The Heart Lies...

Chapter 8

A drop of water slid down Koyal's forehead, it trickled down her brows and settled on her lashes. She became aware of a hundred such drops on her face. It was to this feel that Koyal awoke. She straightened up her legs which ached from being cramped up in a tiny space the whole night. And then when the sleep finally left her eyes she was left flabbergasted. She found herself enclosed in a cloud! As far as her eyes could travel she was surrounded by thick, dense fog. The moisture from it clung to her like a cloak. The experience was as eerie as it was beautiful. Eerie because it lend her surroundings an otherworldly, ghostly feel. It was difficult to guess what time of the day it was. All around her people were coiled up with their belongings. So it probably was still very early in the day. The fog was traveling at a much faster rate than their brethren in the sky. And before she could notice most of the fog had ascended upwards. It revealed a saffron colored sky with all the theatrical beauty of a curtain being pulled on stage. Koyal wondered if she had imagined the fog in the first place. She was not much of a morning person and had hardly witnessed sunrises in her life, but she could bet everything on the fact that no sunrise could be more beautiful than that in the high mountains. Light streamed in through the orifice in the clouds and the peaks began to appear one by one. Light striking the snow on the peaks provided them a multicolored hue. It felt as if the gates of heaven themselves had opened to flood in light and joy. It was a moment that no camera could ever capture for it's true beauty could be seen only through one's heart. One more or rather the best photo I'm gonna cherish in my mental album. It was her habbit to store away the most beautiful, uncapturable moments in her memory, she would then review all those moments again and again till they got engraved in her mind.
Koyal suddenly felt something scratching at her legs. As she began to withdraw her leg in panic a claw protruded out from the man covered in a blanket lying adjacent to her. She got the fright of her life, with a start she fell on her back. A hen then poked it's head out of the blanket. It fixed it's beady eyes on her and began to cackle with all it's might. Koyal let out a laugh with relief and at the hilarity of the situation. She scooted as far away from it as possible. People let out groans and began to twist and turn. Surprisingly it's owner seemed the least perturbed and was the last to stir. He then got up in a jiffy, clucked something to the hen and finally peace ensued...
He then fixed his gace upon Koyal. Somehow I prefered the hen to him. "She liked you. You must be special," he croaked. Yes, croaked. There was no other apt word to describe his sound. I wonder how many more nutcases I'm gonna come across in these hills. First that Bhola and now him!
Henman-" I think it's going to rain."
He mumbled something else and hugged the chicken close to him.
Henman-" I better get some sleep before the rain hits, me and her both would be too restless once it starts."
Throughout his mutterings, Koyal was silent. Yet he carried on. For the hundredth time Koyal darling, what have you gotten yourself into!? From the moment this journey started, everything resembled a wild dream. Any moment now I'm pretty sure I'll get up in my bed at home. I wonder where in earth I'm heading to. I don't think the local people will take kindly to an outsider like me. She resolved to get down at the next stop. The sun glowed down with all it's glory. More villagers rubbed sleep from their eyes and began to get up. To her surprise no one spared more than a glance at her as if they were used to a lot of tourists. But the terrain and roads seem to be too unfriendly to tourists. I wonder which outsider in his right mind will travel in this rickety bus. Amongst them she saw a blonde head poking up. She adjusted her head to get a better view and she got another shock. He was certainly a foreigner. She couldn't make out which country he belonged to. He was clad in a yellow kurta with OM embellished in red over it, the typical attire of all foreign tourists in India. A necklace of rudraksha beads adorned his neck. A similar string of beads was wound on his wrist. He caught her eye and winked at her. Her cheeks colored at getting caught staring and she quickly averted her eyes. She then quit examining her surroundings. Koyal hugged her legs with her arms and sat staring at her toes. Minutes passed. She could hear the people talking amongst themselves. Everyone seemed to be wide awake now. She felt a shadow fall over her and looked above. Thick black clouds, harbringers of the rain that the hen-man had predicted, had completely obscured the sun. Moments after their appearance the bus came to a jarring halt. Is this a stop? Where will I go in this upcoming rain.. One by one everyone began climbing down. She wondered if this was the final stop of the bus. They seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. You obviously can't stay in the bus forever. Get down! She was the only one left to climb down by then. She picked up her bag and moved towards the ladder. Woah, it didn't seem to be this high up above yesterday. The same person who had asked her to climb up the previous night was waiting down impatiently. He saw her hesitating. "Throw your bag to me and then climb down."
She did just that and began to climb down. 1 2 1 2 ..yes..just like that ..calm and steady..wait, where is the next rung!? She couldn't find her footing. She looked down and the last thing she saw was the man staring at her in horror. She clamped her eyes shut. She had thought everything would happen in slow motion as in the movies. But it was a quick fall. She landed not on the hard ground she had anticipated on. She had landed on something much more softer and bonier. Wait bonier? She opened her eyes and beneath her lay.....Avinash.
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I know I had promised a deepveer moment. But once I began writing this chapter I found there was much to write before that. Hey but now they can't avoid each other anymore.
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