CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Dear Pari,
Yesterday we had been to an exhibition where Khushi had been presenting her designs that she made for some client. I had no idea that it was an ancient art exhibit. There I met someone who reminded me of you. Her name is Anjani. She’s just like you bold and confident. You’d be happy to know that we are really good friends now.
Khushi had invited her to join us for dinner and we had a great time. I missed you there although. She constantly reminded me about your presence. But it’s fine. I have controlled my depression and would wait for you to come back. I have so much to share with you that I haven’t been able to write in these letters. I know somewhere you’re reading them. But it’s really long for you to be mad at me. I have decided that if you don’t reply me soon I am not going to write you anymore. You can’t be mean to me now! You know I can’t tolerate you not talking to me at all.
Apart from that you know Anjani invited me to join her in trek to fort. I have to hurry up as she wants to click a picture as the sunrises from the hills. It’d be great view from the fort top I am assured. Hence i won’t be writing too much today. Will tell you how did it go and will send the clicked pic from the forts as well.
Yours,
Jay
Jay finishes writing his letter quickly and hits the send button. He opens the almirah and picks up a bright orange shirt and pairs it with blue denims. He quickly gets ready and heads downstairs. It was pretty dark in the morning as sunrises are usually quite late during winters. He gets into the car and drives out. It was pretty chilly morning and it was dark still. He pulls up in front of Anjani’s house and calls her phone. Jay looks as the call gets cancelled and gate opens. A slender figure comes into picture in pyjamas. She was wearing a white tee and black track pyjamas paired with white trekking shoes beneath. Her hair was up in a thick messy bun which rocked sideways as she jogged towards his car.
She smiles at him as she sits beside him on the passenger seat and closes the door. “Good morning!” She chirps in a sweet voice as she puts her duffle bag on the seat behind. “Good morning! So shall we?” Jay replies back with a smile as she nods and they head off. The fort was quite easy to reach from their place. It took them around half an hour drive to reach and the base of the mountain. The fort was on the top, hence it was quite a little trek to their way up.
“Let’s go quick!” She gets out of the car, swinging her duffle bag across her shoulders. “Yes, I had no idea that we had to trek this early in the morning.” Jay looks at his shirt and pants. “Haha! Yes, I can see that” Anjani lets out a chuckle as she checks Jay out. “Well but I must say you are quite an eye candy today.” She winks and grabs his hand pulling him towards the mountain. She jogs ahead as it was a pretty low inclined trek. She flashed torch at his face and laughed as he tried to chase her up towards the fort. By the time Jay reached at the top he was pretty much out of breath and panting while she was looking at him with hands resting at her waist. The sun was now about to rise as there were streaks of orange and yellow visible in the sky. The fort was more of a ruin left years back. It was quite abandoned and old. It felt as if hardly anyone used to visit it. “You need to workout more often handsome.” She winks at him before turning towards the sun rising from the mountains. She opens up her duffle bag and places her tripod carefully. She sets her camera quickly and takes a few shots. Jay decides to take a timelapse while being there as it was really beautiful. He pulls out his phone and starts recording a timelapse.
The sun was quite up now in the sky as she gets her camera off the tripod. She places her tripod back in her bag. She show’s Jay the breathtaking shots she had captured. She’s really good at this. Jay wonders as he continues to glance through the shots she’d taken. “Aren’t they really beautiful?” She smiles brightly as she places the camera back in the bag. “Yes, they are splendid.” “Show me the ones you clicked.” “Me? Well I made a timelapse. Here…” Jay shows her the timelapse he had recorded. “Its beautiful Jay!” She jumps in excitement and hugs him with one arm. “You know what’s so special about this place?” She walks towards the fort wall resting her hands on the stone wall. “It belonged to some important king?” Jay stands beside her. “No, I used to come with baba when I was a kid. We often used to hike up here and have a little breakfast picnic.”
“You must be really attached with this place.”
“Yeah, it's quite close to my heart. It had been very long time I had hiked up here. Yesterday, you made me feel special and hence I felt like I should welcome you to my world.* She comes closer and stares in his eyes. “ I don't know how you feel about me but I really wanna spend more time with you.” As Jay was about to speak she places finger on his lips. “Shh… I don't really need an answer.” She smiles and looks back at the sun who was now fully visible between the foothills of the mountains. They silently enjoyed the nature around until the sun got pretty high in the sky. Later they explored the fort around. Anjani was explaining everything about the are and surroundings with great passion. Her passion was somehow getting Jay to smile at her while she explained the things around. He had never seen someone being so passionate about what she did apart from her.
“Hello!” She waves her hand in front of his eyes as he shakes his head breaking his chain of thoughts. “What happened? Sorry I ghosted on you like that.” Jay smiles as his head turns low. “I was saying we should go now. The sun will get on our head soon and you don’t want to stay her when it’s noon. No matter even winter, these rocks get boiling hot and snakes come out to take shade in greenery. You don’t want to come across any of those here.” She playfully smacks his shoulder as they begin to hike down the trail. The way down was quite easy as it was bright now and trail was clearly visible. It was really beautiful around. Why didn’t I know this place before? It’s hardly an hour driving from my place? He wonders as he treks down the trail carefully. He later drops her at her place and drives back home. He was all sweaty and smelly after a long trek. He realised his mistake of wearing denims on a hike as they were now dirty, smelly and honestly felt like they needed laundry on the spot. He opens the door with his keys to find Khushi and Hitesh waiting for him at the table for lunch. ‘Where were you bhai? You went to a fort or some akhada?(Traditional Indian wrestling pits)” Khushi looks at him from head to toe filled with dirt, dust and sweat. It wasn’t his fault totally as he slipped a few times while hiking in the dark. It was his very first hiking experience that too early in the dark. He walks smiling upstairs as Khushi and hitesh look at him smirking.Kindly read it at the original source at www.dhawaljoshi.in. Also, do share your views in the comment section below. Thank you for your attention.
<< Previous || Index || Next >>
0 comments:
Post a Comment