Aurora in the sky

Entry - 2

June 17th 2006

To-do list

1 - get two days' leave approval from work

2- convince your boyfriend that this has to be a solo journey

3- take on the task and not be a wuss and cancel at the last moment

4- do not chicken out

I have never been on a solo journey in my lifetime. This is going to be tough. The holiday sanction was the easy part. But to convince Danny that I had to go alone was a big task. And the boss fight, the final chapter was the mission of not chickening out.

Once, all my friends and I decided to go on a road trip about a hundred kilometres from our city. I had my luggage ready, and Mum had agreed as well; my sister was a little sceptical, but she knew if I could succeed in convincing my parents to send me on a trip with my friends, then it would be much easier for her to get permission from Mum and Dad in the future. Everything was set.

But then the dreadful thing occurred, I couldn't go. I don't know what happened. I cancelled with my friends at the last minute and didn't go. An unknown fear took over me and I cancelled. My friends still remind me of that incident to date.

I didn't know if I was anxious, scared or just plain dumb. Whatever it was it scarred me for life.

This time something had changed. Up until I packed my bag, I was anxious, but when I saw the ticket lying on the table at my bedside, there was no fear.

Reading the journal entry now felt very different.

Not a single sliver of doubt. I wondered what had changed. It was either me or the circumstances. Whatever it was, this time I knew that I wouldn't run away.

I boarded the bus on time and reached the destination on time. This was too good to be true. After a lifetime of misplaced unfortunate events and nothing occurring in my favour, this one thing had gone so smoothly, that I began doubting my fate.

When the phone call from my mum ended. I decided to go to meet my sister in person. I had a feeling in my gut that there was something off. She was up to some shenanigans. I had to meet her before she did something irreversible.

I had booked a hotel room. A budget room. It was slapped right in the middle of the city the bustling, ever so lively aamchi Mumbai. I have been to this city so many times, but every time, the city surprises me. You can recognise that you have reached Mumbai by its smell. A peculiar smell, a mixture of salt of the sea, traffic, foods of all sorts, crowds, success, failures and dreams. Endless dreams. The amalgamation of scents, colours, and sounds is so unique yet so familiar. This city is a living entity on its own.

I had breakfast( Idli, Vada and Sambar. It was delish) at Shri Krishna restaurant. Having idli for breakfast is like getting a warm hug on a winter morning, it gives you a certain type of warmth throughout the day, I think. An odd sensation lingered on me. Even if I was alone I didn't feel lonely. I felt secure with where I was.

I had carried the address with me. The first spot I decided to go to was the hostel where my sister lived. I took a taxi there. The first obstacle was the traffic, crazy, mind-numbing traffic. After navigating through the hell road we finally reached the street address. I showed the address to the driver, and he took me to the street, but he was unsure about the building. So we had to ask many people for instructions. After making three rounds of the same street, we found out that the building I was looking for was at the beginning of the street itself, and because the building didn't have a name plank, nobody knew that it was there.