Diary from Heaven

Recipe for Disaster

He didn’t care about the job anymore. He started staying away from everyone he knew. He felt that if he stayed around them, he might end up hurting them. He valued everyone at 7C. He just wanted to keep moving and not be in one place but couldn’t quit the job as he needed the money.

Bijoy was concerned and tried to talk to him, but Arun just avoided.

He wanted to move out of the office; he wanted to be around people who would have no idea about his life. He quit his job at 7C and joined a Market Research firm, Value Inc., in 2004 where he would meet, Shalu, his future girlfriend and the second most important character in Arun’s story. Words from the letter kept echoing his mind, and the cravings kept him on his toes.

At Value Inc., his group was quite vibrant, just what he wanted. The induction training had seven people, and he became friends with all. Nitin, the youngest of them, was a happy go lucky guy and in love with Shraddha who was older than him. Shraddha was due to marry someone else but was also in love with Nitin, confusing? Then there was Prashant, who would sing amazing Ghazals when he was drunk. Arun loved Ghazals. Sriram the rock star was chilled. Let’s not forget Shalu, Arun’s future girlfriend, who was also part of the group. Then there was Sheetal, actually, let’s just ignore her because she was not part of the group.

Arun excelled in the mock calls during the induction training, and the trainer assigned him to one of the best processes in the company.

Value Inc. was located in an office complex on the main MG Road stretch in Gurgaon. Arun loved this stretch because Ronnie had changed his base from Band Baja Baraat to a new night club in Sahara Mall. With Ronnie so close to his office, getting stuff was never an issue for Arun. He would mostly smoke weed-filled cigarettes during training breaks.

Induction training was to end on a Friday, which meant that they had the entire weekend before hitting the floor on Monday. Arun bounced off the idea of a day picnic to all. Damdama Lake was one of the options in Delhi NCR, but Nitin and Shraddha insisted that they should go out of town for the weekend. After much deliberation, Arun mentioned about Lansdowne, near Dehradun, a place Ronnie always suggested him to visit.

Due to some reasons, Shraddha got late, and they could only leave Gurgaon at 11:00 the next day. She had a hard time convincing her Dad to let her go out of town. It was only when Shalu assured him that he allowed Shraddha to go out.

Their car was full of Old Monk bottles and cigarettes, and of course, Breezer for the ladies. This is one trip Arun should have avoided at all cost. “At least I am not doing drugs,” thought Arun as he took a sip of Old Monk in the car on the way to Lansdowne. He was trying to comfort himself.

Lansdowne is a hill station in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand, close to Dehradun. It was the most peaceful hill station he had ever visited. Unlike most hill stations where people and vehicles continuously race to reach prime spots, Lansdowne was the opposite. It was peaceful, it was secluded, and it looked like a set of a horror movie. There were trees all around, and you couldn’t miss the old Church and numerous cemeteries. So, yes, this is a place to be if you are a drunkard or a junkie. Now Arun understood why Ronnie kept asking him to visit this place.

They reached Lansdowne late in the afternoon. Because of some unknown reasons, there was a place called Gole market in Lansdowne which only had one shop. A market with just one shop, “how exciting,” is what everyone said together as they got off the car stretching their legs.

It was a one-stop-shop for everything. In fact, it was like a Mall. This small shop had everything you needed; Prashant bought a tongue cleaner and a toothbrush, Arun and Sriram bought cigarettes, Shalu and Shraddha wanted Maggie and Nitin wanted a Disprin for headache. You name it, and you got it. This shop was like a magic hat, it looked small, but you could pull anything out of it.

While Shalu and Shraddha ate Maggie sitting on chairs in front of the shop, Arun and Sriram enjoyed Old Monk with a cigarette.

After an enquiry at the shop, they all reached the cottage. It was barely 500 meters from the shop. Nitin had already booked the cottage.

Nitin and Shraddha took the cabin on the first floor because it was secluded and they wanted some privacy. Everyone else moved into the bigger cottage with two rooms on the ground floor and got down to business.

Arun had brought a cassette player along and played his mixes. Everyone danced to the music sipping Old Monk. Nitin and Shraddha joined them after a while.

“RELIEVED?” is what Arun shouted as they entered the cabin, and everyone burst into laughter.

Shraddha giggled, blushed and sat along Shalu while Nitin stopped the music. There was still some sunshine left, so Nitin asked everyone to come for a walk. Reluctantly everyone agreed.

It was a bit chilly outside. They all walked towards the Gole Market and sat on the chairs placed outside the shop. Arun asked the shopkeeper about places to visit nearby. He pointed towards a direction and said that there’s a 150-year-old church 2-3 kilometres down the road. Though everyone was reluctant to walk so much, Arun and Nitin persuaded them.

As they walked, it got darker and chillier because roads there were really narrow and the tree cover made it look as if it was night already.

On the way to the church, they clicked many group photos. They kept walking and asking for directions to the church.

On the way to the church, they came across a cemetery about 30 feet down from the road on the left side. While the girls waited on the road, Arun, Nitin, Sriram and Prashant went down. Some of the graves were at least 180 years old. There was a chill in the air all around, and like kids, they moved from one grave to the other reading names, messages and dates on the tombstones.

“Guys it is getting cold, let’s get out of here,” said Shalu looking around as the wind started to pick up speed and the sound it created while passing through the leaves was haunting.

They finally reached St. Mary's Church. It was a towering structure, compared to the small houses around it.

Upon seeing the church themselves, everyone could understand why the shopkeeper referred to it as the “Jewel of Lansdowne”.  It looked as if it had been standing alone, waiting for guests.

There was a mystery about everything at Lansdowne that attracted Arun. He felt at peace as he looked at the church.

The plaque outside the church had a brief history about it, “Constructed in 1895 by Col A.W.B. Hume of Royal Engineers.” Lansdowne was developed by the British for catering for the Recruits Training centre of the Garhwal Rifles in 1887 so everything was reminiscent of old British Raj here.

While Nitin and Shraddha looked for a cosy spot for some outdoor romance, Arun, Prashant, Shalu, and Sriram looked around the church. Though the church was locked, they clicked a few group photographs and moved back to the front of the church to locate Nitin and Shraddha.

“I have to pee,” said Arun and rushed away from the church, hunting for a place to relieve.

“Me too,” said Sriram as he followed Arun.

“Get a room, guys,” said Arun as he spotted the lovebirds kissing behind a tree and even as Shraddha and Nitin were trying to get out of their intimate pose, Arun and Sriram unzipped and started peeing.

“Aaahhhhhhh...,” was the duet they both sang as they relieved with satisfaction visible on their faces.

“Eweeee... gross, you guys are gross; cover-up will you,” screamed Shraddha as she covered her eyes and nose.

As they walked back, it was already dark, and the wind and the trees seemed to be playing with their minds. The tree and the wind created, what seemed like a symphony, especially meant for a horror movie.

While going back, Arun spotted an open area from where the entire valley was visible; it seemed as if the world inside the tree cover was totally oblivious to the world outside. Outside it was still bright, while inside the tree cover, on the road, it was already dark.

Arun stood there, enjoying the cool breeze as everyone sat around resting. Shraddha lay in Nitin’s arms, and Shalu watched Arun enjoy the breeze and the view.

“So, what’s your story, buddy?” asked Shalu as Arun looked back at her.

Shalu was quite tall with healthy built and had a dark complexion. Her father had lost his construction business in Pune to his partners and moved to Gwalior. So her family was going through tough times.

“I have no story,” replied Arun looking towards the skyline as words from Harveen’s letter echoed his mind, and he closed his eyes.

“Sure you do, everyone has a story,” Shalu persisted, but Arun remained quiet.

“For instance, the story behind the white powder that you forgot to clean when you came back to the training room the other day,” said Shraddha while trying to hide in Nitin’s arm.

“Aaahhhhh... that?” is all Arun could utter.

“It’s painful, let’s just leave it at that,” he said, looking back at the horizon.

“So what’s up with you guys?” asked Sriram looking at Shraddha and Nitin.

“We are in love,” replied Nitin looking at Shraddha.

“... so???” asked Sriram.

“...but we can’t get married,” Nitin continued looking distraught.

“Why not guys?” asked Shalu.

“Because she is already engaged to a software engineer who is earning quite well and what do I earn? Peanuts?” replied Nitin taking a deep breath.

“Then, why stay together?” asked Sriram.

“We wanted to enjoy these last few moments together, that is why I insisted on going outside of Delhi when you guys were planning for a day picnic,” said Shraddha.

“She’s getting married soon,” said Nitin with sadness.

“That’s pretty bold of you guys,” said Arun.

“It’s dumb, why don’t you guys just get married?” asked Sriram giggling.

“Well, it’s not that simple. I am a Bengali, and she’s a Punjabi. Her father will never agree for our relationship, and she will never go against his will,” said Nitin looking towards Shraddha.

“You guys are great, in fact, you guys are Mahapurush (a great man),” said Sriram as he rotated his hands in front of them, pretending to perform aarti (a Hindu ritual to welcome or honour someone).

Sriram ran for safety as Nitin got up and chased him.

“Enough guys; daylight is almost gone, it’s going to get real dark on the road here; let’s head back to the cottage,” said Shalu. Everyone laughed and started walking back to the cottage.

Back at the cottage, they all gathered in the bigger cabin on the ground floor.

Arun had already ordered for the food, and the caretaker had left to buy stuff from the market. Before going, he had arranged for the bonfire out in the front lawn. He had nicely arranged chairs around the bonfire; everyone got comfortable with his or her drinks as Prashant sang Jagjit Singh Ghazals and a few other old Hindi songs. The only condition was that the music and screaming should be limited only to the inside of cabins and not outside during bonfire.

At around 10:00 PM the dinner was served in the cabin, post which everyone went out for a short walk.

The music and the madness continued afterwards. Drinks poured like rain, and cigarette smoke filled the room as the caretaker entered the cabin, coughing, at around 00:15. “It is quite late, sahib; can you keep the music down, please? The neighbours are complaining,” he said, peeking inside. Arun immediately swung into action and reduced the volume.

Some more Ghazals by Prashant followed, who kept the night alive with his soulful voice.

Next day was reserved for a visit to nearby places. The shopkeeper advised them to avoid visiting Dehradun as it would be too crowded.

They first visited the tip-top-point, which was the highest point in Lansdowne from where the mighty snow-covered Himalayas could be viewed.

Then they visited Tarkeshwar Mahadev Temple. They hiked up from a nearby village to reach the temple. It was surrounded by lush forests of pine and cedar trees.

By the time they reached Santoshi Ma Temple, it was afternoon and time for lunch. They stopped at a hotel, and the speciality of this hotel was a family size pizza. It was so huge that even together, they could not finish it. They clicked a few more group photos in front of an old tree in the hotel.

Shalu was feeling sick because of all the travelling through the hills, so everyone decided to head back to the cottage and chill there.  

In the cottage, the madness continued throughout the night. Prashant and Shalu managed to make out in the inner room as Arun and Sriram kept awake in the other room finishing leftover Rum and smoking cigarettes.

The next morning they headed back to Delhi. On the way back, everyone was excited and happy. The Rum was all gone; and everyone seemed rejuvenated, except for Shalu, who was still sloshed out.

Destiny had already brewed a storm which was set to enter Arun’s life on their arrival in Gurgaon.