Safar

Chapter 10

"Hum udd rahe hain banchooo" Bancho exclaimed shrilly. A few people turned to stare.

"Abey pagal hain kya?" Bhuvan ushered him to be quiet. "Kya bachchon jaisa kar raha" he looked at me and Sameer.

"Bancho ye tere liye 69th time ho sakta hain, par ye mera first time hain" Bancho looked hurt.

"Ohh yeahhhh... that'f what fhe faid laft night" Sameer inhaled lustily.

Several air-hostesses came and left, all having Bancho gazing dreamily at them until they were out of sight. "Taadna bandh kar chutiye..." Bhuvan had to tell him several times.

Nothing much happened during the flight, me spilling coffee on my dress at an air-pocket being the only thing worth mentioning.
Also, Sameer disappeared with a pretty air-hostess and didn't come back until 20 minutes had passed. I didn't quite understand what they had been up to, perhaps he was interested in going around the plane, exploring and learning. I felt I should've gone along too.

The captain announced landing at 5:30 a.m. I peered over a sleeping Bhuvan's shoulder to look through the window. What I saw was pure bliss; a fantastic view of the whole of Goa looking at us through the small gaps between the white clouds below us that resembled cotton. As we drew closer to the ground, the sea, wearing orange just like the sky with its islands scattered about, showed up.
Seatbelts buckled up tightly, I awoke Bhuvan. He grumbled in his sleep at first, but then was awake. As he tied his seatbelt, he smiled at me.

When the wheels of the airbus touched the ground of Goa, I felt a happy shiver run down my spine. Goa. GOA. Goa at last. Since the past 7 days, the name of this place had been the only topic of discussion, and now when it was eventually coming true, I was so happy that I wanted to jump around the plane, yelling. But then a visual image of that popped up in my head, and I myself burst into fits of giggle.

"Haan Papa?'' Bhuvan recieved his father's call as we walked out of the Dabolim Airport, just having collected our luggage from the belt. "haan haan abhi just airport se nikal rahe hain..." he said to Uncle.
Bancho impatiently indicated Bhuvan to hang up and book a cab. Bhuvan raised his hand to stop him.

"Nahi nahi Papa... mat kholo uss folder ko.." he almost yelled.

-"Kya hua?" Asked Sameer.

"Areeee main bataata hoon na aapko" Bhuvan continued, ignoring Sameer. "Andheri raat mein diya tere haath mein matlab hum... nahii nahii suno meri baat, woh Mumbai ke Andheri ki baat nhi kar raha. Hum Deepavali ke din diye jalaate hain na Papa? Usiki baat hori hain... diya, DIYA tere haath mein... NAHI NAHI MAT KHOLNA" he raised his voice again. Bancho and Sameer carefully avoided each other's eyes.

"L lag jaate mere" Bhuvan breathed after he had cut the call, and even though it wasn't hot, he wiped sweat off his forehead with the back of his left hand. "Chalo" he then looked at us.
"Chalo banchoooo. Goaaaaaaaa, here weee comeeee----" Bancho yelled and ran forward towards the exit gate of the airport, as if to go defeat the opposing army on a battlefield. Next moment, he slipped on something lying on the ground, and fell down on the stairs with a loud "thud"!
Bhuvan and I ran forwards while Sameer laughed his famous laugh. Bancho took my hand to get up, and smiled awkwardly, rubbing his bottom with his right hand.

We all stood there, not knowing what to do, and then all four of us burst out laughing together.

As we got into our cab, I realised I had never appreciated how beautiful dawn was before. Nothing could spoil our trip. Absolutely nothing. And we surely would have the loveliest time here, in Goa, I thought.

Well, if only I knew how wrong I had been then...