Trrrinnnn. The school bell screamed at 1 o’clock. Lunchtime at Vidyaan Elementary School.
Bobby opened his lunchbox. What had Mamma packed today? Chicken sandwich with a slice of boring cheese. Not again.
He looked sideways at Pooja, who was eating fresh oranges. “awesome oranges Pooja. Can I’ve some?” Bobby asks, eyes full of hope and mouth full of saliva.
“Sure, but Mithun’s masala dosa looks yummy. I want to try that.” Says Pooja. Butter dripping around its corners, the masala dosa looked yum-yum indeed.
Bobby went to Mithun with the ‘masala dosa-orange’ exchange idea. “Why not? But Kalpana’s besan laddoos smell so good.” Says Mithun.
Bobby went to Kalpana with the ‘besan laddoo-masala dosa-orange’ exchange idea. “Yesss, but I’m craving for Karthik’s mushroom pasta.” Says Kalpana.
So, Bobby went to Karthik, who wanted to try Mansi’s egg biriyani.
Then, Bobby went to Mansi with the ‘egg biriyani-mushroom pasta-besan laddoo-masala dosa-orange’ exchange idea. Mansi was eyeing Varghese’s appam and kadala curry.
So, Bobby went to Varghese whose mouth was flooding for Sakshi’s schezwan noodles.
It went on and on and on. Bobby told Sakshi about the ‘schezwan noodles-appam kadala-egg biriyani-mushroom pasta-besan laddoo-masala dosa-orange’ exchange idea.
The list just grew longer. Benny almost choked on his bisi bele bath when Bobby told him about the ridiculous exchange idea.
Shweta almost spat out her aloo parantha when she burst out laughing at the idea.
Lunchtime was nearly over. Now, what did Shweta want?
“Chicken sandwich”, she said, still laughing. “You want my chicken sandwich?” cried Bobby, happy tears in his eyes.
He couldn’t believe his tummy’s luck. Justice was about to be served. Everyone could have what they wanted, from the other.
Thus, happened the greatest lunch exchange at the elementary school level.
The ‘chicken sandwich-aloo parantha-bisi bele bath-schezwan noodles-appam kadala-egg biriyani-mushroom pasta- besan laddoo-masala dosa-orange’ exchange.
Bobby patted his tummy for having successfully completed the most challenging mission in the lunch history of Vidyaan Elementary School.
Trrrinnnn. The school bell screamed again.
Lunchtime was over. Till the bell sounds again at 1 o’clock tomorrow.
