Ethereal: Eternal Echoes

23

After 2 weeks

Ishan

It is Navratri season and tomorrow, Navratri starts. The city is full of festive vibes and decorations. It means, 9 nights, mingling, doing garba, and getting into Ambe maa's spirit... With Smriti.. Both of our parents have gone to Maa Vaishno Devi Mandir together, for this Navratri. Naika is in Vadodara, with her friends to enjoy Navratri. Hriday has gone on a medical tour to Moscow. Smriti is shifting to his home tonight. I am sure mom asked her to!

*phone rings, Ishan accepts it*

"Hello"
"Smriti is not going in her car today and is going with her friends somewhere, from there she'll go to TechForge at noon twelve. They will drop her to your house tonight."
"How many friends? And of what gender?"
"Two girls and Three boys"
"Okay. Keep an eye. I'm hanging the call."

Why is she not going to the office on her regular time? And where the hell is she going? Why with boys? Three boys? Two of them are Sridhar and Neerad, who is the third guy? Chaarvik is not in India afterall!! Huhh why am I curious about her?!! It's her life and she has the fucking right to do whatever she wants to.

Smriti

Such a beautiful day. I'm so excited for tomorrow!! Navratri and Janmashtami are my most favourite festivals. And TOMORROW IS NAVRATRI.

"My majesty, come out of your thoughts and let's go!!" said Neerad with a followed chuckle by everyone including me.

"Sure Neerad. Just give me five minutes. I'm bringing my car and--"

"Ohh madam? Car kyu le rhi hai? Hum sab ek hi car mei Jaa rahe hai. Mast vibe maarenge aur maze karenge." Before I completed, Sridhar interrupted.

(Oh madam? Why are you taking a car? We all are going in the same car. We will have a great vibe and have fun.)

"C'mon Smriti..We know you are shifting to Shah residence today. Don't worry, we'll drop you off at the office as well as his house." Adya spoke.

"Smriti, are you coming or not?!" Vardhan frustratingly asked.

"Yea of course I'm--"

"Okay guys. Why waste time now? Let's go." Jivi completed.

I am a Gujarati and of course my mind is full of garba songs right now. Jivi and Adya are Rajasthan but as they grew up in Gujarat, they are well connected. Neerad, Sridhar and Vardhan are already Gujaratis. So Sridhar started the music and we vibes on Garba songs throughout our one hour journey. We are going to Ambaji or Ambe Maa's temple. Every year, a day before Navratri, we go there and give food, clothes, etc to the needies. That gives an extreme pleasure to our hearts. The smile on the face of those little kids and other people is really precious.

The moment I put my leg out of the car, I felt weird. As if someone was there, but when I turned around, there was no one.

A hand on my shoulder and a calm voice brought me back. "What happened Smriti? Is everything fine?"

"Don't know Vardhan. I felt as if someone was staring at me."

"Don't worry dude. Why will someone stalk you? You're not so pretty!!" he replied teasingly. I irritatingly chuckled.

First, we went to the Ambe mata temple and took her blessings.

Then, we did all the things we had come for. Those beautiful smiles and their happiness have my heart.

Then, they dropped me at my office. Vardhan was with me. He knows them all but is not so friendly because he shifted to London in eighth grade and so, no one remembers him a lot. We are good friends and it's been a long time. He came to India on the day of my engagement and it was me who requested or I can say forced him to stay here at least till Navratri. He'll go back to London on the fifth day of Navratri. I didn't force more, he has his own work and I can understand that well.