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He knows he's broken. He knows he hit rock bottom. He doesn't know to give up. He is a warrior. He fights back.
She is also a warrior but a different o...
'Hope you have a plan in that big head of yours man', Suraj was talking as they climbed down the steps with heavy luggages. The lift was down again and they were not in the mood to deal with it.
'I don't. I just want a break', thought Arnav but didn't say it out loud. He simply said, 'That makes two of us dude', and winked.
They walked from their apartment complex to the road which took 7 minutes usually, but since the luggage slowed them down, it took 12 minutes instead.
They boarded an autorickshaw to get to the bus stop and there would be a big speed breaker along the way followed by a smooth depression in the road, so, when vehicles went in normal speed, it would feel like a small level slide ride that we would find in chicken parks.
Unknowingly, Arnav's mind went back a year ago...
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January 2019.
"Do forward, do forward!", shouted the guide.
The group on the raft immediately put all their might into their paddles on hearing the code word on to the left side of it and paddled or seemed to be doing something similar to it as none of them know rafting or had previous experience.
But their energies were all heightened beyond their imagination, partly because of their survival instinct at their peaks due to rafting sport and partly due to the fact that except a couple of guys, the rest of the party didn't know how to swim. Reckless adventure freaks, they were, and they wanted to explore the thrill of the sport, especially rafting through the rapids - which were nothing but fast flowing river water down a particular area of rocky gap in its path.
River rafting and white water rafting are highly sought out water adventure activities throughout the world and hence, it's not a surprise to see Karan and his gang embark upon this trip (their fifth overall) to Dandeli in Karnataka. It was Ritesh, Karan's college friend who planned the whole trip and it turned out to be an amazing journey thus far.
Arnav came on that trip because he was best friends with Karan and they were office-mates. It was a good road trip till now. They all started from Chennai in Ritesh's car and drove through Bangalore (while getting a fine for tinted windows from the ever dutiful Bangalore traffic police).
"Just because our vehicle is TN, we are stopped and checked. Look at those other cars and bikes passing by", said Ritesh almost mockingly.
Everybody chuckled and of the five members in the car, one guy named Givi, a friend of Ritesh, who Arnav suspected was brought on the trip simply because he knew Hindi. That guy didn't give off a good vibe to others in the car. Givi spoke to the police in Hindi for ten minutes and came back.
Others looked hopeful which got shattered when he said, "I've bargained with the officer to cut our fine by 50 rupees. We need to pay only 950 now". He grinned at that success. The rest of the gang mentally facepalmed themselves!
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