Episode 11: Of unexpected Hits & Misses

So, as they reached the coast of Mandava-the docking point of catamarans from where the passengers would be taken through the Alibag village by Buses, everyone was smiling and pretending to have a whale of time when they were not. (Everyone wanted to board on the first ferry back to Gateway of India but they carried on).

Two blue buses awaited Nikhar and his group. While they were getting off the catamaran, Shray head-counted the members of his group and to his surprise he counted one less as Pranav Kulshreshtha the handsome looking boy was missing.

“Guys…Has anybody seen Body?” asked Shray Desai and like innocent little kids the girls and Shubhankit said No and the always informative Rohan Patel- the irritating guy said that Pranav had gone down to the lower deck.

“Why did he go downstairs?” asked Shray.

“How would I know? Ask him. He was with him all the while.” Said Rohan pointing towards Pranay.

“Arrey…while we were taking the stairs… Body saw a beautiful dame sitting on the lower deck in the corner… And trust me she was hot! So, Body was thinking about her when he came upstairs, but then he said that he saw that lady doing something awkward… so he went downstairs.” said Pranay.

“Chal then… let’s check inside!” said Shray as they checked Catamaran’s lower deck to no avail.

By that time rest all had moved far away from these boys and stood outside the bus. Standing beside the bus Abbas Dawood- the Harry Potter fan (the geek) waved to Shray to come towards the bus quickly. At that time Shray wished that he had a walkie-talkie but as he didn’t he had to call Abbas and say, “Dude… Body’s missing!” 

“Arrey…he’s sitting inside bus. But you guys better hurry up the Bus is getting full and leaving in a minute… so el fuckers… move your asses from there and come towards the bus.”

So they ran. Pranay, Shray, Rohan and Nikhar. 

But if Rohan was a slow walker, how on this earth can he run? So technically, Pranay, Shray and Nikhar ran and Rohan jogged. While running Nikhar could see the Bus’s engine roaring up and inside the bus Abbas trying to argue out with the driver to stop the bus for a minute more so that his friends could join them. The bus picked up some speed and moved slightly as Pranay first, Nikhar second and a panting Shray (who while running heard Rohan trying to negotiate with him not to run fast and that he and Shray can board on the next bus) caught the bus on the move.

After breathing heavily for a while, when Shray caught a bit of breath he spoke,”Okay…out of the 25...we missed Rohan behind.” And there was not a degree of remorse, though he may have pretended not to hear Rohan Patel but the fact is he didn’t want to be in a bus alone with Rohan. Perhaps, Shray never talked this to anybody, but he hated Rohan. It’s like… their wavelengths didn’t meet.

So, Rohan was left there on the Mandava beach alone! But then Abbas called him up and asked him to board the second bus.

All that while entering into the bus, finding himself a place Rohan thought of choking Shray… Why on earth, did he not stop?

But then... there are also advantages of being alone as a beautiful lady entered the bus and sat on the same seat as Rohan’s.

She was wearing a hat, an aqua-blue dress which was quite revealing, big sunglasses and well… her face was covered in a towel that she wrapped around her face to protect her skin.

After heaving a sigh of relief (though he was still in a state of disbelief.. wow! How on earth can I be so lucky, he thought), he brought himself to some words, “Must say…you can take off your sunglasses now!”

And the bus zoomed in towards Alibag the village as Rohan secretly thanked God, oh sorry… Shray-the man popular amongst girls!

Meanwhile Ketaki showed-off her new sunglasses inside the other bus which was devoid of Rohan. But Nikhar was more interested in knowing what had Pranav been upto.