An Endless Day

Chapter- 13

We woke up together, the noise of just morning ringing loudly in my ears and also, cold. I had no idea when I slept. I remembered listening to his light snoring before some time around I let the fatigue overtake me. We had shifted in our sleep and were both lying on the ground now. The fire had gone out and our bags, which we had made pillows of were lying beside us. It took me a few seconds to adjust to the light and even when I did, I hated that I had to get up. My muscles were sore and the ground seemed too comfortable at that moment. However, cold did the trick and I had no option but to wake up. By the time I had made it to my feet, he had already started collecting the things we had left. He had his own bag and he had it on his shoulders. I did the same. It was seven in the morning, I assumed. The empty street from yesterday now had people roaming around, doing their morning chores. Luckily, no one saw us, as unknowingly we had set up our camp in a slightly hidden place. 

"What do you wanna do now?" He asked, his voice cracking a bit, morning clearly visible on him. 

I had no idea what I wanted to do. I wanted to brush my teeth, have a nice long bath in my bathroom, have clean clothes on, and wander around. But I knew I was far away. I missed my family, my room, my books. But the one thing that I had learnt on this 'trip' was to let go of things I can't have. I'm not the only one suffering but I was the only one who could do something about my own suffering. 

"Let's walk" I said, indicating to the street ahead. He smiled, and that's what we did. We took our things and strolled around. We never had a thing in mind when we started this, and we don't have a thing now. I believe we'll reach where we were meant to be. 

The road turned out to be a sort of street market, where the sellers were setting their little shops in hopes of an early earning. An elderly man carried a small basket over his head, a bunch of snacks in it. He didn't have a shop, instead carried the bunch to a small sheet spread across on the ground. His arms gave up and all the things he had fell down. 

Before I had time to register what had happened, he ran and reached to where the man had fallen and began picking up his things and putting them back into the basket. He also gave a hand to the man and helped him reach his place and sit down. I had reached to the place till then. 

"Are you okay baba? Can I get something for you?" his voice had changed. Till now it had been a mix of confident and clever, if you leave out the time when it was just vulnerable and nothing else. Here it was kind and gentle. 

The man trembled and with great difficulty put his hands on his head, blessing him over and over again. 

.

.

"The greatest snacks of all time! The recipe taken from the ancient royal kingdom of Manali. Just a small amount of thirty rupees for this delicacy!"

"Take back home the taste of Manali! Just in thirty rupees."

Yes, we were now shouting, standing in the middle of the road and looked out for tourists to sell the snacks. Some things were made up, others were true. Nevertheless, we had a bunch of customers ready to buy our products and we had been gaining a whole lot of attention. 

The old man lived with his old woman. They together made the snacks in the evening and sold them in the morning. They had no children and so they worked together and earned for themselves. They were more kind to us than anyone ever has been. The man's wife, now our aunty, fed us breakfast.She even let us freshen up in their hut, which was not far away from the street. We had been given the task of bringing all the snacks to the street. And after a series of rounds from the hut to the old man's little business location, I realized a lot of things.