FLY TO THE ZENITH OF SUCCESS

I usually reach Trivandrum on Sunday evening after spending a cosy weekend with my family at my natives. That morning, my close friend Neeraj called me from Trivandrum and asked me to come a little earlier than usual as he had something planned. So I quickly finished off some chores and packed my bags and was in Trivandrum by 4:30 pm. As soon as I set foot in Trivandrum, I sent Neeraj a text message informing him of my arrival. Within no time, he picked me up and headed towards the museum to pick up another friend of ours named Jes. Jes, Neeraj and I were roommates when we were in the college hostel . Jes is one funny character. He is fat and we used to call “Chullan”, but Neeraj is thin and lanky. Anyone would think twice before patting him on his back, let alone beat him. He, who has very little experience in driving, was the one at the wheel. After a while of driving and chit chatting, I rolled down the windows and felt the gush of wind hit my face, the moist air smelling of the sea. I closed my eyes and devoured the feeling. We had reached the beach. We hopped out of the car and headed towards the snack cart where they sold hot and steamy Mulagu Bajji’s and Chaaya. Being a Sunday, the beach was crowded with families, friends and kids. We quickly finished the snacks and stepped onto the sand for a stroll in the beautiful evening sun. The soft rays of the sun, just before it set, sprayed the whole beach with a tinge of orange.

We were still enjoying our stroll, pushing each other, tripping, reminiscing the old times when we noticed something strange. A small crowd had gathered at one point on the beach and we could see the flickering flames of candles in between the crowd. We then realized that a famous writer and director named Lohithadas had passed away that morning. We approached the crowd and saw that there was a picture of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, with two lady foreigners paying homage. They were crying their hearts out for Michael. We too, stood there for a minute and continued our stroll. A little later, we saw some familiar faces walk towards us from the opposite direction. They were our college buddies. We were seeing each other after quite a while so we caught up and chilled out for a bit. They were all on bikes and on a road trip. After bidding good bye to them, we walked back to our car because, it had been a while and we sensed a our stomachs burning. http://my.opera.com/ArunRaj/files/blog-fileupload.dmlWe were hungry! On our way back we saw that this time Michael’s picture was alone, the ladies had left. We then drove to our favourite and famous hotel Zam Zam. My friends wasted no time in ordering Tandoori Chicken for themselves, which left me clueless as I wondered what to order for myself, whos a vegetarian. Eventually, I settled for Patthiri and Paneer Butter Masala. The meal was indeed satisfying after I had a parota as the final bit. I then got dropped off and bid each other good night.