Unforseen

Waiters in Shillong aren't a very nice bunch of people. And they can't even punch their way out of a wet paper bag.

I had gone to Kimsang, the local "Chinese Food Restaurant cum Bar" for a cold beer with a friend of mine. Since we were both running short on cash, we decided to split a bottle. The problem was that it took us almost two hours to finish it (just to avoid going back out in the scorching heat). While paying the bill, the smart-ass waiter mutters, "Fuckers...order only one beer but sit here for two hours."

Next thing I know my friend gets up and asks him to repeat that, and then promptly gets punched in his stomach for his troubles. And then I'm suddenly aware that my right fist has made contact with the waiter's face. Then all hell breaks loose. All the other diners quickly pay their bills and split. The manager closes the shutters of the place and the two of us are surrounded by 8 waiters. Luckily, only two other waiters join the fight. So now I'm kicking Waiter No 1 in the face, while Waiter No 2 is clawing my neck and punching my head from behind, and my friend is simultaneously punching Waiter No 2 and keeping Waiter No 3 at bay. I'm sure it looked like a weird chain of some sort to a third party.

The entire fracas ended in the same random way it began. The manager grabbed both of us by the collar and threw us out. And just like that, the fight was over.

In the end, I did feel somewhat liberated. Just repeatedly pounding on a guy's face can be extremely therapeutic.