A Working Title - Part III

Shalini was sitting in the bus, watching the world move. There was a chill in the air. She had her neck stuck out the window to allow the full force of the wind to hit her face. This moment, she decided, was why she was alive. To live in that moment, to cherish it, and to have all such moments strung together on a rope which would lead her across the river. It was all about experiences, after all. Nobody remembers the late nights they were stuck at work preparing for a meeting that never happened, but nobody forgets that gorgeous sunset they happened to witness on the way back from work, or the night they spent making merry with friends. She thought back to the last three days. Zuber and Arjun had made plans to meet again for the weekend, without hesitation, she had agreed and booked her tickets. In her excitement, she made the wrong bookings. Twice. The trip was almost called off until she had finally managed to get her head straight and book good tickets for herself. She smiled thinking about all the teasing that was headed her way for the next many years.
She had collected so many moments in those three days, pushing herself to do things she would never have imagined doing before. It still horrified her that she had karaoked in front of a crowd of unknowns. Arjun had had to step in to save her the embarrassment, she had been that bad. She had felt a rush of affection for him at that moment, knowing how lucky she was to have friends like them in her life. No matter how drunk the three of them were, she doubted any one would forget the cheesiness that night brought with it. The three of them had spent most of the weekend exploring movies on the telly in Zuber's room. They had stepped out to eat at exotic places they wouldn't have dreamt of stepping into under normal circumstances. They had spent an entire afternoon idling away at an amusement park, grabbing a few drinks at the end of the day. The laid back vacation was life's way of telling her to take it easy, to allow each moment to sink in, to revel in them. She knew life was long and the only way to live it, was to sleep happy at the end of each day. With that thought in her head, she stepped out of the bus which had come to a standstill, and walked to her office for the last time ever. It was time to move on to another experience.