Shruti's journey - Part 1

Shruti was awakened, to find herself in the air, a few inches above her seat. "Aargh!" She yelped angrily, as she landed partly on the seat partly and Bhargav who had been sitting next to her. The impact of the turn in the road had lifted her off and woken her up with a jerk.

"Anil, you idiot!" Shruti yelled, sliding back to her own seat. "Would it kill you to slow down before you turn?"

"Does it look like we're not turning at any point on this road?" Anil asked, turning around to face her.

 

"Oh my god, look ahead of you," Shruti said, burying her face in her hands. She had never been in a car that was being driven so rashly, and on a mountainside on the way to Manali, had to be the place she was when she experienced it. Shruti looked out the window. There wasn't even a railing of any sort at the edge of the mountain. Anil is a terrible driver, she decided.

“You shouldn't bother trying to shout, Shruti,” Bhargav told her, not bothering to swallow the cheetos he’d been chewing before he opened his mouth to speak. “Your voice doesn't get any louder, just squeakier and more annoying.”

“I hope my landing on you crushed you. I hope it hurt, Bhargav,” Shruti sneered.

“Of course it did, you're fat,” Bhargav said. Shruti slapped his back. “Shut up!” She shouted, hitting him more. “Shut up shut up shut up!”

“There we go again. What did I tell you about shouting?” Bhargav said.

“Shut up, both of you. Aman is going to die,” said a teary-eyed Rishika.

“Ugh,” Shruti said, rolling her eyes. Bhargav went back to watching Kal Ho Naa Ho on his tablet, with Rishika, his girlfriend.

Shruti turned back to the window, going back to sleep.

Shruti was in Raghav’s arms, sprawled across the grass. It was a summer day, but not as hot as it usually was in Hyderabad. It was just right. She looked up at him. He was perfect. Then she looked back down at his phone, and swiped to see the next photo.

Shruti’s eyes snapped open. She felt a lump in her throat. No, she told herself. Not here. Nobody knew what had happened to her, and she didn't plan on ever telling them. But she couldn't not think of it; it wasn't a wonder that it had such a humongous impact on her. Apart from it, Shruti had no complaints about her life. Or maybe when something this big happens, all your old complaints feel silly, she thought to herself. She focused on the beautiful scenery outside; greenery at eye level, and snow-capped mountains far off in the distance.

Shruti'd moved recently, to stay with her parents. Her friends at her new college were the best. Of course she didn't know for sure, because she hasn't had many friends in a long, long time. They'd been awfully nice to her. Shruti never felt that a lack of friends would be a problem when she relocated, because MBBS was capable of keeping a person busy enough to not realise that they had no social life. Now that she had a group of friends, though, she was glad that she didn't miss out on them.  They'd done everything they could to help her feel at home; they gave her notes to catch up before first internals, kept her informed about which teacher’s class was worth paying attention to, provided her with gossip in classes which weren't worth listening to, and helped her recognize which seniors she wanted to steer clear of. Now, they'd even invited her to go along with them to Manali, a trip they'd planned after the crazy stress of internals, to cool off. Shruti read about many people whose outlook on life had changed with the impact of travel. If she was lucky, maybe the same would happen to her.

This is the first part of a story. Click here to read Part 2.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.