The Forgotten Faith

The meeting is postponed

                           ***
Not all who wander are lost...
                           ***

I woke up to the sound of the beeping alarm clock, it was 6:00 am. The sun had just risen and from my window I could see the beautiful garden of the hotel Carnations, the hotel I was staying in. I sat up and stretched, embracing the new day. Today's appointment and to do stuff ran through my mind as I made my way to the washroom to get ready for the day.
After a while, I heard a faint knock at my door. Amar had woken up so early? I wondered. I was right, as soon as I opened the door I saw him. He had put on a plane white t-shirt and jeans and I wondered if this guy ever wears formals. I was still in my t-shirt and pyjamas.
"Good morning." He said sweetly. "I thought of checking if you are awake."
I smiled at him, having no such caring friends back home, I was happy that after a whole year someone at least cared.
"So...can I come in?"
"Yeah...sure." I hesitated a little at first.
He moved to the side and began pushing a trolley through the door.
"Whoa...what's this?" Amar had brought me bed tea? Incredible!
"Thought you would love to start the day with tea."
"How did you know I would want tea? I could be craving for coffee."
"Your face doesn't say that you know and by the way it was just a lucky guess."
All of Amar's guesses always turned lucky.
"Oh, coming back to the main point. The meeting is cancelled for today and postponed to the twenty third."
"What?!"
He smirked, "You needed this didn't you. Be happy, it will be like a small vacation."
"But what are you planning to do for three long days?" I asked.
"There is a nice place to the east, we can go there. Don't worry I will plan out everything well."
I should have been scared, should have felt weird. I don't even know him but somehow I couldn't stop myself from investing a great deal of trust in him. It was right or wrong, I didn't know but somehow I didn't feel uneasy with him. I felt as though we were always friends. I thus agreed to his proposal.

***
The navigation arrow was blinking, displaying the route that we had taken.
"Where are we going Amar?"
"Chandraprabha wildlife sanctuary." He said.
"Huh? Really?" I deadpanned.
He grinned. "Actually my relatives stay nearby, so I wanted to meet them, if you don't mind?"
"Alright." I could at least do that to amend for the mistake of sleeping the whole night while he drove.
For the next two hours we kept talking and talking. The radio kept playing beautiful melodies but one particular song made my eardrums burst. Okay that was an exaggeration but it was unbearable.
"Stop the radio please." I almost screamed.
He kept looking at me innocently.
"Please." I lowered my tone a bit noticing his worried expression.
Soon after, the car stopped.
"I told you to stop the radio not the car." I stared at him.
He smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck he replied, "I didn't really stop it you know. It got stopped on its own."
"You mean we are now stuck in the middle of nowhere?" I almost yelled.
"No. no. this is Varanasi and trust me it is a beautiful place. We can stay here for our vacations."
Varanasi. The one word that brought back bitter memories I wanted to keep aside.
"But I don't want to stay here."
"Just this once. You won't regret, I promise." He begged with his eyes. I didn't know what effect he had on me. I couldn't refuse.
"Fine." I breathed out the words and with that I let go of my resistance too.

***
"Mom, I want to go to Varanasi." A small girl came shouting out these words loudly.
Her father picked her up and made her sit on his lap.
"And why is that?" mother asked.
"Because I heard it is Shiva's city." The little girl grinned.
"Okay I will take you there then but only on one condition. You will always have milk okay?" Her father said.
The little girl grumbled, pouting her lips but finally agreed. Nothing could stop her from going to the city where her ardent deity was worshipped.
A tear rolled down my cheek as I thought about my father. I quickly wiped the tear away. Amar was sitting in front of me, reading the menu. Thankfully he didn't notice the tear.
"So what will you have?" He asked, looking up at me.
"Milk." I mumbled.
Before he could order, we heard a big noise. It was as though thousands of people had gathered somewhere, shouting slogans. We couldn't make out what they were saying. Amar enquired with the owner of the dhaba and soon we were informed that today was Mahashivratri and this chaos was caused by Shiva's wedding procession.
Great! This was the last thing I wanted today.
"This is interesting. Let's go and see." Amar's eyes sparkled.
"No way." I protested.
"It's just a procession Nitya!"
Yes, it was indeed just a procession. Wouldn't hurt to go and watch it. Who said atheist couldn't watch festivals?