Ch.2- On The Road
“Everyone in?” Krish asked looking in the back. Five heads nodded obediently with wide smiles. “Awesome. Lets move!” He put his hand on the gearbox and accelerated, while cheers of excitement broke the mundane atmosphere.
Krish was in the driver’s seat, accompanied by Meera to his side, in the passenger seat. Vaani was sandwiched between Kunal and Swayam while Ragini and Sanskaar were in the 3rd row, away from those sitting ahead. Evidently, Krish had no clue of the seating order, otherwise they wouldn’t have had such freedom.
25 minutes after, the car entered on a peaceful highway, shaded in colors of navy blue as the sun began to hide behind the horizon. They had become eerily silent. Krish turned to the side and noticed Meera leaned against the cold window, sleeping.
Looking in the rear view mirror he noticed Vaani was almost on top of Swayam as they listened to music sharing headphones. Kunal had pushed both of them to one side and made space for his kingly sleep. His legs were on top of Vaani’s lap and hands reaching the car floor.
“Kumkaran” Krish sighed. He had no company to entertain him as he drove on the boring and endless road. Or maybe he did. He turned to take a quick look and realized Ragini and Sanskaar were still up doing something.
“Gini you’re not sleeping?” Krish said loud enough so they could hear. Both of them were having an argument on Ragini’s most recent “prank” that she played with their biology teacher in the name of Sanskaar. But they were holding each other’s hands as well, that is, until they heard Krish’s voice. His voice made Sanskaar jerk his arm out of Ragini’s hold, who was kind of used to this treatment.
“I am hungry, lets stop in a while.” Ragini replied to Krish and tried to weave her hands back into Sanskaar’s who was now looking out the window at nothing.
“Sanskaar, you wanna take over the wheel?” Krish said, stopping Ragini unknowingly. She groaned in frustration and moved to the other side of the car, resting her head on the window. Sanskaar saw her sulking and couldn’t help it.
“Krish watch out!!!” He yelled loudly pointing to the front. Krish stomped the brake and leaned forward to see what his friend was pointing to.
“What happened?” Vaani asked.
“Yeah, what’s wrong?” Swayam voiced. Everyone had their full attention in front of the road. Kunal was still asleep but at the edge of the seat, about to fall off.
“You didn’t see? The cat that came under the car.” Sanskaar said worrying.
“Where?” Krish opened the door and went out to check. Swayam was tensed so he got out of the car as well. Meera sat still, looking at the two boys check around the car. Vaani, too tired from her band performance that day, simply went back to sleep.
This was the best time. Sanskaar slid towards Ragini and gave her a back hug. She shrugged him away, and then turned to face him with a poker face. “What do you want?”
“Stop acting like a typical girlfriend Ragini. We already decided to keep this relation all realistic remember?” Sanskaar frustratingly said.
“Right, I should act “realistic”. Whatever that means to you. By the way Sanskaar look that way.” Ragini pointed to the back window so that only his left profile was visible to her. Within a split second a slap landed on his cheeks. Sanskaar was too shocked to say anything, he simply held his left cheek while Ragini grabbed him in a tight hug right after the slap.
“What the..” He couldn’t complete.
“Realistically if a random person sneaked up on me and gave a back hug I would turn around and slap them hard.” She said innocently, still hugging him.
“Random?”
“But after seeing it was my “realistic” boyfriend I would say sorry and give him a hug as redemption.” By now Sanskaar knew this was all to get back at him. But he wasn’t letting it go.
“You!!” Sanskaar pulled Ragini’s hair hard from behind making her scream and break the hug.
“AHH! YOU IDIOT LEAVE!” She scratched at his chest.
Meera who was confused about the scenario she saw before now let out a sigh of relief seeing them fight. She had heard the slap and when she turned around she saw Ragini pushed onto Sanskaar in a hug. They were talking to each other as well, but it was not so audible to her. For a while she lost her voice, dreading the fact that Krish was in plain sight in front of them. For a second she thought Sanskaar and Ragini liked each other, but then seeing them pull each other’s hair she knew she was too quick to judge. Meera turned back to face the front with a small smile.
“Gini! Sanskaar! What the hell are you both doing?!??” Krish howled at the 2 fighting in the back.
“Control this monkey or I will push him out the window!” Ragini moved to the side and started fixing her hair while Sanky looked on fiercely.
“Both of you sit quietly.” Krish headed back to the driver’s seat while Swayam came and sat behind.
“I can’t tolerate this guy anymore” Ragini yelled and got out of the car, standing in the dead silence of the night. By now everyone was awake and alert, of course, with the exception of Kunal. He was still enjoying his beauty sleep.
“Stop behaving like a kid and get back in the car.” Krish said obviously irritated.
“Give me the keys.” Ragini forwarded her hand.
“What? No don’t Krish. Ragini you can’t drive in the dark.” Swayam stated his opinion even before Krish could say a word.
“Excuse me…What do you mean? I am not blind.” Ragini replied.
“Listen its not safe for you to drive on this road at night. Let Krish drive, he’s more experienced.” Swayam tried to reason with her.
“Oh so you are implying just because I am a girl I can’t drive on such roads?” Ragini said picking a fight with him.
“Forget about you being a girl. I am talking about these roads. Look at them, they are filled with potholes and rocks and big trucks. Plus its so dark out here, you might not see what comes in front of you before its too late.” Swayam again tried to make her understand his point of view.
Krish, Vaani, and Meera went back and forth between the two as if watching a tennis match. Sanskaar knew way too well that Ragini wasn’t giving up until she won so he just sat looking out the window, waiting for the fight to end.
“So you’re saying Krish has x-ray vision and he can see what comes in front of him way before I can huh??” Swayam slapped his head while Vaani controlled her laughter…Sanskaar was banging his forehead on the window lightly hearing Ragini.
“Okay both of you just end it. Take the keys.” Krish handed her the car keys and ended the conversation.
Ragini sat in the front and buckled up, putting her left hand on the gear. She turned to her left and said, “Do you mind?” Indirectly asking Meera to sit anywhere but next to her.
“Krish can you come in front. I want to sleep but I think I have an allergy to something around me.” Meera retorted back, giving Ragini a tashan wala look. She wasn’t going to take her rudeness so easily. She tried being nice but some people didn’t understand it that way. Meera took off the belt and headed in the backseat near Sanskaar while Krish moved forward next to his twin.
Ragini pressed the accelerator right after switching gears but braked hard when the car moved straight, almost banging in the metal dividers. 5 high-pitched screams broke through the silent night.
Kunal who had been sleeping peacefully through all the chaos was pushed hard against the seat in front of him when Ragini braked. He woke up rubbing his jaw that pained slightly because of the sudden impact.
“Sorry I thought it was in reverse mode.” Ragini said sheepishly changing gears again to reverse. Everyone looked at her with eyes popped out. Their future wasn’t so bright anymore.
Within a few minutes, they were back on NH48, heading to their destination. Everything was the same, except no one was sleeping anymore. Not even listening to music. All of them, with the exception of Krish, who was admiring the dark shapeless trees outside, had their eyes glued to the front, dreading the driver who they trusted with their lives. Ragini had been driving for over 2 hours and nothing out of the ordinary happened but still they were unable to forget the metal dividers.
“Okay I am stopping at that place. I am verryy hungry.” Ragini pointed to some flickering lights in the distance.
A wave of heavy breathing followed in the backseats. “Jaan main jaan agai” Kunal joked.
“Come on guys. My sister isn’t that bad of a driver.” Krish turned to face his friends. All of them gave him the “yeah-right!” look.
The 7 seven friends got out of their car, dispersing all over the place. The first thing boys did was crowd outside the 1 men’s bathroom the place had. The girls were scavenging for things in the trunk, after which they also headed to the women’s bathroom.
10 minutes later:
Swayam, Krish, and Sanskaar were sitting on a table waiting for the girls to come while Kunal was chit chatting with the dhabba owner who was frying pakoras that Kunal picked up sneakily and munched on.
When the girls came out the first question was, “You guys changed?”
“Yeah, I was feeling cold so I wore this.” Vaani said casually and sat next to Sanskaar.
“So as per that logic, you must be feeling hot right?” Kunal came from behind and put his arm on Ragini’s shoulder.
“No. I want to sleep now so I changed in my pjs.” She said facing him. Both of them were strangely too close to each other which irritated 2 people in the audience. Krish looked awkwardly at his friend waiting for him to take his hands off. Nothing happened. He cleared his throat quiet a few times but still Kunal didn’t understand.
“Are you okay?” Kunal asked him.
“I would be.” Krish said, clenching his jaws and then signaling with his eyes to Kunal’s hand on Ragini’s bare shoulder. Kunal looked to where Krish was pointing and the instant he understood, he took his hand away. Sanskaar relaxed his tensed body. Kunal and Krish shared a forced smile with each other.
“Food’s here guys. Take a seat.” Swayam said behind them to see 2 boys bring in their food.
“Haww no chicken??” Ragini sad with a puppy face scanning the food on the table.
“Yeah, where’s the murgi at?” Kunal seconded.
“Well since some of us don’t eat chicken I thought to order everything vegetarian.” Krish said
“And who’s that some?”
“Meera can’t stand meat, and Sanskaar doesn’t like chicken as much either. Swayam is, as you know, a vegan. So its best we keep chicken off the list today.” Krish explained.
“Too bad…I want to eat chicken.” Ragini demanded.
“Gini why do you have to make things so hard. You always have to argue with people don’t you. Stop behaving like a baby damn it.” Krish was losing his patience with her because of everything that happened so far.
“Too bad. You brought this baby out here and now you have to feed her. And that too food she likes.” Ragini sarcastically replied.
Krish was about to say something when Kunal interrupted, “Okay guys calm down. Let’s do one thing. Ragini and I will take another table. You guys can have the vegetarian food here, we will order chicken separately.”
Everyone hesitantly nodded and they both took seats a few tables away from the group. Vaani was busy in her phone, Sanskaar stared at Ragini without a blink but she was too busy talking to Kunal. Swayam watched his friend melt in jealousy.
Krish tried to focus on the food but couldn’t help glancing at the 2 once in a while to find them in a deep conversation. Every time he looked up Meera would divert his attention back to the food. At one point Kunal looked back to find him staring, he passed a friendly smile to Krish, who smiled back, assured everything was normal.
Kunal-Ragini’s table: (Both of them don’t know each other as much since Ragini and Krish’s friend groups have always been different)
“Sorry about that.”
“Hmm?” Kunal turned to her wondering what the sorry was for.
“Krish. He can be over-bearing sometimes.” Ragini said looking at her brother who was now busy feeding the girl next to him. “Ughh, I feel like puking when I see them.”
“Is it them, or the things they do?” Kunal asked curious.
“Its just too much…I mean feeding each other?? Who in the right mind does that?”
“Your brother.” Kunal laughed
“As if I don’t know that.” She rolled her eyes.
The server came with their food, chicken tandoori, chicken tikka, and some rice on the side. A huge smile came across Ragini’s face while Kunal just drooled looking at the food. After the server left both of them looked at each other eagerly as if having a staring contest. Sanskaar watched them closely. They began to count.
“Okay, on the count of 3. Ready?” Ragini asked.
“Yea.” Kunal said. They had both their hands up in the air and waiting for the countdown.
“Three…two…o-” She was almost done with the count when a figure appeared at their table.
“What’s happening here?” Sanskaar asked innocently looking at the food.
“What the hell do you want?” Ragini scowled at him.
“Chicken.”
“Whatever. Ruined the whole thing. Let’s just eat, forget the count Kunal.” Ragini said. Kunal was a bit surprised to see the two of them act like this.
“This is amazing!!” Kunal couldn’t stop admiring the chicken tikka he had. Sanskaar on the other hand played with the piece of chicken in his plate.
“Forget that and taste this. You will go to heaven.” Ragini said serving a tandoori in Kunal’s plate. But he just stared at her after hearing her words.
“I mean it in a good way.” She clarified giving a smile. Kunal smiled back and was about to pick up the chicken when Sanskaar’s hand invaded the plate and took away the tandoori.
“What the–” Kunal stared at Sanskaar chewing like an animal at the meat.
“Mmm amazing!” Sanskaar said in between bites while the other two watched him wide eyed. The other group was also alerted by his weird actions. Ragini shook her head and decided to give the tandoori in her plate to Kunal to taste. But as she was passing it to him, Sanskaar snatched that as well.
“Are you crazy?” Ragini stood up.
“What? I like chicken.” Sanskaar said taking a bite. He was coughing every time he tried to gulp the meat down.
“Do whatever you 2 want. I don’t want anyone to come in between me and my murgi. I am moving.” Kunal picked up his plate and was about to move.
“Okay fine. But before going taste this at least. You would loveee it.” Ragini said grinning. She held a red pepper out to him who looked at in disbelievingly.
“Ohh more chicken. I would love it too.” Without a second thought and not giving it a good look Sanskaar grabbed the pepper and tossed it in his mouth. Seconds later his whole face turned red and he shot up grabbing the jug of water. “Hot hot hot!!!”
The place split into laughter. Kunal sat back in his seat enjoying the chicken still left. Vaani walked to them, “Another jug of water from your well-wishers.” She then joined their table and picked up a chicken piece as well.
Soon after, the other 3 came across to their table. Meera sat in the seat furthest away from the chicken while Swayam enjoyed his butterless naan and sabzi. Krish also decided to have some chicken from Kunal’s plate who pouted again as someone else eyed his food.
The whole group enjoyed their food together, laughing and joking. Sanskaar was still running around asking the cook for some sugar and milk. Afterwards he came back and finished his food, staying away from chicken and any peppers he saw in front of him. As they were getting ready to leave Sanskaar pulled Ragini’s hair slyly without anyone noticing, or so he thought.
“OUCH!” Ragini held her head starring him down.
“Sanskaar watch it!” Krish warned, and then looked at Ragini too, giving her the “you-are-no-better” look.
“Tell that to your sister. Billi kahiki.” Sanskaar snorted. Ragini stuck her tongue out at him and he acted as if he would punch her.
“They are never going to change. Guys lets go.” Vaani said moving to their car.
Everyone got back in the car and the seating order was slightly changed with Swayam taking over the wheel this time and Krish next to him. Meera was sitting with Kunal and Vaani in the middle while Sanskaar and Ragini sat in the far back.
Swayam glanced at them from the rear view mirror. Weird enough, Ragini slept with her head rested on Sanskaar’s shoulder, who held her in place with his hand to her side. They looked so peaceful and like an ideal couple, but that’s precisely what they weren’t. Swayam couldn’t help but wonder what their relationship actually was.
Swayam started the car, heading back on to NH48, as everyone in the back slept silently. Krish turned on the radio.
We were staying in Paris
To get away from your parents
And I thought, “Wow, if I could take this in a shot right now
I don’t think that we could work this out.”
Out on the terrace
I don’t know if it’s fair but I thought, “How could I let you fall by yourself
While I’m wasted with someone else?”
If we go down then we go down together
They’ll say you could do anything
They’ll say that I was clever
If we go down then we go down together
We’ll get away with everything
Let’s show them we are better
Let’s show them we are better
Let’s show them we are better
EL FIN!
I didn’t have any of these scenes planned…All of them are spontaneous lol…I hope you guys like it. I know its a bit repetitive with the constant fights but the story will move ahead soon. Do share your views on this 🙂
Vote, comment, and follow peeps :*
-Ruch <3 (LonelinessAbides)