THE GIRL WITH THE MEMORIAL TATTOOS

Chapter 3 BEGINNING OF A BRIGHT DAY

S 

urya woke up from his bed with the spirit of cheerfulness lingering in his eyes besides speechless enthusiasm. Very well, it’s not his usual days, which start mundanely with expressionless face, imagining a boring day ahead draining all his energy, taking small strides toward mirror like a Parkinson’s patient and stay there in catatonic phase for a moment before slowly brushing his teeth. Today is a special day, a day in Manali. He booked a room in the Folklore hostel along with his friends in the night time 2 days back, found a bed groping in the dark and put all his luggage. He didn’t appreciate the beauty of the room then, but in the presence of early morning sunrise, which was cheering him, instilling positive vibes, welcoming a thought of a beautiful day ahead, he could see the room colorfully occupied with triple decker beds on either side of the window. His friends were sleeping tight. One guy Bharat was hugging his pillow imagining his Girlfriend, kissing vigorously as if there was no tomorrow. ‘i***t!’ remarked Surya looking at Bharat’s face which was already in a pout. ‘Get up! Bharat! You are the organizer. You have to take the lead. Now, you are f*****g your own pillow! I have seen people smothered by pillow. Now pillow is getting smothered by you’. Bharat slowly opened his eyes, gave an idiotic smile and replied, ‘Even pillows need a boyfriend yaar’ and chuckled at his lame joke! 

Surya gave a sigh thinking about the helpless situation he was in to motivate others. He finished his nature’s call. He was eager to explore the beautiful city Manali. He came outside at the balcony breathing the fresh air of Manali, staring at the wooden pillared double floored wooden cabin with Namaste shaped top. Chakradhar came beside him greeting ‘Good Morning Surya! Oh Man you look like you had push-ups just now! All of a sudden you look like a bodybuilder man!’. Well, Surya was on full sleeve T-shirt all these days with them. Now he wore a half sleeve T-shirt exposing his rippling biceps. Anyhow Surya was not in the mood for a big talk while all his heart was in exploring the hidden beauty of Manali, populated by beautiful tiny skirt foreigners with great shape exposing their well-built torso. Even from the Balcony he could see so many hot girls passing by. Surya feel so timeless doing this activity of checking out girls as regular morning routine. He never gets bored staring unless someone caught him up doing that action, either the girl or somebody else. If he was with his best buds, he felt better expressing his hot fantasies. It was the moment Neha came out of the room. She waved ‘Hi’ at Surya and went on doing stretching. She was looking beautiful with leggings and black T-shirt against her fair face exaggerated by her pretty figure. She turned toward the balcony and felt so fresh breathing morning air just like Surya. ‘This air got some magic’, she said looking over shoulder with a pretty smile. Her cheeks looked flushed. Surya seconded her saying ‘Yeah exactly! The air you are breathing’. She chuckled, ‘Come on! Don’t flirt so early yaar!’. 

‘Oh yeah! Next time I will make sure I wear a watch’. 

She looked with a pretended anger and turned to the balcony and continued stretching. She bent while exposing the perfect shape of her torso and stood back stretching her arms. Surya felt so blessed to have such a beautiful vision. Then he heard the creaking sound of a door disturbing his focus. It was a tall lean spectacled woman with boy cut hair, Kiran aka Kiranmayi. People call her Kiran, no wonder as she acts more male less female. She greeted them. Surya halfheartedly welcomed her. Soon, Kiran went beside Surya stood with her back aligning with the balcony taking support. ‘I don’t know you are a good dancer Surya’, Surya looked puzzled. ‘Huh?’ 

‘Don’t you remember what happened yesterday? You were dancing all on the floor being too drunk’. Surya felt shocked. Neha gave a surprising look. In the meantime Bharat joined the trio. 

Bharat with dark complexion with funny looking face and eloquence can mingle with any group and disturb anyone’s peace with his sarcastic comments. Surya thought within him, ‘Oh God! Planets are planning against me. With the coming of this Saturn, Venus wouldn’t stay for long’, casting a quick glance over Neha. 

‘You don’t know about Surya! He did so many extraordinary things when he got drunk. One day he just gave his bike keys to a complete stranger after getting drunk’. Surya didn’t understand where he has to put his face now. Neha and Kiran were laughing. Bharat continued, ‘The next day he was messaging in the group and enquiring in the morning about his bike. Finally the guy replied and gave his bike that afternoon’. Neha and Kiran chuckled at Surya. Neha started teasing, ‘Hey Hero! Why are you so desperate for your bike? Planned any movie with your girlfriend kya?’ and again continued laughing. Kiran remarked, ‘OMG! I used to think I was so spoiled. First time I am seeing someone more spoiled than me’, not knowing whether she made fun of Surya or herself. 

Surya tried to defend his last bits of respect, took a deep breath and said, ‘I truly trusted that guy! You know I can look at someone’s face and tell what kind of guy he is, despite being in a drunken state. See, the next day he brought my bike’, and then he faked a confident smile, checking at others’ faces to know if his trick worked out. Kiran, Bharat and Neha burst into laughter. Surya looked so serious with raising his eyebrow in a frown look. Neha sobered up controlling her laugh and tried to control Bharat and Kiran. She failed in her attempts to make them sober up and again burst into laughter as she couldn’t help controlling it. Surya, with an angry look turned away stepping down from his attempts and the stairs, still hearing the laughter from distance.