An Unexpected Sunday

Chapter 03

As the bus came to a halt, Vishnu slowly woke up from the jerk. The bus conductor, who wore a small towel around his neck, started shouting “Pondicherry – Last Stop”. Hearing this, Jacob slowly woke up and leaned towards Vishnu who was looking at the other passengers. “Did we reach?” asked Jacob who has not still got out of his sleep. Vishnu hummed softly which meant positive to that question. Hearing this, Jacob slowly moved away the curtain to check outside. It was dark and the streets didn’t have any lights. Jacob let out a big yet silent yawn and asked for Daniel. Vishnu looked back where Daniel was sitting and saw that Daniel was still in his sleep. The other passengers started slowly removing their luggage from the top space and started moving out. Vishnu turned his head and looked at the crowd who were making their way out of the bus. Jacob who was checking on the reach of his previous night’s post in social network asked Vishnu again about Daniel. Vishnu whispered that Daniel was still sleeping to which Jacob asked to wake him up. Vishnu waited for a second so that the rush was over and they could comfortably move out. Slowly the bus was getting empty and the bus conductor again started to shout at Vishnu to get out. Hearing this, Vishnu got up from his seat and took out his bag from the top luggage space. Then he woke up Daniel by tapping on his shoulder. Daniel opened his eyes and there was one earphone hanging from his ears. Daniel saw that Vishnu and Jacob were about to get out of the bus and he too got up from his seat and took the bottle of water which was kept in front of his seat. On their way out, a small lemon rolled to Jacob’s feet, which he picked up and gave it to Vishnu and started to pull Vishnu’s leg. Vishnu didn’t reply anything and let out a smile.

As the trio made it out, the weather was cold. Jacob and Vishnu started rubbing their forearms while Daniel stood like a rock. Vishnu looked around and found a small tea shop on the same street, a few feet away from where they were standing. While Daniel looked around and found a few auto-rickshaws waiting but on the other end. Daniel, looking at the rickshaw stand, asked out “Let’s Go?” To which the other two replied with a soft hum and Vishnu and Jacob started walking towards the tea shop while Daniel towards the rickshaw stand. Realizing that he was walking alone, Daniel looked back and found that Vishnu and Jacob were walking in the opposite direction. Daniel called them up to which Vishnu waved at him, calling him to the tea shop to have a cup of hot beverage which would comfort them in that chilling weather. Daniel let out a small sigh and accompanied them.

As they were reaching the tea shop, they could see that it was a small shop on wheels that rested on top of four rocks. It had small counters on the back where small drawers were filled with a lot of cigarette packets on one side, pens, pencils, and small sachets of washing powders on the other. Other than that, there were a lot of small sachets of tea and coffee powders hanging down on one corner of the shop. While on the other corner, there were a lot of film magazines in Malayalam, Tamil and English. In front of the shop, there was a big bronze vessel with burnt marks on the outside which could be probably from the fire of the stove. From the vessel, a huge amount of steam rose up and on the other side, there were glass and plastic jars which were filled with local sweets, chocolates, and chewing gums. Approaching to the shop, the trio saw the shop keeper who was of brown complexion, with a full beard, neatly groomed, wearing a yellow and green striped shirt and a light brown dhoti which was commonly seen in Kerala. From the looks of the shop owner, anyone could make out that he was Malayali. Vishnu ordered three cups of tea, two cigarettes in Malayalam. After giving out the smokes, the shop owner took out three glasses from the bottom, dropped a teaspoon of tea powder in each and opened the lid of the big vessel, pouring out a cup of hot water into the three glasses. Stirred it and started pouring the tea from one glass to another. Holding out the hot cup of black tea, Vishnu and Jacob lit their cigarettes. Daniel who got the teacup showed a face of dislike and asked Jacob whether milk tea wasn’t there or what? Hearing this, the shop owner replied that he didn’t receive the milk for the day as it was too early.

As they were having their beverages, Daniel started asking the shop owner whether there were any hotels nearby for a day’s stay. The shop owner started to say about different hotels and their directions. Daniel took note of a few and meantime, all the three have completed their drink and smokes. Paying up and thanking the shop owner for help, the trio made their way to the first hotel that the shop owner mentioned. It was nearby so all of them planned to walk over to the hotel. After about 15 minutes of walking, they reached a small white building with green italic letters saying “Heavenly Abode” on the front. They climbed the steps and opened the glass door, making their way to the reception. As soon as they reached the reception, the receptionist, who was a male, got up from a nap and came up to them. Daniel started inquiring about the rooms while Vishnu and Jacob sat down in the lobby. After the inquiry, Daniel walked to the lobby, where Vishnu and Jacob were sitting, and informed the rooms were pricey. The trio gave a thought to that hotel and decided that they would look for some other place which was cheap. As they moved out of the hotel, the trio saw that the sky was slowly lighting up.

The trio planned for the next hotel but it was a bit far from where they stood. So, they got a rickshaw which was just passing by and made their way to the second destination that tea shop owner mentioned. Daniel kept on checking the way, guiding the rickshaw driver to the location, while Jacob and Vishnu watching him. After seeing this sight, Vishnu whispered to Jacob that whether this would end up as how they went for the first-year college examinations? Jacob remembered what happened then and hoped that nothing would go wrong. Seeing how Jacob reacted, Vishnu and Jacob burst into small laughter. Daniel who only noticed when the other two were laughing, he knew that Vishnu and Jacob were pulling his leg. Daniel continued back to do what he was doing. After taking a few turns from the Heavenly Abode hotel, the rickshaw stopped in front of an old building. The building had pale white paint, and on the entrance, there were two pots of decoration plants placed on either side of the entrance. As they entered, they saw a stairway on the left side and a small table under the stairway. Behind the table a small cot with a mat on which a middle-aged man slept. After reaching the desk, Daniel tapped on the table and woke up the man. As soon as he woke up, Daniel asked out, “Room Anna?” The man opened a register and asked for how many days. Daniel looked back at Vishnu and Jacob, who agreed to book the room for one day. Daniel also accepted and said the hotel owner that for one night. The hotel owner looked at Daniel curiously and asked for ID proofs of all three of them. The trio got their identification cards from their wallets and passed it to the hotel owner. The owner informed that he needed the photocopies of their id cards which the trio agreed to give it once they go out and come back. The owner took the trio to room 132 which at the far end of first floor and the trio settled down their luggage around the bed. Vishnu and Jacob, being tired, laid down on the bed which Daniel looked at them, and scolded asking them to get ready so they could leave for the University to get their certificates. After seeing Daniel getting furious, Jacob and Vishnu slowly got up and one by one, the trio started to get ready. 

            In another hour, the trio made it out of the hotel and moved towards the bus stand with the plan that they would have breakfast on their way. As the trio turned to the next street, they saw that the street was filled with different kinds of shops from clothes to small vendors for vegetables, fruits, cosmetics, and cheap ornaments. Slowly they walked towards a direction which Jacob said that a restaurant could be found in that direction of the street. After some time, they saw a whiteboard with blue borders on the bottom. The board said, “Indian Coffee House” with the word “Coffee” in italics while the other two words were in small block letters. “Indian Coffee House” is a restaurant chain in India and present in almost all the states of India. On the top right corner, there was something written in small Tamil letters which should be the name in the Tamil language. The trio made their way into the restaurant through the sky-blue bordered door. Inside it felt like an old house of Kerala. The infrastructure was built in such a way so that the customers would get a nostalgic feeling when they have food from there. Even the waiters over there had a uniform which was said to be from the British Raj times. The trio took seats near a window which had sky-blue railings separating the restaurant from the outside world. Soon, a waiter dressed in the white, came up to them to take the order. He was large with thick mustache kept to the top. The trio checked through the restaurant food menu which was placed on the table and ordered three different dishes and three cups of tea.  In no time, the trio was served with tasty, and delicious food with the hot beverage that they ordered. After having food till their stomach full, the trio got out of the restaurant and moved towards the bus station from where they had to board the bus to university. Jacob took out the Maps application on his phone and started to guide Daniel and Vishnu to the bus station.

As they reached the bus station, Vishnu went towards to get information about the bus to Chidambaram. The inquiry officer guided Vishnu with the details and directed him to the platform where the specific buses would arrive.  Vishnu shared the details that he got from the inquiry officer with Daniel and Jacob and the trio made way to the platform. As they reached the platform, the trio noticed an empty bus that was going to Chidambaram. Soon the trio boarded the empty bus and took seats at the rear end. In no time, the conductor and driver boarded the bus and started the journey. Other than the trio, there were only a few passengers on the bus. As the bus left the stand., the conductor started to collect tickets. Daniel checked for the total time of the journey, he found out that it would take more than two hours. Hearing this, Jacob shifted to back seat which was also empty and thought of to take a small nap.

To be continued…