Serenity in Chaos (1/3)

Tuesday. December 19, 2017 - 2 mins

A gazillion things were running through my head as the bus departed from the Mysore Bus Stand to Sirsi. Amidst a fully-loaded-calendar schedule, I had agreed to go on a vacation to Karthik’s hometown simply because it would be very difficult for all of us to make another trip in between the last 2 semesters of engineering.

About 45 mins later, my phone’s network was dying – fluctuating between one and two bars of signal – and I decided to switch to airplane mode. Samarth was giving his dramatic experience of the Fidelity interview of how he successfully persuaded the interviewer to reject him so that he could get a better job. The other 4 were fast asleep, or atleast trying to, while Samarth, Supriya and Aniketh were busy discussing random things and I started watching a movie on my phone.

Fast forward 2 hours later, the bus stopped at a Dhaba on the outskirts of Arsikere for some refreshments. The three of us – Aniketh, Samarth and I – got down for a break and were barely sleepy though it was half past 1. We were pleasantly surprised to see 2 security cameras – functioning – and started debating why a Dhaba would need it. We got back into the bus and we were on the move again, now everyone except Samarth and me trying to sleep.

After a few more stops and 4 hours of a rather tiring journey, and Supriya’s unbelievable story of how she saw a 504-wheel truck when she was 12 years old ( to which Sam had to wittily add that maybe she and her cousins counted them separately and added them or maybe she multiplied the count by 6² and Aniketh going technical trying to determine the length of the truck) we were nearing Sirsi and I called Karthik so that he’d pick us up from the Bus Stand.

We reached his home at around 7.30 and introduced ourselves to his family members. We shifted to the first floor vacant house which had been recently emptied by the tenants. We showered and freshened up, and were greeted with the first delight of the day – hot Dosas straight from the tava for breakfast. After having a sumptuous breakfast, our car arrived – A Chervrolet Tavera – and we left for the day with jackets and umbrellas expecting heavy rain and a cold day.