Safar

Chapter 14

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" I shouted, "Kab aayi tu kameeniiiiiiiiiiii" I sprang out of bed and hugged her.

"Ek ghante pehle" she replied happily, hugging me back with more enthusiasm.

Sameer stood at the door and watched us, reactionless.

"Uncle Aunty ko kaise manaa liya ?" I asked Arpita, releasing her.

"Maine bola ki tu bhi aayi hain, verna 3 ladko ke saath thodi aane dete" she giggled. "Aur parso Bhuvan aur meri 2nd anniversary hain, pata hain? Isilye aa gayi"

I was so happy and overwhelmed to have woken up to such a surprise, that I forgot to sulk even after hearing this. Arpita's dazzling smile was worth everything, I felt.

The five people at table number 14 in the dining room of Acacia Morjim were the most un-gloomy people ever. Carefree laughter that followed our silly jokes filled the room, and even though the people at the nearby tables frequently threw looks of annoyance at us, we were too merry to care. Arpita's arrival seemed to have brought a whole new zeal in the air.

Our final decision was to visit Chapora Fort in Bardez, North Goa. As our cab zoomed out of the hotel premises, Arpita playfully opened the sunroof and stood up, letting her hair fly with the pleasant breeze. Bhuvan stood up to join her but sat down at once when her long, flying hair hit his face. The rest of us chuckled.

It was a bright beautiful day, and the sun shone radiantly in the blue cloudless sky. Big shadows of the Coconut trees on either side of the road made the ground comparatively cooler and gave a natural sunshade above our heads. The sea, blue as ever, looked calm and inviting, very much unlike the previous day. Silhouettes of mountains far, far away stood boldly against the sky, covered half in mist, half in sunlight. The Easterly sun touched off the faded colors of buildings that showed up rarely off the streets. The happy chirping of birds on high branches of trees augmented the beauty of the day, and the streets, wet from last night's heavy shower, seemed to be in the process of drying themselves up in the warm, pleasant sunlight.

Our cab driver, who had been casting weird looks at us throughout the ride, dropped us somewhere far away from the fort. After having an awful time finding our way in and cursing the driver terribly, we eventually reached Vagator beach and climbed up a thin passage of a long flight of ancient stairs that lead us to the fort, which was now in ruins.

Bancho stopped abruptly, apparently shocked.

"Kya hua?" I asked, a bit out of breath.

"Bancho yahaan..." He spoke, wonder in his eyes.

"Yahaan 'Dil Chahta Hai' ki shooting hui thi" Bhuvan and Bancho yelled together, exhilarated.

I too remembered suddenly.

"Oh bancho bancho bancho bancho bancho bancho bancho...." Bancho was delighted as well as surprised.

" 'Dil Hahta Hai' I liked it" Breathed Sameer.

"Everyone liked it" Squealed Arpita.

But the excitement died out soon.

"Iska naam Chapora kyun hain bancho?" Banchoddas asked with a look of boredom in his eyes.

"Dekh wahaan likha hain, jaake padhle" Bhuvan said, pointing at a distant broken wall with a paper stuck on it, his eyes on his camera.

"Iss jageh ka naam actually Shahpura tha, Adil Shah Sultan the iska. Phir Portuguese log aake ye fort banaaya, aur naam badalke Chapora rakh diya." I told Bancho.

He shook his head and said, "Shahpura hee better tha". Bhuvan laughed lightly at this and began focusing his camera on a fragmented door at the top of a low tower on which sunlight fell slantingly and created queer shadows.

The scene changed after an hour. Sameer leaned against a dilapidated fence and stared at the sea. Bancho had opened a packet of chips, which he devoured while texting someone on his phone. Bhuvan and Arpita had disappeared somewhere together, and I wandered off alone to another part of the fort, where a drawbridge connected two ramshackled atriums. It wasn't a holiday, so the spot was mostly empty... only a handful of people were scattered about the vast area of the decrepit fort.

"Socho, ek time pe yahaan log rehte the, chalte the..." I hadn't noticed when Bhuvan had crept up to here.

"Goosebumps" I sighed

"1617" Bhuvan remarked... "Kaafi purana"

"Bhai, idhar dekh bancho" Bancho called him excitedly.

"Kya?" Bhuvan enquired when he reached where Bancho was standing.

"Bancho yahaan dekh, lagra hain na yahaan pehle khoda gaya hain?"

- "To?''

"Treasure ho sakta hain na yahaan ?" Bancho spoke dreamily.

- "Tu pagal hain?" Bhuvan laughed out loud.

"Bancho kitni baar suna hain ki aise puraane forts mein hidden treasure hoti hain. Bhai soch, ekbaar hume mil gaya to hum ameer bann jaayenge banchoooo" He said in a low but thrilled voice.

"Gareebon ke aankhon mein fapne hain hazaar
Pehle khud ka underwear to khareed le,
Woh bhi leta hain merefe udhaar"
Sameer touched his nose and said. I snorted.

"Kachchha kaun udhaar leta hain" Bhuvan cringed at the mere thought of borrowing someone else's underwear.

"Aur nahi to kya. Yeh to...'' Sameer began saying.

I turned around and continued walking towards the atrium, leaving their ongoing conversation behind.

All of a sudden, I felt like I heard whispers, and something moved behind me. I spun around, saw nothing and nobody, and resumed walking, doubting myself of having hallucinations.
Only a few minutes had passed. I had just reached the end of the bridge, when suddenly someone wrapped his hand around my eyes forcefully and inserted a piece of cloth inside my mouth. I let out a shrill scream and struggled and shook vigorously to set myself free, but the powerful hands tied my hands firmly, lifted me, and the next moment, I realized I was being taken away. I screamed again, but no sound came out. I heard doors being shut which possibly meant I had been brought into a car. I kicked hard with all my strength. But the car had started moving, and I understood that I had been kidnapped in broad daylight, and been taken away from my friends, who had no idea about this and would probably be searching for me.

The car stopped after what felt like decades. Someone roughly lifted me and took me somewhere where I was placed clumsily on something that felt like a chair. My eye-cover was taken off, and I found myself facing a weird-looking man whom I was sure I had never met before.

"Naste beta, naste" he smiled at me evilly.