AFTER YOU

Meeting the Stranger

After a journey of about 21 hours they all landed in Hyderabad. 6 months is very small duration for them to travel whole India so they had some specific destinations decided beforehand. So they went Puri from Hyderabad then Kolkata, the seven sisters, hills in Uttarakhand, then Rajasthan via Delhi and then finally Mumbai.

Puri also known as Sri Jagannatha Dhama situated in Odisha is famous for it's Chillika Lake and Sri Jagannatha Temple. Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal has many places to visit. The seven sisters i.e Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. All tribes in Northeast India have their own folk dances associated with their religion and festivals. The tribal heritage in the region is rich with the practice of hunting, land cultivation and indigenous crafts. The rich culture is vibrant and visible with the traditional attires of each community. As they visited Assam during the beginning of Spring they were lucky enough to witness Bihu. Bihu is the most important and common festival celebrated all over Assam. Rongali bihu is the Assamese new year which is celebrated with the coming of spring and the beginning of the sowing season. Bihu songs and Bihu dance are associated to rongali bihu. Rajasthan is known for its custom culture colors, majestic forts, and palaces, folk dances and music, local festivals, local food, sand dunes, carved temples, beautiful havelis. Delhi and Mumbai are the most famous places of India with a number of places to visit.

After that they wanted to visit Goa but as said 'Goa trips are often cancelled', the same happened with them. As Adi wanted to visit his village and they don't have much time left in their vacation they decided not to visit Goa.

So from Mumbai they took flight for Bangalore. From Bangalore they hired 2 cabs and left for Mysore. Mysore is one of the oldest cities in India. Mysore is one of the very few cities who has managed to maintain its old world charm. There are plenty of impressive palaces, museums, temples and imposing heritage structures to marvel in Mysore.

Now they were in a palace there and suddenly Adi got lost . No lost doesn't means that he was not there , he was there physically but not mentally. He lost in someone's eyes, eyes which had innocence, trying to understand something with keen observation, making some kind of note or something. She was so consumed in her work that she didn't realize that someone was literally gazing at her. There were so many girls with her all in school uniform, with two plaits and no makeup. Everyone was looking normal but that one particular girl took all attention of Adi . Don't know what amazed him but he was so lost gazing her that he didn't realize that all his friends were looking at him.

Shravan: Bro could you just stop?

Nandu: Yes please, it seems like that you are going to capture her photos with your eyes.

Adi : Oh come on guys, I am not doing anything illegal, I mean I am just looking at the beauty of the place (and the people here.) And yeah we should capture some photographs .

Saying all these Adi took his mobile and started capturing the walls and the designs and secretly took a picture of the girl as well. Everyone noticed this but decided not to speak . Shravan and Nandu were so happy that finally their friend is getting interest in girls . Avantika too was happy as she can see something genuine in Adi's eyes and wished , "God, if this is the right girl for Adi please make them meet."

Shreya was the only person not happy with this thing . It's obvious as she had crush on Adi that not only that girl but she had problem with every girl taking Adi's attention. Earlier she didn't like Avantika too as she believed her to be Adi's girlfriend as due to Adi's mom's order they had to come college together . But after getting into Adi's g**g she got to know that they both don't like each other and can't stand a minute together .

But none of them knew that no matter how much Adi and Avantika fight but at the end of the day they were cousins who stand by each other at tough times . It was Adi who convinced Avantika's parents to not get her married so soon as she wants to explore her options and set her career . And it was Avantika only who talked to Adi's father and convinced him to allow Adi to visit India. Shreya was not liking Adi staring that girl, hence out of anger and jealousy she said," What's so special about this girl , just a random school girl, wearing boring school uniform, plaited hair, no makeup, nothing . I can bet I used to look more gorgeous than her in my school days".

Shravan : That's it you used to look gorgeous in past not now lol.

Everyone busted out laughing but Shreya was deeply hurt.

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Lying on his bed in his hotel room Adi cannot stop thinking about that girl wondering what her name might be, where might be her house and most importantly who is she disturbing her so much . When Adi tries to sleep he gets flashes of her image her eyes, small , innocent eyes as if they know nothing. He could see her lips which wanted too smile but could not as the eyes were busy trying to grab something. Adi thought," That girl was so much interested in knowing about the place , so keen in observing it that she didn't even once drop her eyelids. Who could she be ? Just a random tourist. But why I am thinking about her?"

Meanwhile Adi got his father's message which says that he has to return within 2 days due to some emergency. And for that he has to leave right now and thus he told everyone that they have to return soon. Everyone was disappointed as they wanted to see Adi's village and stay there . They were very excited to see any Indian village for the first time as alike Adi they have also never visited India. And for staying in village only they cancelled their Goa trip. But then also they had no choice so with a heavy heart everyone was preparing for the return. For returning they have to take the flight from Hyderabad to Los Angeles .

They had to return as soon as possible and no flights were available at present so they decided to go Hyderabad by train. They left for the railway station and took the Tatkal tickets meant for emergency. Soon the train arrived and they all boarded the train . They all found their respective seats kept their luggage and sat.

Sitting in his seat Adi was thinking that, 5 months have passed, not all India but they have visited many places . He is happy that he could made this journey, this will always be memorable to him. Yeah he could not visit his village but next time. At the same time he is upset as he cannot and will not be able to see that girl he saw in Mysore again. During the trip he met many girls, talked, danced, enjoyed with them but just a glance of that Mysore girl was enough to make him think about her. He came out of all his thoughts as soon as his eyes caught a familiar face . Yes it was her. His Mysore girl ..........