Another day in paradise

There is nothing like a sea-side breeze to make your belly rumble. It was a sunny Saturday; Saif and I were driving on the highway Cabrillo, alongside the coastline. We stopped and rambled at three beaches and passed by a dozen more. The view was breath taking with green pastures on one side and the bluish-green ocean on the other. Each beach would be unique in its brand of beauty. Sometimes the water would be calm and languorous, like a woman sea- bathing; sometimes sparkly and the waves light and frothy like the laughter of a lady who had too much champagne... While some other place the waves would lash at the beach with bitter venom...like a wife wronged. Oh! Did I forget to mention that the weather, which was sunny when we started out, turned suddenly misty and overcast by late afternoon?

All in all we had a great day...and we both were discussing whether to have a hot chocolate drink or eat something more filling. As we were approaching Santa Cruz, we saw a chain of small roadside inns…and we decided to put an end to the rumbling in our bellies.

So there we were, in front of an inn called “Davenport Roadhouse”- a brick red building with an ocean view. The interiors were beautiful with everything set in a rich and warm tone. They were not open to server dinner to their customers yet and I saw a lot of people waiting. Saif suggested that we check out some other place but I was already enthralled with the place. Moreover they had many veggie options, which in the US is a rarity! So we waited half an hr for them to open and finally the lady led us to a beautiful table with a candle lit at the centre of it. The menu looked appetizing and then a guy walked over and said “I am sorry for the delay..my servers didn’t turn up. Please bear with us”. He looked so worried we actually discussed his chances of having a coronary. We placed our orders and we waited. As usual, Saif was busy checking out the waitresses. He was particularly fascinated with our server... a white swan he called her… especially since all the other ones were dressed in black.

The lady who sat across the hall was giving me “the ‘you don’t belong here ‘look”. Every few minutes she would turn to look at us….

There were around four people serving and around 10-12 tables. We saw them serving our nearby tables with exotic looking dishes and our mouths were watering.

It was only after half an hour that we realized we were being ignored! By now Saif looked like a kid which didn’t get a chocolate when all other kids did. We looked around to see that we were the only “non-whites” in that place.

We spoke about Martin Luther King and how it would be if suddenly I stood up on the table and start “I have a dream!” We spoke about “Crash”-the movie. It was not that they called us mean names or spit on us. The attitude to look down on you is so subtle….that you don’t actually realize it for a long time. And you never know how it feels to be the object of such discrimination till it happens to you!

I also think we should have walked out or done something. Well, we sat there making fun of all the white faces around and well…And back of your mind there is a voice which says “This can’t be happening to ME! Of course I am jumping into the wrong conclusions! What’s about me that someone is goaded to discrimination? Discrimination is something which happens to others-not ME!”

We waited for an hour after which we were served. The food was excellent.

They came very close to spoiling an almost perfect day for us. Hope they realize that there is more to living than feeling smug about one’s skin tone and next time around we have the sense to walk out. Amen.

PS: Saif says that they can discriminate all they want as the waitresses were worth having your self respect trampled over.