For Part I, click here.
A week had passed since Shalini had walked out of the office and driven off. After hours of mindless wandering, she had finally gone home. She had called one of her oldest friends from college and poured her heart out. The next day, there were return tickets in her inbox for a holiday at a beach side town, with only two words of explanation, "Let's meet." She had not needed a second invitation. It was time to make the leap. She had two days to plan. She did not tell her family about the trip, she was sure there would be objections. "It is unsafe", or "where and how will you stay?" or, "how can you travel without any female companions, what will the world say?". She did not think she could handle all of that and still make it to the vacation feeling upbeat. So she took the easy way out, and just forgot to mention the plan to her family. And here she was today, with two of her closest friends, feeling the most peaceful she had felt in years. It had finally stopped raining. They were at the beach, absorbing the weak sun and enjoying each others' companies without uttering a single word, each content in the knowledge that they did not need to fill the space with needless banter. The waves were making that blessed sound that you can only hear if you're near a shore. The breeze was gentle, ruffling through her uncombed hair, tangling it up even more than was normal. A gang of boys had arrived to play a game of cricket, they had been setting up the pitch for the past ten minutes. Zuber had just been invited to join the game. As he got up to join in, Shalini smiled and thought how good life was, and how, at that moment, all time had ceased. The three of them had spent the last four days doing nothing, just driving around and taking in the new city, trying not to get drenched by that ghastly rain that refused to give them a break. At the back of her mind though, she knew the moment she stepped out of there, the clock would restart, with a vengeance. Body and soul would once again separate, the brain and heart would be in a dilemma. But at that moment, she was one. At peace with the Earth, the wind, the water and the sky.
She lay her head on the sand and closed her eyes. With a smile on her face and the ocean in her ears she thought, right now, this is eternity.
A week had passed since Shalini had walked out of the office and driven off. After hours of mindless wandering, she had finally gone home. She had called one of her oldest friends from college and poured her heart out. The next day, there were return tickets in her inbox for a holiday at a beach side town, with only two words of explanation, "Let's meet." She had not needed a second invitation. It was time to make the leap. She had two days to plan. She did not tell her family about the trip, she was sure there would be objections. "It is unsafe", or "where and how will you stay?" or, "how can you travel without any female companions, what will the world say?". She did not think she could handle all of that and still make it to the vacation feeling upbeat. So she took the easy way out, and just forgot to mention the plan to her family. And here she was today, with two of her closest friends, feeling the most peaceful she had felt in years. It had finally stopped raining. They were at the beach, absorbing the weak sun and enjoying each others' companies without uttering a single word, each content in the knowledge that they did not need to fill the space with needless banter. The waves were making that blessed sound that you can only hear if you're near a shore. The breeze was gentle, ruffling through her uncombed hair, tangling it up even more than was normal. A gang of boys had arrived to play a game of cricket, they had been setting up the pitch for the past ten minutes. Zuber had just been invited to join the game. As he got up to join in, Shalini smiled and thought how good life was, and how, at that moment, all time had ceased. The three of them had spent the last four days doing nothing, just driving around and taking in the new city, trying not to get drenched by that ghastly rain that refused to give them a break. At the back of her mind though, she knew the moment she stepped out of there, the clock would restart, with a vengeance. Body and soul would once again separate, the brain and heart would be in a dilemma. But at that moment, she was one. At peace with the Earth, the wind, the water and the sky.
She lay her head on the sand and closed her eyes. With a smile on her face and the ocean in her ears she thought, right now, this is eternity.
END OF PART II
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