To My Happily Ever After

way to Munnar

"hey wake up! Both of you. The train has reached Ernakulam. Get up guys."  I screamed.

Akash was totally unaffected.
Karan steadily woke up by rubbing his eyes.
"When did we reach Ernakulam?" Karan asked in a very sleepy voice.
"We just reached now. Come on get down." I commanded him to get down as he was sleeping on the middle seat.
I again tried to wake Akash, this time i succeeded  in my mission and he finally woke up.

My bag was placed on the upper seat so Karan put it down and i got off the train with my bag pack and trolley bag followed by Karan and Akash.

Eventually, three of us got off the train.

"So finally, this is it?" Karan quietly asked me.
I looked into his eyes, he looked very sad and it was visible.
My heart started racing up. I have never felt so wretched  while parting ways with strangers. I never felt so connected with anyone, the way i got connected with Karan.
"I might not see him again." This thought hit my mind.
I tried to hide everything that my heart was going through and i smiled at him.

"So kavya where are you gonna stay? " Akash interrupted.

"I have already booked a hotel there. " i replied in a wistful tone.

"What about you and Karan? " i asked again.

"We haven't decided yet.
Hey Karan, What if we stay in the hotel where she is staying? " Akash asked Karan in a very excited way.

"What?" Karan asked in very appalled voice.
"I mean what a nice idea!" He quickly changed his sentence as his face lit up. A huge grin appeared on his face.

"Kavya, are you okay with it?" Akash asked me pleasantly.
"Yes, absolutely."

Karan was very happy to hear my answer and it was clearly visible on his face. His eyes were beaming with joy as if he really wanted to continue this journey together.

I also felt happy because i will get some company, i will not have to stay alone anymore.

Karan discussed with Akash and they both booked a shared room in the hotel where i was going to stay in Munnar.

"You really look happy." Karan said while smiling.
"Yes, i am really happy. I don't know this place makes me happy." I replied.

"Guys, let's follow others to find the way out of this platform." Akash interrupted.

"Yeah, right." I said.

We were so happy, we were glad Akash came up with such an upright idea.

We followed the rest of the passengers and got out of the station.
There were many vehicles waiting for the passengers to take them to their homes and hotels.
The street was flooded with food stalls. The amazing odour of South Indian food was so refreshing. It was enough to make us hungry.

People were busy in looking for cabs and other vehicles. Their accent reminded me again and again that we were in Kerala, a beautiful state in South India.

"What's the plan?" Akash asked us.

"She's travelling alone. I am sure she has prepared a roadmap and everything." Karan pointed at me sarcastically.
He was no longer sad and lost.

"What? No, i haven't planned anything."
"But yeah, i know we can take a cab or bus to reach Munnar. It takes two or three hours." I suggested.

"Wow! We didn't know about this. Thanks for saving our trip." Karan again said sarcastically and he started laughing along with Akash.

"Yeah, whatever." I replied while rolling my eyes.

We started searching for cabs and busses.
A man came to us.

"Where do you want to go?" He asked in a South Indian accent.

"Munnar" i replied.

It was obvious that he was a driver and he was looking for passengers.

"Come with us." He asked us to follow his lead.
He took us near his  cab.

"What's the fair?" Karan asked.
"Don't worry about it." He ignored our question and asked us to seat in his cab.

"But how can we go with you without knowing the fair?" Karan asked again.

"6000" the driver replied without maintaining an eye contact.

We looked at each other.
We were sure that he was charging extra money from us.

We decided to let that cab go even though he agreed to reduce one thousand.

We mutually decided to book an uber because the fair was much less than what the cab driver asked from us. I quickly booked an uber from my phone.

"The uber is twenty minutes away." I said.
"That's fine. We can do our breakfast. Let's eat something."  Karan suggested.
We all agreed and decided to eat dosa, the most famous south indian food.
There were so many stalls nearby, we opted for the first one as the pleasant aroma from that stall was very hard to resist.

I was not someone who buys south indian food but the dosa was delicious, better than any dosas that i had in kolkata.

The uber arrived late but the fair was budget friendly.

It was little cloudy, but everything felt so nice.
I checked my surrounding. It was quite cold here. The morning breeze was fresh and felt really nice after a tiring journey and mouth - watering breakfast.
I took a moment to breathe freely.

The uber came, Karan got in first followed by me.
Akash preferred to sit in the front beside the driver.

The street was covered with trees on both sides.  I placed my head and arms on the window to have a perfect glimpse of the sight.

"Hey! Can we stop at the beach?" I asked hesitantly in a very low voice.

"Yes, of course. It's wonderful time to visit the beach before visiting mountains." Karan said.

"What a brilliant idea. We are here to explore so we will never say no to a new place."  Akash remarked.

I was happy that they agreed.

I was contended after hearing those pleasant words from them. I was a beach lover. I always preferred  beaches over mountains.
Munnar was a beautiful hill station and i was looking forward to explore it but visiting a beach before that was a perfect idea.

The driver was a really nice south indian man, he was kind enough and  agreed to stop for a while.

We reached Cherai Beach, kochi.
Finally i was able to keep my feet on the golden sand, i touchedq the beautiful blue waves and felt the calm breeze.
It was just surreal.
We clicked so many pictures in a very short span of time.

"You look very happy." Karan asked, there was a subtle smile on his face.
"Yes, that's because i love beaches."
"Okay, so let's come back here to visit all the nearby beaches and places in kochi once we reach Munnar."

"Wow! Thank you so much. " i answered. Those words were enough to make me smile for the rest of the day.

We were running late, so we left the beach and continued our trip to Munnar.