Rudra was helping Suraj clear out the weeds from the field. Though he clearly thought that such work was beneath him, he admittedly was enjoying the exercise. Even Suraj, initially skeptical, had mellowed down a bit and was being moderately friendly. Essentially, he provided company, which Rudra precariously lacked in this place.
Suraj had informed him that he had been brought here from Mumbai, where he had gone in the hope of finding a job. But an accident had occurred and rather than spending all their life earnings on his treatment there, they had him shifted to the hometown where the local doctor could examine him.
"So how can I go to Mumbai from here?"
"Well," said Suraj thoughtfully, "I suppose you would have to walk to the next town, which is a fairly bigger town than ours. It has a cinema as well, you know. Then you take the bus to Ranjangaon and then another bus to some city. From their I presume you can get a train to Mumbai."
Rudra was aghast, "That is how you go to Mumbai?"
"Yeah", said Suraj smiling, "You have actually done all this. It's just that you don't remember."
***
As night came, Rudra resolved that he would go to the next town and see what he could do to get to Mumbai. He did not have much money on him, but he had been miraculously able to locate his wallet in a bag with his clothes and other things. Apparently, the hospital to which he had been immediately rushed to had taken his belongings and kept them safe. He wondered why his cell phone was not there as well. He did not know the phone number of even one of his people in Mumbai.
He informed his intention to leave to Tanvi. She had looked uncertain for a moment but had nodded her assent. For some reason, Rudra felt a strange disquiet when that happened.
He was about to lie down on his bed when Tanvi opened the door and stepped inside. Rudra sat up again. Her face had a frown.
"What is it, Tanvi?" asked Rudra. He instinctively knew it was something bad.
"It seems that a storm has caught up near the edge of our town." Rudra looked out of his window and saw that it had indeed started to rain. "The storm, it seems is going to last for some time."
"So..?" asked Rudra, already fearing the worst.
"So, the only road out of the town has been cut down. Trees have fallen and further ahead, a landslide has occurred. We are shut in."
Rudra hung his head. He imagined luck laughing it's head off.
