Party And Prejudice

16. Lost And Found

I saw Zoya clutching a glass in her hand and hopping around and for a minute, I thought she was doing the dance we had done with the kids in which case I'd have to put my foot down. There is a place to show your passion.

But it turned out, it wasn't that.

"Mish can you hold this for me for a few minutes? I reeeeeally have to go and pee!"

I took the glass from her as she ran into the bathroom.

"Where were you coming from?", Zoya asked when she got back. I told her what I'd been doing.

"I jumped down into the corridor like half a second before Laksh opened the door", I said proudly.

"That's like three feet", Zoya said "Didn't you get hurt?"

"You and Riya jumped down three floors in Mumbai and didn't get hurt. You think I can't survive three feet? And I didn't get caught. Will you show some appreciation?"

"Okay well done madam", Zoya said. I bowed.

"Anyway where is Laksh?", I asked "Did he come back here?"

"No", Zoya said "Maybe he's still arguing with his father".

"No I heard all of them leave the room", I said.

"Then where is he?"

"Who cares?"

"Have you seen Riya?", Zoya asked.

"Come to think of it...I haven't seen Riya either for a while now", I said.

"They're totally hanging out together then!", Zoya jumped up and down. In her enthusiasm, she dropped the plate she was holding and it crashed to the floor. She barely noticed as she continued, "Oh I'm sure they're somewhere alone on some cliff, making out".

That was definitely a possibility. Should we go and find them?

Zoya was still babbling,"Did you hear Riya talking to that milkman in Tamil this morning? She sounds like a native speaker these days. Did you see how much her diction has improved?".

"If it improves anymore then I have a feeling she will settle down here and never come back to Mumbai".

Zoya and I have concluded many times that whichever guy had the misfortune of marrying Riya, he would run away within one year. Unless of course, he was deaf. Or tremendously submissive.

I had never imagined she would hit off with an equally exuberant character like Lakshan.

•••

Zoya and I walked down the uneven isolated path clutching each other's palms more out of fear than platonic affection.

This was a deserted part of the hill station, behind the resort. There was no trace of vehicles anywhere. Wilderness was all over the place.

"Ya Khuda!", Zoya said suddenly, turning away "I've seen something, I didn't want to see".

"What?", I asked looking around "What are we looking at?"

And then I saw it too. Or saw them.

Let me just say, Zoya's prediction of what we would find Riya and Lakshan doing was pretty accurate.

I thought about how Reyansh and I had planned to keep a watch on Riya and Laksh. All that had gone down the drain in a minute.

"Zoya! Mishti! Oh my God!", Riya exclaimed as she saw us. She let go of Laksh as she ran upto us and threw her arms around us. Okay this was too much.

"Oh my God", Riya said "How did you guys find us?"

"You mean the resort is near here?", Laksh asked, coming up behind her.

"It's five minutes that way", Zoya said pointing to her right.

"Wait...you mean you guys got lost?", I asked sceptically.

"Yeah, we just came for a walk and then we got lost. We kept going in circles. We didn't have a phone so we couldn't track our way back", Riya explained.

"How come you never have a phone whenever you need it?", I asked, rolling my eyes.

"Don't be harsh Mishti", Zoya said "We found them no?"

"Yeah and what did we find them doing?", I asked angrily "Even you don't have brains Laksh?"

"Hey why is your friend attacking me now?", Laksh asked and laughed. Riya and Zoya laughed with him. I couldn't believe how juvenile these people were.

"We're leaving in two weeks Mish. Take it easy", Riya said.

"In my mother tongue..", said Laksh, "We don't say I am leaving. We say, I will return".

"How nice!", Riya cooed.

"Okay enough, let's go", I said.

"See Mish...", Riya said coming up to me as we started walking back to the resort with Zoya smartly leading the way. Riya and I followed with Laksh bringing the rear at a decent distance, "Laksh and I got lost. And for a few minutes, we actually decided that we were probably going to be stuck there for a long time. And then I asked Laksh, what if we die here like this? And then he said..."

I looked at her. Riya was actually blushing. I found my annoyance vanishing, "Go on", I laughed "What did he say? Did he say, my baby if we're going to die here, I want to kiss you one last time?"

"No. He said I just want to sample taste heaven before I die", Riya said.

"What?! Ewww", I laughed even harder. We ran down the road, eluding each other's slaps for the rest of the way back.