unlikely

On a print job in fort (Bombay) and I had three hours to kill before anything came back so I walked into Leopold's. Never been there before and there was no waiting line like always, so I decided to go in. I was asked to be seated opposite a random woman, tall and big eyed, as is done to maximize space in leo's(?) The interior design magazines tell you to add mirrors if you want to create the illusion of a larger room, but they never mention that mirrors also double the number people in the room. When the shootings happened, can't imagine the chaos here.. Back to the table -- I'm seated, I begin conversation. Are you from here? No, Singapore. She has a strange Malayan accent. She looks mostly (South) Indian. She works for the government of Singapore. As a police officer. She's backpacking here, read about it in Shantharam -- look at the books stacked at the cash counter -- evidence. Food arrives. Her Kesar Pista icecream is not green, shame. Ideally, it would've been a green pista base with kesar bits in it, she says. People on every table are trying to get wide angle pictures of the place. She speaks Tamil! her great grandparents were from India. Her Tamil accent is more natural than her English. But it was too strange to continue this game of go on, speak more in that language, so I dropped it. Didn't have too much to talk about really. Almost end of meal I blurt, I'm sorry I didn't get your name. Sindhu. She's smiling. My jaw is dropping. I check again. I explain. We exchange cards. We walk out, eat a paan together.