A Thousand Truths

Chapter 4

All the Birla cousins had decided to go to Pushkar for the annual fair. The fair was held every year for ten days and it was the biggest fair in the state with so many things that could be done and seen. Abhimanyu had been wanting to go there for the last four years, but every time either due to exams or surgeries he couldn't. He enjoyed being a doctor, but the profession demanded a lot. Abhimanyu hardly got any free time to go to parties, forget going on three-day-long vacations. But this time he had made sure that he will accompany all his cousins to Pushkar and enjoy it to the fullest.

"So cool Abhi bhaiya, I am not even going to sleep for the next three days. Who knows when will be the next time that all five of us will go to some place together." Preesha was not able to contain her excitement, being the youngest member of the family it was upon her shoulders to make a big deal out of every small occasion.

"Not confirmed yet, Preesha. Kabir has not given a final answer yet. I think he has just said yes so that we don't call him again and again. I have a feeling that he is not going to come.

"If that is the case, call him right now and ask him again. We will keep calling him continuously till he does not bring his butt to Pushkar."

That could be done, thought Abhimanyu. Although he knew that Kabir will kill them all for harassing him like this, doing this will at least make him come to Pushkar. He called Kabir, but he did not receive his call. Just a moment later Abhimanyu's phone beeped with a message. It was a text from Kabir: I will meet you guys in Pushkar. Stop calling me for this. Both Preesha and Abhimanyu looked at each other and then he said, "remind me to call him in the afternoon" and left for the hospital.

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At the Goenkas, it was time for one more celebration, because Aarohi got a job at Birla Hospital. She had joined the hospital twenty days back and quite liked it there. It was not like Sanjeevani, nothing could be like it. But it was not a bad experience till now. It is not usually that easy to get three days off from a hospital, but Aarohi was a newcomer and did not have a lot of responsibilities now, hence her leave was granted. Once she becomes accustomed to the ways of the new hospital and gets more responsibilities, she knew she would not be in a position to ask for days off.

Akshara had planned the trip because it had been almost seven years since all of them had gone together somewhere. Although she, Kairav, and Vansh had gone somewhere or other every year, Aarohi was always missing. Everyone was excited, even Aarohi was happy. She liked traveling; it made her switch off her mind to all the worries.

At 4 o clock, the next morning all of them started for Pushkar. Vansh had taken care of the reservations and Kairav was driving them all to Pushkar, meanwhile, both the girls were making plans for all the must-dos at the fair. Vansh had told them that one of his friends would also be coming there with his cousins and that they all were also staying at the same hotel.

They reached their hotel at about 7:30 and immediately went to get ready. The plan was to have breakfast and then go to visit all the famous temples in Pushkar. Akshara decided to wear a beautiful pink salwar suit with a dupatta and Aarohi went for a simple baby pink kurta. Whenever they had to get ready it was usually Akshara selecting jewelry and makeup for Aarohi because she was the one who excelled at it.

"let us go Aaru. Vansh bhaiya told me that both of them are waiting for us in the garden."

"yeah, I will just use the restroom and be there in a minute. You take our bag and leave."

Akshara picked up their black bag, put in her phone charger and I pods, and left the room. She was still rummaging in the bag to see If they had everything that they needed and she collided with someone and the bag with all its useful contents did a crash landing on the floor, and on top of that landed a big backpack, which she must belong to the person she collided with. While landing on the floor, the backpack collided with a small ornamental pillar in the corner that had a vase on it, and as a result both the vase and the pillar also followed the backpack along with a loud sound of breaking glass.

She looked up to see who the person was and a very annoyed but very handsome face was looking back at her. For a few seconds her entire mind became blank and she just looked, and then realizing that she probably has been looking at the handsome face for more than what was considered normal, she immediately bent down to pick up her bag.

"Do not touch it. Don't you see there are glass pieces everywhere and you might cut your hand if you are not careful?" Akshara looked up and realized that the handsome face had a very deep and appealing voice, but his entire demeanor was as if he was taunting her. This made her slightly angry and she rudely replied,

"I know that. I can carefully pick up my bag from here, without hurting my hand."

"or you could just have walked carefully in the first place to avoid all this. But no madam has to be busy looking inside her bag while walking. Do you know what is the first rule of walking? Look, where you are walking." This made Akshara lose her temper. She knew it was her fault but he could have been a little more polite while talking to her. She was not letting him just talk to her like that and leave.

"oh hello, mister, whoever you are. If I was busy looking in my bag, what were you doing with those big eyes resting on your face, huh? Well, I think, suddenly you decided that let's not use them and let's not see the girl coming fom front and crash right into her and then blame her for not walking properly." The guy was about to reply with something, probably ruder than this, but then a hotel staff came there and told them that he will clean all the mess and then they can pick up their respective bags. They both stood aside and were waiting for the staff to finish cleaning when Vansh came there along with some other man, about his age, probably his friend that was going to be here. He came there and introduced everyone.

"Akshu, meet him, he is my friend Aniket and he will also be here with us for three days" Aniket shook Akshara's hand, " and this," he said pointing towards the man Akshara just collided with "is Abhimanyu" both Akshara and Abhimanyu gave each other a not so friendly look. "and guys this is my cousin Akshara."