Salim and Kayal #Watty's 2016 # YourStoryIndia #ProjectWomanUp

Lovers trip

Kayal's POV

Monday started with my Idli(similar to rice cakes) and Sambar (a semi liquid side dish). Jaanu made coriander chutney(a spicy condiment). I am now reading a novel 'The Fountainhead' by Ayn Rand. I think I am reading it for the fifth time. Still, I cannot keep it down so easily. The book has got many layers. It doesn't fail to captivate me even after these many years. I entered our class reading that book.

Our HOD asked us to look out for our internships. All of us thought of doing internship in our home states. It seems Jaanu will do her internship in Hyderabad, capital city of her home state Andhra Pradesh. Jaanu invited us to her home in Srikakulam. Her parents also invited us. So we booked a ticket to Srikakulam. After staying there for one day both Sara and I will take the same train, I will first get down at Chennai whereas Sara will get down at Trivandrum. It's going to be hectic. I booked a ticket for everybody so that we can get seats next to each other. We were doing these bookings in the break. After that we headed for our classes.

In the evening, I received a friend request from Fathima, Salim's elder sister. She seems to be a very friendly person. She was also chatting with me. Just about our interests and stuff. I liked her. I don't know how such a talkative woman can have such a quiet brother. Didn't she rub off even a little on her brother? It seems she is getting married to her cousin Mustafa in the next month. She is pretty excited about it. Out of the blue she invited me for her wedding. I just met her yesterday and today she is inviting me for her marriage. I couldn't say no to her. Because we would be attending internship at that time and I will be in Chennai. Trichy, the city where she is getting married is simply four or five hours from Chennai. And the marriage is on the weekend. So, of course I will be free to attend. I agreed thinking that she will forget to send me her wedding invitation.

In the evening, I spoke with the Associate Editor of a renowned newspaper in Chennai. I have done one of my previous internship over there. She was my mentor. She readily agreed to take me in for two weeks. She asked me to send a formal request in mail. Someday I wished to join their work force.

Our exams were approaching and we were busy learning. Every now and then I was taking classes in Skype for Salim and his friends. In the weekend it was Ramzan, so when Salim returned from his Uncle's place with Biryaani, I gave him my Paayasam(a dessert). I had written a Post it Note with my wishes for him.

It was around this time that Sara and John threw a surprise bomb at us. They said that they have to talk about something quite important to us. In the afternoon they called all of us to a quiet corner in our campus. Everybody was busy studying for their exams so our campus was very quiet. Salim and Harneet were already there. John was the first one to speak. "Friends, I need everybody's help here. My parents have to meet Sara to accept her and even her parents wish to meet me. Instead of asking them to come here, we thought we can go to each other's places. So that we can get to know each other's places and culture better. We can't go alone. We can't go together. So our only option is all of us have to go together. Let's make a plan. Except Harneet, since none of us will be celebrating Deepavali, we will utilize Deepavali holidays for this. Please friends. We will bear the travelling expenses. First we will go to Sikkim and then to Kerala. From there we will return to Delhi. I was the first one to speak, "Unga bothaiku naanga oorukaava? (You are making us as a side dish for your alcohol high)."

Salim laughed. John asked him, "What did she say?"

Salim replied, "I will explain later."

Sara hit me in my arm and started speaking, "Can't you do this for your friend?"