“LET’S go,” she said to me as soon as the commercial ended. And though hesitant at first, I got up anyway. After all, who would miss an opportunity to try free food that was being advertised on the television!

So we jumped in the car and drove towards the restaurant. The commercial of the food sounded tempting and said the place offered hot, crisp fast food, salads and drinks at the best service possible. And as the restaurant had just opened up, the food was free on its first day, which was today.

As Sara, my best friend, drove to the restaurant, I kept on imagining myself swimming in a pool of cheesy pizza and ketchup with French fries showering from above and chilled, refreshing waterfall of soft drinks nearby.

“You okay?” Sara’s voice touched my ears and I came back to my senses, when the car came to a halt in front of what looked like a small building with a smaller parking space.

‘It looked a lot bigger in the ad,’ I thought to myself. But who doesn’t exaggerate in commercials and besides, there was little time to think so I jumped out of the car as Sara followed. By the time we reached the entrance, the aroma of food being cooked, grilled and fried entered my nostrils and dazzled my mind. Sara shared the feeling and we entered.

We were surprised to find the place so crowded with people that there was hardly any place to stand! The furniture looked old and shabby and the paintings on the walls kind of scared us. But who cared!

Sara soon found two chairs for us in a corner and we had to settle down in what was a perfect place for mosquitoes and houseflies to thrive in. But the message my stomach gave me now was too hard to ignore so I kept my mouth shut.

Not long after we settled, an unusually tall and obese person with a stern look and unkempt hair came towards us.

“Do you suppose he is a beggar?” Sara whispered to me.

“I hope not!” was all I could mutter, and before we could exchange any more views, a cold, harsh voice said, “What do you want?”

We stared at this giant standing in front of us, mouths open, eyes bulging, when we realised he was a waiter. But Sara, being her normal carefree self, was already ordering pizza, fries and coke.

After a while, the food presented to us came as a shock; stale fries, a rubbery pizza with a topping of what looked like burnt vegetable and just a couple of chicken pieces that also looked burnt. Perhaps the restaurant’s idea of a pizza was one with little or no cheese.

Two half-filled paper cups with extremely sweet ‘pseudo coke’ accompanied the food. Sara looked at me, disappointed, we absolutely had no words, but as our tummies were in no mood to do anything but fill up, we started our ‘free meal’. Being the gluttonous foodies we were, we cleared all the plates, even the burnt ingredients and overly sweet ‘pseudo coke’. A filled stomach told us to leave immediately and we got up. However, out of nowhere, the same ‘giant’ man blocked our way.

“You there, pay your bill!” he said quite loudly.

Bill? Who would’ve thought of that? Sara tried to remind him of what was claimed over the television, everything about free food and those offers, but he said that they have cut down the time for free meal from a full day to the first few hours and that offer had now ended.

We knew it had all been a lie, as there were other people also fighting over the same payment issue. We paid our bill (which was way too high compared to the food quality), left the place in haste but with a heavy heart and resolved to never believe in TV ads again.

Oh! And the stomach ache we got after that unhygienic food we consumed, well let’s not dig out old wounds.