Disclaimer - All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Contd...
(Back in Delhi)
The sun was out. It was a bright morning. Tanya’s parents were trying to call her since morning. Her grandmother had passed away late in night. She was just 62. She died under mysterious circumstances. She had perfect health conditions till last evening, with no past history of any illness. But there was a huge reddish blue mark on her forehead, just above her left eye. It looked as if she fell on a huge rock, or someone had hit her with a large stone. But any such possibilities were remote. Tanya’s parents wanted her to come back home from college hostel immediately. The body could be cremated only after Tanya had come back. Her mom was restless. She had called her friends in hostel, but all of them made excuses. She was already quite perturbed by the untimely demise of her mother in law. And the tension mounted because of Tanya’s unanswered calls. Never before had Tanya left her phone unanswered for this long.
Tanya’s roommate, Richa had no idea about her whereabouts. She knew that she was out for celebrating Gaurav’s birthday, but nothing else. She was unable to reach either Tanya or Gaurav. Richa was worried for her, and even more for the excuses that she made to Tanya’s mom. The cat had to come out of the bag someday. But she did not want to take the responsibility for doing it. She left messages for Tanya about the death of her grandmother. Tanya’s parents were already disturbed with the events at their home. Tanya’s disappearance took a backseat for them. Police were already investigating the root cause for the death. Nothing sufficed.
(Middle of nowhere)
Everyone was panic stricken. More than 2 hours had passed and there were no signs of Tanya. Aditi had calmed down. Mayank still couldn’t find a way to get the GPS working. Sachin and Gaurav left for a search down the slope. Rohit tried to recollect the events along with Riya. All four were inside the vehicle as it poured outside. Mayank served some snacks to everyone. The engine was not working. Mayank tried hard to start the vehicle, but to no avail. Aditi had to answer the nature’s call. She had been holding on for too long now. Rohit offered his sweatshirt to deny rain any chance of drenching her. Riya accompanied her to the bushes. It was raining heavily. Aditi went behind the nearby bushes and Riya stood just beside her, around ten meters away from the Scorpio. Inadvertently, Riya’s gaze fell upon a snake. It was near to the bushes and coming towards them. It was a huge snake, with pale brown skin glistening with drops of water. Riya screamed out to Aditi and she stumbled her way back to other side of bushes. The cold blooded brown reptile coiled itself beneath the bushes. Aditi realized that there were more snakes around. Another one writhed through the bushes and climbed up a tree. This one was a smaller version of the same species. Riya looked on the other side of the tree which was completely immersed in water. She could locate at least a dozen of reptiles, mostly snakes, trying to wriggle out and come towards the higher elevation. Both of them ran towards their vehicle and got inside. They breathed a sigh of relief.
Mayank took out his Nikon SLR and rolled down the windows from his side. He zoomed upon the location as mentioned by girls about the snakes. True to their words, he spotted around ten snakes coiled and squirming, various sizes and colors. It was truly fascinating to an avid photographer like Mayank. He clicked various snaps. It was a feast to his camera. Aditi enquired whereabouts of Tanya, and what may have happened to her. “What if some snake bit her?” she whispered. Rohit ignored her and was wondering why Sachin and Gaurav were not back yet? He asked Mayank to take care of the girls and went downhill to look for clues. Riya insisted she would go along with him. He obliged. Aditi forced Mayank to roll up the windows. Mayank resisted as he was clicking snaps. At last Aditi managed to convince him. She asked Mayank what he thought of the place they were stuck in. She assumed Mayank being a regular traveler must know something about the place. Mayank expressed his sorrow for inadequate knowledge of the place, but assured her that everything would be alright. Aditi again broke down. Mayank hugged her to make her feel comfortable and safe. She felt better. But she was still weeping. Tanya was missing, and doubts were mounting about her well-being. It made her feel insecure about the place. The place had an eerie look about it. It was quite creepy. And all the snakes around because of incessant rains made the matter worse. How she wished everything could get back normal.
Downhill by the stream, Gaurav had found Tanya, albeit unconscious. She was lying beside the stream. All drenched in mud and water. Her clothes were filthy and bit torn. Sachin noticed some scratches on her arm. They tried waking her up. Gaurav shook her vigorously but in vain. He feared for the worst. Sachin calmed him and checked her pulse. Tanya was just unconscious, he affirmed. He decided to carry her back to the vehicle. “No, rather we would get everyone down, to the riverside” Gaurav intervened. Sachin seconded, since this place was far calmer. There were no slopes, or slippery muddy tracks. Monstrous trees with their wild residents were distant. And it seemed to be a good picnic spot. Gaurav stayed back with Tanya, and Sachin hiked back to the rest of the group. Gaurav took out his handkerchief and started wiping Tanya’s face. He removed her hair from her forehead. He was taken aback by the huge reddish blue mark on her forehead, just above her left eye. It looked as if she fell on a huge rock. He took out the bottle and poured water in her mouth. Tanya coughed, and it brought a huge relief on Gaurav’s face. Tanya regained her consciousness. Gaurav was delighted. Tanya mumbled with great pain, “Grandma, Grandma…Come back!!”
(to be continued)
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The Trip - Ch 1 - Road to Nainital
Disclaimer - All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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It was the last day before the extended weekend. Rohit and Sachin had made plans for the weekend for celebrating their best friend’s birthday. They were supposed to leave for Nanital by 8 pm after picking Mayank, Aditi and Riya. Gaurav was getting his Scorpio along with his girl Tanya. It was Wednesday. All of them, except Tanya, belonged to a huge software firm in Gurgaon. They took a leave on Thursday as Friday was a holiday. Tanya was still in college final year doing her Computers. She bunked her college. She did not even tell her parents about the trip. They would have refused outright, that too when no one from her college was going along. It was Gaurav’s 25th birthday. His friends had planned to celebrate in the picturesque hill station of Nanital. All of them were on board by 7 pm. They reached the highway after crossing the crowded roads of Delhi in another couple of hours.
Around 11 pm, they halted at a road side dhaba to have dinner. Rohit picked up some bottles of beer and whisky, and vodka for girls hey all got a little high after a couple of drinks and then, had a sumptuous meal. Since Gaurav was driving, everyone made sure he did not drink much. However, Mayank being a teetotaler was always an alternative. They started their journey around midnight with Gaurav at the wheels and Tanya sitting beside him. Aditi and Riya were sitting in middle, while rest of the guys took the rear seats. Loud music was playing inside the SUV. The mood was merry. The guys sans Mayank were gulping down their beers, even on move, including Gaurav. Tanya tried to convince to be easy on drinking. Mayank asked Gaurav to let him drive, but he did not budge from seat.
They had already approached the valley road. The hairpin bends in road were beginning to take precedence over the straight 2 lane highway. The night was dark and chilly. It was late December. It was around 3 am in morning. Thick clouds of fog had descended on the road. Visibility was reduced to almost 5 meters. Rohit and Sachin had passed out drunk in the rear seat. Even Mayank had fallen asleep. Girls were asleep too, except Riya, who was hooked to her I-pod in a semi-slumber state. Gaurav was dozy. His eyes were red. But he concentrated on the road. Heavy vehicles were seen on the road, but rarely. Tanya had been keeping up with him, talking to him till a half hour ago. But now he was on his own, driving his father’s brand new Scorpio. All his friends were asleep or passed out.
Gaurav was struggling with his sleep. An unerring desire to shut his eye lids was being fought. He decided to roll down his window a bit, so the chilly winter air could keep him awake.
He had a sudden urge to pee. But he did not find any suitable location to stop the car. After crossing few more hairpin bends, and struggling continuously with his siesta and nature’s call for releasing all the beer inside him, he decided to park the vehicle at one of the bends. Atop the cliff he parked the vehicle on side and put on the parking lights. He tried to wake up Tanya but of no use. He climbed out of the vehicle and strolled towards the bushes. He stopped with a jerk when he realized the deep valley on the other side of the bushes. He thought, “Definitely more than 1000 feet”. He felt his knees weaken. But the sight was beautiful. He was above the clouds, several layers of cloud. Gaurav was lost in the sheer magnificence of the moment, the place.
‘Gauraaaav’ …. (Scream, screech..) Riya shouted on top of her voice, ‘Look out’. Gaurav was startled. He was holding the wheel, still inside the car. He realized he was dreaming about the deep valley beneath him, next to bushes. All he could see was the vehicle running down the slope with huge thick green bushes slapping on the windscreen. Tanya also got up and was puzzled. The vehicle was going downhill, albeit slowly. Mud was splashed across the windows. It was raining heavily. Nothing was visible. Mayank was awake by now and he made his way till front climbing over the still asleep Aditi. Gaurav was terrified by fear. He was dumbstruck. Mayank yelled at him to put the brakes. Gaurav obliged. There was a huge thud. Their vehicle had crashed into a huge tree trunk. Rest of them were slowly getting up. They were still not aware of the developments. It was raining profusely. The temperature might have been around zero degrees Celsius. It was freezing outside. Mayank got outside first, followed by Gaurav. They were in the middle of nowhere. Huge trees, muddy ground, sound of insects, water running across the hills and the greyness of early morning. Mayank took out his phone to find out their location on his GPS. There were no signals. Meanwhile Aditi started sobbing and Riya tried consoling her. Everyone started looking for signals in their phone. There were none to be. Sachin started yelling at Gaurav for his negligence in driving. He reciprocated. It would have been a huge altercation had Rohit not intervened. Mayank was still harassing his cellphone for signals. Riya scoffed at Gaurav for not letting Mayank drive. Things would have turned ugly when someone realized that Tanya was not to be seen. They quickly checked inside the vehicle. She was not there. They shouted her name. No response. Riya found her phone lying in mud nearby. The rain had stopped. Sun started to peek through the hills and clouds. But the sudden disappearance of Tanya had worsened matters. Aditi was most scared and was howling now. The start to a wonderful trip had turned sour. There were more questions than answers. And the biggest one was – Where are we? Though ‘Where is Tanya’ was the higher priority.
-- to be continued...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was the last day before the extended weekend. Rohit and Sachin had made plans for the weekend for celebrating their best friend’s birthday. They were supposed to leave for Nanital by 8 pm after picking Mayank, Aditi and Riya. Gaurav was getting his Scorpio along with his girl Tanya. It was Wednesday. All of them, except Tanya, belonged to a huge software firm in Gurgaon. They took a leave on Thursday as Friday was a holiday. Tanya was still in college final year doing her Computers. She bunked her college. She did not even tell her parents about the trip. They would have refused outright, that too when no one from her college was going along. It was Gaurav’s 25th birthday. His friends had planned to celebrate in the picturesque hill station of Nanital. All of them were on board by 7 pm. They reached the highway after crossing the crowded roads of Delhi in another couple of hours.
Around 11 pm, they halted at a road side dhaba to have dinner. Rohit picked up some bottles of beer and whisky, and vodka for girls hey all got a little high after a couple of drinks and then, had a sumptuous meal. Since Gaurav was driving, everyone made sure he did not drink much. However, Mayank being a teetotaler was always an alternative. They started their journey around midnight with Gaurav at the wheels and Tanya sitting beside him. Aditi and Riya were sitting in middle, while rest of the guys took the rear seats. Loud music was playing inside the SUV. The mood was merry. The guys sans Mayank were gulping down their beers, even on move, including Gaurav. Tanya tried to convince to be easy on drinking. Mayank asked Gaurav to let him drive, but he did not budge from seat.
They had already approached the valley road. The hairpin bends in road were beginning to take precedence over the straight 2 lane highway. The night was dark and chilly. It was late December. It was around 3 am in morning. Thick clouds of fog had descended on the road. Visibility was reduced to almost 5 meters. Rohit and Sachin had passed out drunk in the rear seat. Even Mayank had fallen asleep. Girls were asleep too, except Riya, who was hooked to her I-pod in a semi-slumber state. Gaurav was dozy. His eyes were red. But he concentrated on the road. Heavy vehicles were seen on the road, but rarely. Tanya had been keeping up with him, talking to him till a half hour ago. But now he was on his own, driving his father’s brand new Scorpio. All his friends were asleep or passed out.
Gaurav was struggling with his sleep. An unerring desire to shut his eye lids was being fought. He decided to roll down his window a bit, so the chilly winter air could keep him awake.
He had a sudden urge to pee. But he did not find any suitable location to stop the car. After crossing few more hairpin bends, and struggling continuously with his siesta and nature’s call for releasing all the beer inside him, he decided to park the vehicle at one of the bends. Atop the cliff he parked the vehicle on side and put on the parking lights. He tried to wake up Tanya but of no use. He climbed out of the vehicle and strolled towards the bushes. He stopped with a jerk when he realized the deep valley on the other side of the bushes. He thought, “Definitely more than 1000 feet”. He felt his knees weaken. But the sight was beautiful. He was above the clouds, several layers of cloud. Gaurav was lost in the sheer magnificence of the moment, the place.
‘Gauraaaav’ …. (Scream, screech..) Riya shouted on top of her voice, ‘Look out’. Gaurav was startled. He was holding the wheel, still inside the car. He realized he was dreaming about the deep valley beneath him, next to bushes. All he could see was the vehicle running down the slope with huge thick green bushes slapping on the windscreen. Tanya also got up and was puzzled. The vehicle was going downhill, albeit slowly. Mud was splashed across the windows. It was raining heavily. Nothing was visible. Mayank was awake by now and he made his way till front climbing over the still asleep Aditi. Gaurav was terrified by fear. He was dumbstruck. Mayank yelled at him to put the brakes. Gaurav obliged. There was a huge thud. Their vehicle had crashed into a huge tree trunk. Rest of them were slowly getting up. They were still not aware of the developments. It was raining profusely. The temperature might have been around zero degrees Celsius. It was freezing outside. Mayank got outside first, followed by Gaurav. They were in the middle of nowhere. Huge trees, muddy ground, sound of insects, water running across the hills and the greyness of early morning. Mayank took out his phone to find out their location on his GPS. There were no signals. Meanwhile Aditi started sobbing and Riya tried consoling her. Everyone started looking for signals in their phone. There were none to be. Sachin started yelling at Gaurav for his negligence in driving. He reciprocated. It would have been a huge altercation had Rohit not intervened. Mayank was still harassing his cellphone for signals. Riya scoffed at Gaurav for not letting Mayank drive. Things would have turned ugly when someone realized that Tanya was not to be seen. They quickly checked inside the vehicle. She was not there. They shouted her name. No response. Riya found her phone lying in mud nearby. The rain had stopped. Sun started to peek through the hills and clouds. But the sudden disappearance of Tanya had worsened matters. Aditi was most scared and was howling now. The start to a wonderful trip had turned sour. There were more questions than answers. And the biggest one was – Where are we? Though ‘Where is Tanya’ was the higher priority.
-- to be continued...
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