Mithra

Half an hour later, Roja was outside the house staring at the snowfall. She, always wondered at the star-like structure that was conventionally used to indicate snow. But that day when she looked at snow on Mr. Wahib’s car, she noticed that the structure did exactly look like the hexagonal snow symbol. She took some pictures with Pradyuman while the others vacated their rooms and all the luggage bags were placed in the living room. Meanwhile Zayed arrived and it took him a while to turn the vehicle around. The snow showed no signs of ceasing. Quickly everyone loaded their bags into the tempo traveller. Mr. Wahib and his wife gave them a warm send-off. While looking out of the window, Roja saw that the entire city looked completely different from what she had seen until the previous day. The roofs of houses and buildings were covered with snow. The naked branches of trees were coated with snow. It looked like a view straight out of fantasy land. The entire face of the city had changed i...

  The sunshine was a paradox to the cold weather in Gulmarg. Although most of the year had been spent indoors due to COVID-19, people seemed to have forgotten all about the pandemic. Roja was so immersed in the beauty of the place that she did not notice Agnivesh approaching her. Nakul and Pradyuman had gone to pay for the snow-bike ride. ‘Roja!’ called out Agnivesh as he neared her. She turned around in surprise to find a visibly angry Agnivesh. ‘What's wrong?’ she asked casually.   ‘You will not go on that hideous snow-bike,’ he declared. ‘What is this? An order again? But I have to disappoint you because I will ride that bike.’ ‘Don't be such an idiot. It is dangerous.’ ‘I am sure that it is certainly less dangerous than you. Will you please stop being ridiculously angry for no reason?’ she said letting out a sigh. Agnivesh moved closer to her and held her arm. ‘I cannot let you get hurt, Roja. Why don't you understand? I care for you,’ he said tenderly. ...

  One whole minute of silence passed but Roja stood frozen in her place. The smile had vanished from her face. Pradyuman watched her cautiously without making any movement. The next word from her mouth could break his heart or fill it with boundless happiness. ‘Roja, did I ask you something that I should not have asked?’ He could no longer bear the suspense. ‘No, of course not. It is just that I did not see it coming. It was out of the blue,’ she said putting her towel on the chair to dry. ‘So, what do you think?’ he asked trying to read the emotions on her face. But her face was blank. ‘Pranu. we both know how much we love each other and. I am so happy that you came here for me. But I need time to think about marriage. This is a big decision for me and I would really be grateful if you would please give me some time.’ She was quite honest with him. Once again, she was not going to make the mistake of making a decision to please someone dese. This time, she was going to...

  ‘I travel a lot. My writing grows with each travel and it gets enhanced from all the experience that I gather,’ said Pradyuman coolly. ‘Well, then you might have to start looking for another job soon. Something which may not require you to travel. Otherwise your girlfriend will have other plans for future,’ he said with a snigger. Agnivesh took a jibe at Roja and it did not go down well with her. He was trying to portray as if she was not a very understanding girlfriend. Pradyuman was smart enough to understand his motive he was not going to gift silence to his adversary. ‘Oh you can be rest assured that it will not be required because she is extremely supportive of my career. And I have huge admiration for her work. Although we may be in different places, we are mature enough to handle long-distance relationship. Most of all, we trust each other completely,’ he said looking straight into Agnivesh’s eyes. ‘And the best thing about us is we don’t dictate decisions to each ...

  Roja stared down at her palms unable to meet his eyes. ‘I was shocked when I saw Agnivesh and his friends here. In fact, I did contemplate looking for another place for accommodation. But Karna convinced me against it. Also since I was travelling alone and this place was highly recommended by my colleague, I did not want to shift. Moreover Mr. Wahib and his wife are also staying here, so I felt there was nothing to worry about. Agnivesh is only one of the inmates of this house, thats all,’ she said and waited for his response. She did not lift her eyes and look up at him. When she did not hear anything for a few moments, she looked up. He was still standing with his arms across his chest, but there was a smile playing around his lips. Roja was looking at him like a child who had stolen chocolates. He was really enjoying the fear in her eyes. He walked up to her and held her hand. ‘All I want is for you to not hide anything from me, sweetheart. And you know that you don't ha...

  By the time they entered Srinagar, it was 7:30PM. Since they had not eaten lunch, Zayed suggested that they try kebabs at the kebab stall opposite Dal lake. Everyone agreed and Zayed parked the tempo traveller opposite one of the stall. He spoke to the stall-owner and soon the charcoal was fanned to grill the kebabs. There were chicken, mutton and fish kebabs. Initially, everyone stepped down from the vehicle. But it was very cold and after a few minutes, the women climbed back into the vehicle and closed the door. The men gathered around the burning coal trying to feel some warmth. Jennifer was shivering although she had worn layers of warm clothes. They were out in the cold weather for over 10 hours and skipping lunch only made it worse. Preetham brought the kebabs to the ladies with mint chutney and another unique chutney made with carrot. The pieces of kebabs were small, juicy and tender. They were extremely delicious. It was exactly the comfort food that one would look for o...

For Roja’s surprise, everyone was ready and inside the tempo traveller before 9.00 AM. Today, they had planned to visit Gulmarg. Roja sat in her usual window seat and she was glad that no one sat next to her. She quietly gazed outside the window and watched Srinagar, which was slowly coming to life. Zayed got a phone call while he was driving and he spoke briefly before disconnecting it. ‘We are not going to Gulmarg. Today we are going to Pahalgam,’ he announced. ‘Why? What happened?’ enquired Karna. ‘The road to Gulmarg is blocked. So let us go to Pahalgam,’ he replied. He chose not to elaborate further and they did not persuade him either. The reason could be anything ranging from bad weather to security threat. Roja had seen pictures of Pahalgam and she had heard from Zayed too that the place was lovely. So the change of plans did not upset her rather it raised her excitement. On the way to Pahalgam, there were army soldiers stationed all along the way. In fact in some place...