Just you and me, Bondita

The Unique Ice Cream Man

As soon as Bondita entered the ice cream shop, she was met with a surprise when she saw a physically-disabled elderly man, who was in a wheelchair, struggling to readjust a portrait on the wall.

The poor man was shaking a lot , probably due to his age and other factors, and kept on leaning upwards in order to reach the photograph of a young couple. However all his attempts failed miserably.

Anirudh entered the shop now and was also pitifully watching the scene in front of him as he stood beside his wife.

The couple then cautiously glanced around at their dimly-lit surroundings and noticed how despite the place being well kept and decorated nicely, the ice cream parlour was surprisingly empty with no customers.

For some reason, Bondita couldn't hold her tears back from seeing the pitiable state of this lonely elderly man who resiliently attempted to fix the portrait despite his lack of physical abilities.

But as he continued to do so, he ended up losing balance and was about to fall off his wheelchair when Bondita quickly ran over and caught him just in time.

The man frighteningly jerked as he only acknowledged the presence of the young couple now and he widely grinned at their arrival whilst Bondita helped him readjust on his seat.

"Bonjour!!!" he welcomed enthusiastically before rolling over towards the ice cream display, "Quelle glace veux-tu?"

Anirudh and Bondita awkwardly glanced at each other from the corner of their eyes and smiled sheepishly at the cheery being.

"Sorry... we don't speak French..." Anirudh mumblingly explained.

"Oh no problème! I speak very good English!" the old man chirped back with a heavy French accent, "Which ice cream would you both like to have?"

Anirudh and Bondita excitedly got closer to the glass display and were intently analysing each distinct tub of ice cream for a while, as they both struggled to make up their minds.

"Pati babu, what are you going to choose? I'm so confused right now!" Bondita whispered to her husband in Bengali whilst her eyes were still glued on the desserts.

"I don't know, Bondita. They all seem to look really good and now I'm struggling to choose between them." Anirudh murmured back quietly as his eyes darted around each tub.

The elderly man curiously watched the discreet conversation between these duo and beamed at them contently.

"Are you both Indian?"

The lost couple stood straight and faced the man after hearing his question, before calmly nodding in agreement.

"Aha! I knew it! I saw your... err what do they call this again... hmmm... oh yes, when I saw your saree, I guessed it immediately! And you also speak another language; is it Hindi?" he energetically queried.

Bondita lightly giggled at his enthusiastic statements and shook her head in response.

"No, we were speaking in Bengali."

"Ahh okay! I went to India a couple of years ago! Wahhhh! C'est un beau pays! Very, very beautiful country!" the old man emphasised with so much passion whilst the other two were grinning widely at him.

"Yes, it truly is and we are proud of our country." Anirudh stated gladly as he wrapped his arm around Bondita whilst she shyly blushed at his actions.