Waking up at 3
The best thing about having alarms is, you get up just before it’s about to go off. I woke up at 2:58… and I heard neelam knocking on the door... and coming in. But it was still 2:58.. at about 3:00, I heard a knock and there she was. I felt like Déjà vu. Or like Nicholas cage from the movie ‘next’. It has happened to me several times. I lazed around the bed and flicked on the television with the remote control. Half an hour passed and I was still not ready. Neelam was pacing around the rooms like a stern warden from a hostel. Asking us to get out of the bed and getting dressed asap. Finally, after ashutosh had his bath, I went on to get ready.

Neeharika and neelam, both were in traditional attires. For me, neha is like just a plain girl. I mean, I never saw her anything beyond that, and occasionally get surprised when she dresses up real good and looks like a lady. Neelam on the other hand, since I had this thing for her, looked real beautiful. But I would have still preferred her in western clothes. She reminded me of those aunties who do puja path daily and never missed the routine temple darshan. Perhaps ashutosh was looking the best.

VIP Darshan (or so it was claimed)
Finally, we all walked out at 4:06 AM towards the mandir. As neha had a VIP pass, I was assuming we would just go through some door and get the darshan done quickly. To my amusement, we stood in a line that consisted of about 150 people. After 25 mins of standing confused, a family barged through all of us to head further inside. Ashutosh was the first one to ask them why they were not going through the line, for which the man replied “I got a pass”. Well, he said it. We all had passes. So we too followed suit, when the realization dawned that everyone standing there had a pass!

In no time, the gates opened and we were let in. once inside, the ritual began and it went on and on and on. After 30 mins of being inside, I and ashutosh were both tired. But then look at these females. They were praying away to glory with closed eyes. I was amused to look at them. At one time I felt, females do so much in life. And for the sheer ability to give birth, they must be treated with great respect. Our patience ran out and we tried getting out. But guess what! The gates were closed. We had to wait till the entire process was over. We tried our best to get out
from other exit doors but with the same fate. Either there were group of people squatting on the floor or scores of them stuck at the doors for a glimpse of Shri sai baba aarti. We gave in finally and quietly stood back in the line. After 10 minutes we were out.

Ashutosh – Aspiring sales professional.
While we stood on some other queue’s for darshan, ashutosh suddenly realized that the Rs.10/- he invested in the bunch of postcard pics was not really desired. So he got out of the line and started selling the same to people standing behind. He looked too decent to be shoed away, so people either smiled or looked in surprise. Finally, after asking 15 or 20 people, Ashutosh returned with the cards still in his hands! I guess he could have really tried telling them that he needed funds for his sales school :p

But while he was at it, I couldn’t help but remember the pranks we played long back in college; Like selling a packet of condoms screaming ‘le lo le lo…50p ka Ek, 5 rupiya ka packet’ in a crowded local train to posing as a Ticket collector and catching 20 people traveling without ticket. One person who could top it all was Ritesh nair. At that moment all I could see was the image of Ritesh walking down the line and selling that bunch of cards.

And do you remember that prank, where Amit jaikar posed as a blind man and only asked help from beautiful women to reach a platform. When they helped him, he would remove his goggles and say “thank you” and walk away. Hmmm…

Coming back to ashutosh, that was not all. Once he realized that he needed to do better, he abruptly got out of the line and started policing it saying “line mein khade raho…”. I found it more amusing than selling those cards. And what was I doing all the time…? Hehehe… I was obviously helping neelam hold a torn plastic cover with all the Prasad in them. She had semi wet hair that fell on her bare shoulders. What made me wonder was, the back area being so sensitive, how could she not feel ticklish with all that wet hair falling over it? It would have given
me a high. Sometimes I feel that women kinda get those arousals just by shaking their heads and feeling those hairs go gently behind their backs.

Vada Pav
Hmm.. I would mention it because our most cheerful lady, Neha had this desire to eat vada pav. She was like a kid “mujhe vada pav khana hai”, that made me feel like getting a vada pav even from Mumbai if required. Luckily there was a stall that saved all that pain. So while we all opted for it, Neetu darling asked for ‘Pohe’. Something that Neelam calls as ‘flat rice’ from an incident where her ex tried explaining Pohe to her. (did I say ex… well… given the number of calls she takes from him, I would say it would definitely take quite sometime to label him as that. Maybe I just wanted to say this.) So we all kinda shared Pohe and vada pav. Some of us also had a lassi before retiring to our guest rooms.

Hit the road!
It was almost 10 AM and we thought it was best to push off before it was too late to reach Lonavla. We checked out from our rooms when Neelam came back with the cap she gave me and said that she would not give it if I cared so less about it. Well, I was kinda embarrassed as it completely skipped my mind. Men. Why were they such buffoons?

We hit the road finally. After riding for like ages, we asked harish to stop at a beautiful road view. All got out except neelam. I could see her shadow from the glass windows. She climbed onto the front and settled there with her pillow. Neetu was as usual dancing like her usual self. Neha and Ashutosh clicked a few pictures here and there. The scene was beautiful. We were standing directly above an old house. Rather, it was a small village that had houses made from mud and roof from hay, spread across the barren farm. I could not help thinking what they did in rains. How did they manage to not get wet? I switched on my mobile and received a few calls. Since the land was so inviting, I threw a few rocks as far as I could. I loved the entire glow of the place from the afternoon sun. Finally we went back. Since neelam had settled herself like a lazy cat and sprawled herself on the seat, I had no option but to take the back seat. I half wished to sit beside her and look at her lovely sharp eyes. They were so clear and white. I mean they have this look that makes you feel it’s so sharp and clean. But I didn’t have the heart to ask neha and ashutosh to settle back. Besides he was having a back problem.

So there I was, at the back seat, wondering if my stomach would churn or not.

Truth and Truth
Now this could have been the ugliest part of the day. We all had our own thoughts and certainly wished to read each others mind. At a dhaba where we stopped for food, we decided to play Truth and Truth. Before we started playing we placed our orders and sat in… damn… what do they call it as…’chaarpai’? Well, like “flat rice” explanation style, it is a kind of frame of bed woven with threaded ropes. Jesus. Kitna sada hua description tha. Hehe.

What ever. I wanted to pee and went along the way that pointed towards the loo. There, I saw a deranged but a harmless man figuring out the best way to hold his pants. As neha and neelam were standing there, I thought best to let them get fresh before I relieved myself.

Back on the ‘chaarpai’, we started the game. There were many questions but the ones I asked most were directed from the present trip. To give you a background; Ashutosh and neha share a kind of chemistry that can tell even a blind man that they gel well. I and neelam have zero chemistry but I try to be extra smart at times by giving her that blank look that could even freeze a walking zombie and make him think hard.

One of the questions I asked ashutosh was about his last love to which he replied ‘preeti’. Well. All I cared was that neha heard it. It so happens that you may not be always comfortable talking a few things. I thought since I did not have anything to lose, let me be a bit nasty if given a chance with more ugly questions. Half way, neha asked neelam ‘what is the kind of intimacy that you shared with santosh?’. With the question, my spirits sank. Well. Now don’t think anything. I suddenly could see both of them hugging and kissing each other. It killed my appetite. She said “nothing, we just hugged”. I didn’t believe her entirely if you ask me.

Then bloody neha asked me “is there something you want to tell neelam in this trip”. Gulp. Why the hell. One side of mine wanted to kiss her gentle lips. The other wanted to hold her hands and talk for hours. What would I say? I chose the safer way out. “That…. She is cute…!” Ahem. I half hoped somebody would spin the damn mobile and move on further. But the real shocker (for neelam) was when Neetu darling mentioned… that she was proposed to by a guy named ‘Rishit’. Now what was so shocking about it. I would have been surprised if she had said “No, I only like to study”. Thank god she was normal. As an elder sister, I guess it was a bit difficult for neelam to accept it and move on. She needed some time for that fact to sink in.

By the time we ended it abruptly and continued our food, neha managed (we would like to say so just to irritate her) to break the cot. Yes! Cot.. that’s what they call it in English. Dekha. Abhi yaad aaya. Yeah, so the cot had some issues which was fixed by some dhaba guy. The game left me kinda sucked out of life. Ofcourse I was not in love, but you know how it is. You want to believe you are in love. So, I slowly started getting quieter. I decided not to really start getting carried away.