Stories by Preetam

“I think we need to go for a roadtrip this weekend.” – as suggested by Ted, my female best friend. “Let’s plan a trip to…”

“Gladly interrupting you there” – Vishnu said. “To Goa!! Sounds good?”

“I don’t like travelling by bus. Also FYI, We are planning a roadtrip not a bus trip.” – Ted had a way of putting forth her word on the table, no matter who the person is.

“So am I! Roadtrip to Goa, bro.” – an affirmation by Vishnu.

“…and Vishnu has officially lost it. Someone, please buy him a drink or something, to deal with his breakup with his overdramatic ex.” – Akashi(Ted) throwing a not so important topic as a taunt.

“I won’t say that I love this plan. But, a roadtrip to Goa? Are you serious? We didn’t even decide if the plan is on or not. You are deciding on a 8 hours roadtrip. It takes more than 10 hours by road. Who will drive the car?” – I had to interfere to give some sort of direction to the conversation.

“Definitely not my dad!” – Vishnu had a way of answering these questions.

Unplanned trips are like our lives. We tend to stand at the crossroads and not knowing where to go from there. But, we always know that we will reach somewhere. Better or worse is something that will just add to our experience. But, that crossroad will pass.

Although, we didn’t decide on the destination, but we had a habit of making plans in the air. But, sometimes the unplanned trips turn out to be the best ones. How many of you have had unplanned trips? Have you ever experienced – No planning and ending up being drunk or high on a beach or in the middle of the road and not remembering anything! Sometimes, we tend to find a boring restaurant to get the charm going. Those who are into “planning it before making it happen” kinda thing – You, my friends, are missing out on all the fun of uncertainty! However, some people actually will disagree with the fact that – if you don’t know where you are going then what’s the point of starting in the first place. But, my point here is – If life doesn’t want to be certain and fills it with surprises and code languages, it’s better to enjoy these gifts of uncertainties rather than decoding it to spill the fun.

Unplanned trips don’t have any sort of budget plan, nor does life.

“Pack your bags. Vishnu and me, we will take care of the car. No time
to overthink and cancel it at the end.” – Jumping out of the couch, I
passed an affirmative statement.

“Yeah and we will take turns while driving and have many stops,, if
that’s what you need”- Vishnu added.

“Are you seriously going with this trip to GOA?”- Akashi asked being
in the state of flux of confusion.

“I am going with the plan of booking a car and leaving within a couple
of hours, and we can plan on the way while picking up Shubham. I
informed him already.”- I knew how to persuade her adamant thought
process by looping in her crush for the trip.

In no time, we got ready and packed our bags and arrived at the spot.
Shubham unfortunately was my childhood friend. He is a character that
nobody would want to encounter. Not that he is boring but, he is just
too straight forward. Sometimes, it gets taken as an offense. But,
that’s more or less an introduction about him, for now.

“You didn’t tell me that Akashi is also coming. I would have dressed
better than a half pant and a fugly shirt.”- He started talking as he
signalled me to open the automobile-trunk.

“I didn’t tell you that Ted is coming because she wasn’t going to.”-
Staring at the blush on her face, I replied to Shubham.

“Ohh. Then, we can drop her to her home and have a boy’s trip!”-
Shubham played along.

“No. No. I am coming as well.”- Ted interrupted.

We looked at each other and laughed out loud for a while then.

“What about Darshana? We deserve another chance…”

(To be continued….)

Sometimes, we tend to forget the roots while trying to grow higher. We realize it at a later stage that we have grown enough but, are on the verge of falling as the roots have given up on the ground indeed.!!