Priti was okay whenever Chaits looked at her for almost two weeks after their crazy speed outing. She seemed to have shed the inhibitions about Lucky and his friends following her… though one change had happened she used to pick up and drop off Chaits on the way to college and way back home – almost daily.
It was now really cold as the New Year approached. People were getting ready for Christmas vacation. Everyone had plans. Natasha was going to Goa to visit her grandmother. Deb was going along with Amit to see how Mumbai celebrated the New Year’s Eve, Chaps and Payal and their families were visiting Jodhpur for a family function and reunion.
Priti was pondering over to go to Mumbai with her dad and may be meeting with her old group to enjoy those crazy fun moments they shared before she joined this college.
Chaits was busy in a project and Campus interviews. Just before the Christmas vacation began Chaits had come running into the canteen – his face beaming with joy… “Guys… I’ve been selected by Netsoftworth, Bangalore – that’s the best IT Company in India. They’re paying me fantastic starting salary and the salary starts from today! This means, I earn as I learn and as soon as my results for the last year are out – I’ve a job!”
“Wow!” screamed everyone, we want a treat – right now – here in this canteen” and they were all excited at Chaits’ success.
Soon the vacation started and everyone left to their respective destinations as they had planned. Chaits was busy as he had to submit his project by end of first week after the vacations.
As far as the New Year was concerned – Chaits had only one plan in mind to complete the project before New Year’ Eve and then probably visit Go Bananas…
The week flew and Chaits worked and worked. His entire group was out of town and there was nobody to visit or nobody who would call or visit him. He had the opportunity for full concentration to his project to complete it before everyone returns.
It was almost noon as he woke up on 31st December… He had been working late and had managed to complete and review his project.
He had a content sleep as he knew his work was done. He was just sipping his morning tea when he started to ponder, ‘Hey! What am I gonna do today? It is new years and I’ve finished my project – I’ve got all the time in the world to enjoy – Oh! How I wish that everyone was here – but – wait a minute – why don’t I go to Mumbai where Amit and Deb are enjoying…. Yes! I’ll do that – Mumbai is just about 2-3 hours from here and it’s still noon. I can definitely reach there on time to enjoy.’
He got up and started to freshen up – took a shave and looked at himself in the mirror – ‘Boy! Aren’t you a handsome dude?’
He had few hours to kill for the evening bus that’d take him to Mumbai for the New Year’s… He opened up this laptop and started going through the photos of his group.
His attention was arrested as he looked at the photo of Priti that he had clicked in Go Bananas on his birthday. His heart was beating fast as he looked at her again and again unabashed – his eyes trying to measure – her vital stats and not seeming to be content with her attractive face – her sparkling eyes – her beautiful smile – ‘she is beauty incarnate’ thought Chaits and absently got a pen and a paper and started scribbling…
He lost the count of time as he kept on scribbling page after page. Finally he looked up, “Oh! My God – I’ve missed my bus!”
Now he had a problem ahead – his plans to go to Mumbai for New Year’s had gone down to scribbling – he would have to be content – alone at Go Bananas.
He decided to make it different and scrambled over to find his clothes. After about half an hour he looked at himself in the mirror.
He was wearing a sleek trendy black coloured trouser with a tight round neck shimmering black sleeveless T-shirt that showed his muscles clearly. A trendy brown belt separated the black colour on which he was now pondering – what should I do? He ran his hand through his wardrobe and finally settled down for a polished grey blazer. He paused in front of the mirror fully adorned and thought, ‘Now – I am close to a style that would perhaps impress Pinky… She looks almost like Alisha and I think she’s better than Alisha for I know her personally…’ he smiled at his image in the mirror, ‘Today, I will test this getup at Go Bananas… If I get those glances from pretty girls – I will be sure to impress Pinky with my style.’
He sat down to look at the papers on which his thoughts were scribbled and realized ‘Hey! I can be poetic when I write…’ and started reading those again dreaming about his Pinky…
C’mon Chaits’ … said Chaits to himself… it’s time for the act – get ready… he undressed, kept his attire ready and entered the bathroom he needed to be fresh and yes… the test was going to be a big one. Feeling fresh, he had just stopped out of the bathroom when the doorbell rang.
‘Why do these door-to-door sales people need to work on evenings like the New Year’s?’ thus thinking he opened the door.
For a moment he was stunned – he was looking at Priti standing at the door all dressed up the Go Bananas style smiling at him…
“Oops!” he gasped and ran into the bedroom realizing he only had his towel to cover him, “Hi! Pinky…” he shouted from inside, “come on in – give me about 10 minutes and I’ll join you” He frantically started dressing and getting ready…
‘Pinky was supposed to be in Mumbai with her dad for New Year’s – how come she’s here knocking at my door?’
He looked at his image in the mirror and smiled, ‘Time for the show…!’
He stepped out of the bedroom well dressed in the black colour he had selected he saw Pinky looking at him intently her jaw dropped and mouth wide open. His heart had butterflies all around knowing that he had the exact reaction he wanted from Priti.
“Hi Pinky!” he said extra softly.
Priti looked at him and smiled, “I was getting bored in Mumbai and thought why not I return… I was going to do nothing today when I realized – you were still here – so let’s enjoy the New Year’s today what say?”
“Okay.” Chaits beamed and said. “Go Bananas?”
“No… Pack your clothes for a day- we are going out to a Paradise” said Priti intriguingly.
“Where?” Chaits asked puzzled.
“You like Mother Nature – don’t you? So we are going to a place in arms of Mother Nature for the New Year’s party and it’ll be too late for us to return – so we’ll be staying over after the party gets over – have a nice breakfast and return tomorrow morning “said Priti
“Fine,” said Chaits and disappeared in bedroom again. He packed his clothes for the stay over and was about to zip the bag when he saw his scribbled papers – he picked them up and put them in the front pocket of the bag…
“You drive” Priti handed him the keys of her car, “I’ll tell you the way”
“Okay” said Chaits and turned on the ignition. The car started and his hand automatically moved over to the car deck and he switched it on “One for the road “he shouted…
“It’s about one and half hour’s drive from here” Priti told him as they moved out of the petrol pump, “toward the highway” she guided as both of them watched the road with their hearts beating silently… and he singing romantic songs along with the music that played on their heartbeats…
Soon they were on the highway moving toward Mumbai when, Priti said, “Chaits, we have a left turn coming about a kilometre from this point”
“That road goes through the jungle and later on joins Mumbai-Goa highway” Chaits said as the song turned over to a fast party song and Chaits could not hear what Priti said because he suddenly had increased the volume…
As they came to the turn Chaits in his classic style skidded the rear wheels for a sharp left tum and moved on cursing Priti’s dad’s mechanic who had fitted the speed limiter gadget to Priti’s car.
The music turned on ‘Tanha Dil’ by Shaan and Chaits sang along with him – Priti was lost in amazement at the golden voice of Chaits. Unknown to them – a car followed them, distantly…
As they went deeper in the jungle the air became fresher and cooler. It was a real scenic drive.
“Take a left from here Chaits” Chaits first looked at a crude road going left toward a hill and then at Priti who put a finger on her lips and smiled.
Chaits look a left turn and started driving on that crude road. It was not a good quality road and Chaits found it too bumpy for comfort and had to be very skilful due to the curves that hid the view of road further into the deep jungle unknown to them the car was still following them at a distance hidden by the curves in the jungle.
Chaits drove on tediously and a sign loomed ahead ‘Jungle Homes’ and he looked at Priti with a question mark clearly visible on his forehead – Priti just gave him a sweet smile in return.
As they approached the main gate, the security sounded a sharp whistle and peeped in – Priti fished out a card flashed at him…
“Welcome – Ma’am” the security smiled and waved at the gate. The huge gate opened and Chaits drove in slowly. He was amazed at the infrastructure he saw within the premises of ‘Jungle Homes’…
It was a fantasy for anyone who loved to be in the arms of Mother Nature. It was located in midst of dense forest. Though geographically the location was nearer to the main highway, it was at the beginning of reserved forest area that spanned across hundreds of square kilometres, if one went further and the only way to go further was on foot…
These parts later merged into very forests of Jawli toward southern Konkan region. The entire perimeter of the premise was fenced with tough barbed wire to prevent unauthorized entry of people and wild animals alike…
There were many clearings in the dense forest where one could see sizable wooden hut like structures in each clearing with numbers on them. Though they looked like massive wooden huts they had almost everything… Each hut had separate parking lots to park vehicles.
The place had a trendy food corner that served 24 hrs. “Wow!” said Chaits amazed, “do they have electricity here?”
“Yes. They do in fact Tata Power has a generating station close by and they’ve nonstop electric supply here… Stop at the farthest hut Chaits – the number is L7” Priti guided him.
Chaits brought the car to a screeching halt as he looked at ‘L7’. It was a large hut in the clearing. You could see the fence and dense open jungle beyond it… behind it was rivulet that flowed through the premise giving regular water supply. The rivulet had a fork – the fork that went into the premise first to a treatment plant that was in house and flowed into the premise decorating the premise with its presence and flowed out to meet the other fork again and into the jungle.
The other fork entered only the part of premise that was behind L7 in form of a waterfall and then turning into rivulet again turned and went out of the premise to meet the other fork… It was like a personally owned waterfall for a person who stayed in L7…
Chaits parked the car and got out. He looked around still not able to digest the beauty of the place. Priti went ahead and opened the door of hut and beckoned Chaits in – inviting him to see interiors…
“Hey! This place is cosy” Chaits awed looked around. He was standing in the main hall & of the hut. It was furnished with natural material. Cut out logs of dead trees were used to make the natural interiors. A TV occupied a corner on the log. The centre table and chairs around it that’s how these pieces of furniture made of logs. The sofa was made using evenly tied bales of straw topped with foam coating making it really comfortable. The wall on the other side had two doors that led to bedrooms which had attached toilet-bath in each. The only wall on the right side had a six inch thick carpet made of straw again covered with foam and a thick cloth. To the right of the carpet was a stone formation forming the fireplace and the chimney to let the smoke out.
Apart from modern gadgets like TV, the bulbs the only part of the room that was not so natural were the panes that had glass windows fitted in for the view and the thick curtains to fend off bright light during the day…
“Wow” thought Chaits and entered the bedroom that directly faced the waterfall behind He looked around there was a massive bed made of hay stack bound around with a thick cloth over it to prevent any edges that would prick, if you lie on it…
The bed was about 2 feet thick and faced a fireplace similar to the one in the living room. There was a table and chair made of logs and a log cut out held a full sized mirror. There was a box to keep clothes in and two different windows that had views of the dense forest. The window toward the right side of the bed looked directly at the water fall and the window at the back showed how dense the forest was…
Chaits opened the bathroom door to check what amnesties awaited and was amazed… the water from the waterfall ran through this bathroom creating a small attractive pond that had a dam like door to open the cold water flow in to a pit which served like a bath tub which also had & faucets that flowed with hot water from the tanks overhead. One tank had a solar heater while other used the heat generated by the fireplace to boil water.
“Oh! This is heaven” said Chaits as he looked around in wonder… “Thanks Pinky” he said with genuine gratitude “for showing a place like this… I’m greatly indebted…”
“You’ll soon be leaving us and get busy with your job…so… I thought, this could be a great parting gift… I’m sure this will be a memorable outing for you- so that you’ll never ever forget me…”
“I will remember my Pinky even without the Jungle Homes” he smiled at her, “would you mind if I take the bedroom next to the waterfall?”
“Be my guest” she laughed at his awed excitement, her laughter ringing a chime of a dozen bells in his heart…
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