White dress with green polka dots

This story is from a long time ago. Summer vacations after 11th grade. I think the movie Dil was released. A classmate collected about 15-20 of us to watch that movie. But the planning backfired, and she could not arrange the tickets. So anyway, she arranged the tickets for the next show, and all of us dispersed promising to be back in three hours. I went with one of my friends, Payal as her house was nearer to the movie theatre.

Three hours had to be passed on a hot June day, what to do. This was 1990, nothing on TV except Doordarshan. While chatting, she told me about her latest crush, and oh, that girl had a series of crushes back then. I already had a boyfriend at the time, but we were on a break then, and I had not told Payal anything about him. That secret was shared exclusively among 3-4 close friends.

Her latest crush, incidentally was a son of a family friend of ours, Joshi uncle, who had a little private hospital in her neighborhood, and who, incidentally again, was the same caste as mine. Dad used to keep patients or schedule surgeries in his hospital. We were 16, and he must be in his late teens or early 20s. She had had a minor accident once, and was taken there, where the guy, Parag, had done her dressing. Ever since then, she was pining for him. Joshi uncle was a tiny portly bald old man. I didn't even know Joshi uncle had a son, and that too a handsome son. (I now suspect this was not really a coincidence. I had later realized that my dad would make sure no son of no family friend was freely introduced into our house, or vice versa. He was cute that way. Kinda funny that I still managed to later marry a family friend's son later).

So anyway, to kill time, we decided to prank call the guy. Yes, she had found out his number by now, and was religiously calling him, what we then called 'blank calls'. Meaning, calling, but not talking. This was the pre-caller id era, and local calls were free, and did not show up on phone bills. Blank calls was a major support system for the lovesick lovers of small towns back then.

She called him, and luckily he picked the phone. We ended up talking to him for the next two hours. First she, then me. The doofus didn't even recognize the voice change. He did suspect, but he let it go. When she was talking, the flirting had just begun. But when I took over the phone, it had gone up a notch higher. By the time I was done, we had promised to meet each other two days from that day, at a hangout that was very popular among teens. I had promised him that I will wear a white dress with green polka dots, and he had promised he will carry a red rose in his hand. Too filmy to be taken seriously. Am sure both of us knew neither one would show up. This was a prank call after all. I didn't even have a white dress with green polka dots, I had simply made it up out of thin air. But I had given the rest of my description as similar to myself, to conceal her identity of course...

is there any more to this story?

Captain Bhankas wrote:is there any more to this story?

Lol. Had to cook and get ready for work. So could not finish the story. Will do later.

ok. good. it felt incomplete.

The schools started about a week later. I had by now patched up with my boyfriend and met him a couple of times. On first day of school, after we had settled in the class, Payal said I was looking very happy, and asked me if I ever met him. Met who? She asked if I ever went to meet Parag at the hangout as promised. What was she talking about? Why would I meet him? First of all, it was a prank call, and more importantly, he was *her* crush. Why would I meet him? She said I sounded too convincing on phone the other day, so she wondered if I was serious. Of course I sounded convincing, that was the whole game, right? I laughed it off, but made a mental note, to never ever flirt with a guy of a friend, even if it was anonymously.

Within a few short days, I answered the phone of my dad. I wasn’t normally allowed to, but that day I ended up taking the call. The moment I said, ‘Hello’, there was a few seconds pause, and then the voice asked if my dad was home. It was Parag! He had called him for something work related. I skipped 3-4 fearful heartbeats. Did he recognize my voice? Was I caught? Anyway, later I casually brought up his mention, asking about him in some roundabout manner, putting in some made up mention by others. Mostly to get information about him. Mom told me that Parag was struggling with drug addiction at the time, and Joshi uncle was trying to rehabilitate him. His working in the hospital was part of the program, so that they could keep an eye on him.

I told this to Payal. She was crushed. In retrospect, she did say he had a dreamy look under his droopy eyelids, and funnily that’s what had attracted her to him. Maybe that day too he was stoned on phone, atleast he sounded like that under this new light of information. Or else, how could one not detect a change in the voice? We collectively decided to drop this crush, and she moved on.

Fast forward 2 months, I was hanging out with my sister in the garden of our house on a Sunday evening. I was wearing really old rags in the name of clothes, had not showered, and was bare feet, with hair in full mess. Whenever I saw anyone entering the village gates, I would take a little shield. She was mocking my appearance, and was joking how so many boys chase this sorry piece of mess, me. “If only they could see the real you now, they would not love you the way they do”, she was claiming.

She then challenged me. She said I could not dare go to the village looking like this. I was pretty popular in the village, and Sunday was the day it had maximum visitors. I took the dare. The bet was that she would buy me two new dresses if I did. She accepted. So I walked, regally. In my tattered appearance, bare feet. The deal was to go up to the main entrance, and stand there for two minutes. I did just that. She lost.

As promised, she took me to buy new dresses. She chose two outfits for me. One of them was a matching set of a top and a skirt. It was white. And it had green polka dots!

Vidya Bagchi wrote:The schools started about a week later. I had by now patched up with my boyfriend and met him a couple of times. On first day of school, after we had settled in the class, Payal said I was looking very happy, and asked me if I ever met him. Met who? She asked if I ever went to meet Parag at the hangout as promised. What was she talking about? Why would I meet him? First of all, it was a prank call, and more importantly, he was *her* crush. Why would I meet him? She said I sounded too convincing on phone the other day, so she wondered if I was serious. Of course I sounded convincing, that was the whole game, right? I laughed it off, but made a mental note, to never ever flirt with a guy of a friend, even if it was anonymously.

Within a few short days, I answered the phone of my dad. I wasn’t normally allowed to, but that day I ended up taking the call. The moment I said, ‘Hello’, there was a few seconds pause, and then the voice asked if my dad was home. It was Parag! He had called him for something work related. I skipped 3-4 fearful heartbeats. Did he recognize my voice? Was I caught? Anyway, later I casually brought up his mention, asking about him in some roundabout manner, putting in some made up mention by others. Mostly to get information about him. Mom told me that Parag was struggling with drug addiction at the time, and Joshi uncle was trying to rehabilitate him. His working in the hospital was part of the program, so that they could keep an eye on him.

I told this to Payal. She was crushed. In retrospect, she did say he had a dreamy look under his droopy eyelids, and funnily that’s what had attracted her to him. Maybe that day too he was stoned on phone, atleast he sounded like that under this new light of information. Or else, how could one not detect a change in the voice? We collectively decided to drop this crush, and she moved on.

Fast forward 2 months, I was hanging out with my sister in the garden of our house on a Sunday evening. I was wearing really old rags in the name of clothes, had not showered, and was bare feet, with hair in full mess. Whenever I saw anyone entering the village gates, I would take a little shield. She was mocking my appearance, and was joking how so many boys chase this sorry piece of mess, me. “If only they could see the real you now, they would not love you the way they do”, she was claiming.

She then challenged me. She said I could not dare go to the village looking like this. I was pretty popular in the village, and Sunday was the day it had maximum visitors. I took the dare. The bet was that she would buy me two new dresses if I did. She accepted. So I walked, regally. In my tattered appearance, bare feet. The deal was to go up to the main entrance, and stand there for two minutes. I did just that. She lost.

As promised, she took me to buy new dresses. She chose two outfits for me. One of them was a matching set of a top and a skirt. It was white. And it had green polka dots!

>>Should have gone with the proverbial 'yellow polka dot' - ahem! - outfit. Would have brought all the boys to their knees.

Kris wrote:
>>Should have gone with the proverbial 'yellow polka dot' - ahem! - outfit. Would have brought all the boys to their knees.

Lol. No sir this was a dress not the other - ahem! - outfit.

Later that year, we had some extra classes in school. We were allowed to come in regular clothes instead of school uniforms. I wore that dress one day. Payal and I sat next to each other that day. After about 5 minutes, she said, ‘White dress with green polka dots, haan? You actually have this dress.’

It still didn’t strike me, but her tone was so sinister, that it took me by surprise, so I began thinking. Suddenly it struck me. I had truly completely forgotten about that call from months ago. I had not remembered it when buying the dress too. Or else I would not have bought it.

“No no no “, I began clarifying. I told her I didn’t have that dress in the summer, and that I bought it a couple of months after that call. But her trust was broken somehow. She didn’t believe anything that I said. Our teacher, who otherwise didn’t care about little bit whispering, had to tell us sternly to stop talking. So, Payal and I continued our arguments writing on a notebook.

Basically, she wasn’t ready to believe I never had the dress. That dress pattern was too uncommon for it to be a coincidence. White dress with green polka dots, really? Who can make that up and then buy the exact same pattern at a later date. This was indeed too much of a coincidence. It baffled me as well. I almost cried in frustration that she doubted my story. I even tried to look for the store receipts in my sister’s purse later, to prove the date of purchase.

She was thinking everything now. Maybe I did meet Parag, and made up the drug addiction story to get her out of the way. Or if I indeed buy the dress later, it was to honor our first talks. It was so bizarre to hear such allegations. How could she even think that about me? I put my own indignation in the back seat and set out to convince her first. But no matter what I said, she would not believe me. She would either not talk to me, or throw indirect barbs at me when we were in a group. Others had no clue we were secretly having troubles. I literally danced around her for 2-3 days, before I could set her mood right again. I didn’t let her go until she said she believed me and began talking to me again. We went back to the old pattern soon.

But man oh man, that tiny little joke over a stupid dress made me almost lose a friend and that too, over a guy I had never seen. I never wore that dress again. I never attended any function at Joshi uncle’s place, ever. I still don’t know what Parag looks like. I made every effort to never find out, that’s how scared I was. But the biggest lesson was, when it comes to friends or sisters, you stay OUT of their business. You may look like a complete bore, but do not exchange anything more than some polite comments with their guy; unless you are a 100% sure your friend will not get insecure.