that you have to nail it for the social trophy of the year. After all, this is what everybody is going to be talking about all summer – who had the most exciting new year’s eve.