The Wednesday US shift ended a little before dawn.
Nobody left the floor immediately.
Travel bags had been lying under desks since the evening.
People checked wallets, phone chargers and tickets as if any of them were useful now.
Outside the gate, Pacchu’s Sumo was parked under the streetlight.
The Tempo Traveller stood a little behind it.
Beer crates were stacked near the Sumo.
There were bottles of Signature whisky, wine, soda, water and cool drinks.
Pacchu looked at the pile.
“You office people are going on a trip or opening a bar?”
Sudharma laughed.
“We are carrying responsibility.”
“Good. Responsibility can sit in the back.”
Near the next gate, another office group was leaving for Pondicherry.
The fellow who had spent one week explaining that everybody should have gone to Coorg was loading his bag into that vehicle.
He waved.
“You still going to Udupi?”
“Looks like it.”
“You people missed a better trip.”
“You will say that even after coming back.”
The Pondicherry bus left first.
People on both sides waved as though they would never meet again.
Vinayak stood near the Tempo Traveller with a printed list.
He checked names as people climbed in.
Most of the girls chose the Traveller.
Jahnavi was among them.
Nobody had planned the seating.
It simply happened.
Pacchu opened the front door of the Sumo.
“You promised.”
Sudharma threw his bag inside.
Ganavi came over with hers and placed it in the back.
Then she sat beside him.
Pacchu started the engine.
The Sumo had its own crowd.
Sriram. Harsh. Sanju. Suraj. A couple of newer boys who had somehow become part of the louder group.
The Tempo Traveller rolled out behind them.
Vinayak sat near the front, counting people one last time.
The Sumo forgot about counting within half an hour.
Music started.
Sanju opened the first beer.
Politics entered the discussion before the bottle was empty.
Pacchu had strong opinions. So did Sriram. Neither listened to the other.
At the first tea stop, everyone got down.
The Traveller arrived a few minutes later.
People stretched, had tea and went back to their own vehicles.
Jahnavi looked inside the Sumo for a moment.
At the people. At the music. At the confusion.
Someone from the Traveller called her.
She walked back.
Pacchu finished his tea.
“Let’s go.”
The roads became emptier.
People changed seats.
Songs changed.
Stories became less accurate.
Harsh declared that he could stay awake for two nights.
After 2nd beer nobody could wake him.
He slept through a tea stop.
He slept through an argument about cricket.
He slept through Sanju trying to borrow his jacket.
Breakfast happened after sunrise.
A small hotel.
Idli.
Vada.
Steel tumblers of coffee.
Pacchu finished first.
He looked at Harsh.
“Shift him.”
Harsh opened one eye.
“I am fine.”
“You are going to the Traveller.”
“I like this vehicle.”
“You liked it too much.”
Sanju and Suraj picked up his bag.
Vinayak laughed when he saw them.
“What happened?”
“Promotion.”
Harsh was guided into the Tempo Traveller and immediately went back to sleep.
Dipansh climbed out of the Traveller.
He looked completely fresh.
“I heard the party is here.”
Pacchu pointed to the Sumo.
“Last seat.”
The exchange took less than two minutes.
The vehicles moved again.
Somewhere after breakfast, Pacchu looked at Sudharma.
“Sleep.”
“I am all right.”
“You have been awake since yesterday.”
Ganavi was looking out of the window.
She moved a little and adjusted the shawl she was carrying.
“Sleep,” she said.
Sudharma leaned back.
After a while his head rested on her lap.
Pacchu kept driving.
Nobody found anything unusual in it.
The road was long.
People slept where they could.
After Charmadi they stopped once more for tea.
The Traveller pulled in behind them.
Jahnavi got down.
She walked towards the Sumo.
She stood there quietly.
Sudharma had just woken up.
He saw her near the open door.
She looked inside for a few seconds.
Then somebody from the Traveller called out that tea was getting cold.
She turned and walked away.
Pacchu took his cup and complained that there was too much sugar.
Sriram disagreed.
Sanju was looking for cigarettes.
Dipansh wanted another packet of biscuits.
The road waited.
By the time they reached Vinayak’s ancestral house, everyone looked tired.
The Sumo entered the courtyard first.
The Tempo Traveller came in behind it.
An old tiled house stood under the shade of large trees.
Ratna Aunty was waiting outside.
“You people took your own time,” she said.
Vinayak smiled.
“All are here.”
She looked at the two vehicles.
“It doesn’t look like twenty.”
Inside, tea was ready.
Plates of hot Goli Baje came out of the kitchen.
Bags were left wherever there was space.
People who had spent an entire night on the road suddenly remembered to leave their footwear outside.
For a little while, nobody thought about the journey anymore.
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