He smiled and started drinking his tea.

While going to work, he told Mohammad Ali that he would be meeting Hina that evening.

Hina reached the mall fifteen minutes before time.

She wandered through the mall, looking at the glamourous shops selling clothes, home decor, electronics, etc. On seeing a shop with colourful bedsheets and curtains, she wished that her mother had come along. Then she could have bought a sky-blue bedsheet and pillow covers. She bought a big chocolate bar, kept it in her bag and proceeded towards McDonald’s.

Asrar stood on the other end of the shop from which she had bought the chocolate. He had also bought something. He went to the washroom after returning from the shop. He washed his face, looked into the mirror and ran his fingers through his hair. There was no one in the washroom. He bent towards the mirror and spoke to his reflection, ‘Let’s go, dude! Don’t waste time here needlessly!’

The reflection smiled at what Asrar had just said.

Hina was looking at the sprightly young people working at the counter while sitting alone in one corner of McDonald’s. They were around the same age as her. Whenever anyone approached the counter to place an order, they would welcome them with a fake smile on their face. The moment the money was taken, another young worker would place the ordered food on a tray and give it to the customer with tissue papers, ketchup, soft drink and straws. The customer then carried that tray towards a table. Their eyes would never meet anyone else’s but they were aware that many eyes were focused on them. People across the economic strata felt they belonged to the upper class in this environment. Those present thought they were privileged and superior. They were aware that many were deprived of this luxury of eating at a fast-food joint. A cartoon film was playing on a huge screen on one side at a very low volume. On the other side, pop music flooded the environment. A song from Paul McCartney’s album Flaming Pie was being played in the backdrop. It was a song which Hina had heard many times. She listened to the first few lines of the song:

Some days I look,

I look at you with eyes that shine.

Some days I don’t,

I don’t believe that you are mine.

It’s no good asking me what time of day it is,

Who won the match or scored the goal.

Some days I look,

Some days I look into your soul.

She was lost in the lines of the song. Music had its own magic. The song found a way into her emotions. When the song ended and she came out of her thoughts, she saw Asrar standing next to her table, smiling at her. For a minute she didn’t even know what to say. She started smiling and stood up when Asrar said, ‘Sit, sit …’ He sat opposite her. It was the first time that he had come to McDonald’s. He used to see people eating different kinds of food from the outside. He had also read about the different kinds of burgers in the advertisements, but he had never had one. He asked Hina, ‘What do you eat?’