This work is not about celebrating marijuana or any such recreational drug intake. This just goes out as my love for the people who deal in these. Hope the readers take this in positive vibes and get my message. The story below is mostly based on real life incidents which are collaborated and manipulated to some extent forming a work of fiction.
Special thanks to my good friend Abhijit Barman, M.I.E.T Gondia. This is dedicated to you Abhijit Barman, Mrinal Rajkhowa, Jyotishman Paul and Udipta Gayon. Cheers!!
"NH-6: A stoner's ultimate leveller"
And God said, ”Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you, it shall be for meat.
: Biblical - Genesis 1.29
But we men were smarter, weren’t we? Oh well, we were stoners.
: Anonymous
Prologue:
My four limbs froze at the very moment. I hit the brakes involuntarily. My 150 cc two-wheeler turned around sideways recklessly as Paul jumped his way out of the mess. Gayon and Mrinal, who were following us steamed in and hit the rear rack of my bike and the next moment NH-6 saw two lacklustre giants somersaulting and ramming on its flawless turf amidst screeching noise. We four hapless souls could do nothing as the laws of physics took over and were down head-over-heels.
Block 3, M.I.E.T Gondia, Maharashtra:
'Are you going to get your ass moving now?', Abhijit yelled at the closed door thwarted by the continuous efforts to get it open from the past 2-3 minutes. 'I am talking to you Chakri Bhau'.
'Hey don't call me that you pimp, it makes no sense', Chintu stormed open the door at once. 'What hell is this Chakri and a Bhau? And its 1 AM for God's sake. Will you let me sleep?’ Chintu said.
'Aye C'mon Chakri, you should be rather grateful to the mind which didn't feel like breaking open your door. I've been knocking for half an hour. And don't tell me you have no idea what bhau is, being among the Marathis for two years now'. Abhijit entered the messy room.
'Whatever! What's Chakri then?'
'The Chakri on your head. It’s kind of unique you know, like your signature', Abhijit winked.
'Dude, have some fucking respect for the only goalkeeper on your camp'.
'See buddy, I have that. Chakri resembles you in the perfect way. C for Casillas, C for Chakri. You've been saving Tantri Bhau's balls for two whopping years now, you've done great', Abhijit fired.
'See you're mocking Casillas now'.
'C'mon man get over it. I'm not here to argue over your name here. Bring the rice paper sheets, I need to do some fresh attachments', Abhijit said withdrawing some crisp bit of grass out.
'I don't own rice papers for freaks like you and your useless joints. By the way, you already seem high with those red eyes', Chintu muttered heading towards his bed.
'Archi baba, you need to get some enlightenment regarding the proper use of rice papers instead of just wasting them on worthless scribbles you know'. Abhijit forced open Chintu's wardrobe and got himself a fresh sheet of his ingredient.
'Worthless scribbles huh? Well that did make sense, yeah! Hey wait, I heard you guys had a real tough time on a recent weekend visit to Nagpur? All good now?’, Chintu asked abrubtly as he recollected what he overheard earlier in the day.
'Well tough, yeah you can put it that way. We had a helluva time on the flipside Bhau, our cutting edge run on the razor thing on a larger scale'. Abhijit took out his scissor and adhesives with trembling hands and began operating on the rice paper.
'What do you mean? Don't tell me you guys did an Itwari thingy and made a GJ', Chintu said in an attempt to brush off.
'You know what Chakri, there's more to that', Abhijit winked.
'Holy Shit, this isn't happening. I want to know. What happened?', Chintu got up on his bed at once.
'Look at you jerk, a GJ can be such a strong impact on fags. Why don't you join us at times rather than firing in your pants?' 'Need a puff? I'm almost done'.
'No I'm cool with my regular flakes. But you got to tell me this. What's the story?' Chintu grew curious.
'Sure, I mean I love such narrations as you know'. Abhijit looked at his finished product, 'Ahh this looks nice. Archi papers aint bad as wristlers' replacement'. 'Okay so it all began at Paul's den after our endsems', he began his story.
'All I want to know is about GJ. Wake me up when you reach Itwari', Chintu said.
'You just sit back and relax Bhau, I'll narrate it in my own way', Abhijit let out his first puff of the self-made joint.
Block 2, M.I.E.T Gondia, Maharashtra:
'M.I.E.T: Moi Iyat Enei Thaku', Mrinal declared his facebook status of the day taking a sip of his He-Man 9000 as I randomly scanned Paul's slipshod room full of raunchy images.
'You already high, man? Where did that come from?’ I smirked, applauding Mrinal's amazing skills of outright compositions.
'It’s just kind of true. You know Abhijit, in my two and a half years here down under, I've never felt like I've done anything worthy. Time just flies by, and you fly with it no matter where and how it takes you.'
Mrinal's the kind of guy who's pretty conservative. The only person he'd really open up to is me.
'He's right. Who's going to give us a goddamn job man? Everyone says mechanical is the coolest branch. What these people don't realise is that they're so cool that they don't even bother to get some recruiters aboard', said Paul, the fat ass foodie of our gang who could swallow anything right from a grasshopper to a prawn.
'It's okay dude, we're all in the same damn yacht. We just finished our endsems, let’s enjoy. All you need is.....'
‘...me', Gayon interrupted me as he entered the den with a bucket full of water.
'Woah man! Don't tell me we're going to do this tonight?' I exclaimed bewildered by the scenario.
'We infact are. Let gravity do the talking tonight', Gayon sort of coaxed.
Mrinal gave blank expressions and Paul began panting like a hungry dog. I was in another world immediately. Gravity was just another well derived process of letting the weed in. We considered Gayon as its pioneer. He's best known as the 'joint engineer' of our college for his expertise in joints, pots, bowls and the like.
Mrinal stood up and bowed down to Gayon at once.
'Gayon Bhau, no matter what, you always seem to make my day, dude. You're the God of perfect timing.' He said.
Gayon placed his stuff and gestured with both hands wide open and a visibly high grin on his face as a token of acceptance.
'Let's get to work, fellas. Hand me the grass. I have the bottle and pipe in here', he said.
For the next few minutes, Gayon got busy in arranging our treat for the night as the rest of us witnessed the master at work.
He cut the base of the empty two litre bottle, made a hole on its cork which would hold the bowl. He used the blowpipe as the bowl to hold the weed. After finishing with the stuffing, he tightened the blowpipe with the cork on the bottle. Immersed it in the water in the bucket till its neck and lighted the bowl with a lighter. He then lifted the bottle steadily and there it was the amazing sight of grey air filling up the vaccum. Our bong was ready.
'Abhijit c'mon'. I couldn't wait as Gayon said that.
I kissed the pipe in and pushed the bottle downward.
'Jai Baba Gravity', Gayon yelled, elated.
Mrinal finished off his remaining beer at one shot and took out his cell.
'Gravity bong ;) 3', facebook status updated.
The next moment, we were flying. Higher and higher. I was in another world.
This is the life, I thought.
'Let's go to GJ fellas. Let's do this. High time', Paul suddenly said.
'Oh yes GJ! Let's go... Hey wait, did you say G and a J? You insane? I don't want to ditch my future woman', Mrinal backed off.
'I don't have a problem unless I find some waldos with cannabis there', Gayon took another green inhale from our elixir with his devilish smile.
'We all need a break from this screwed up life, right? What you think Avi?', Paul again.
I lifted my heavy eyes.
'Huh hmm yeah break, we need. I mean I think I'd rather like to have another highway trip'.
'Ah yes, Highway is the word. The Avenger's mine tonight', Mrinal was excited.
'No way I'm going to let you ride my bike', Gayon fired at Mrinal.
'For me, I'd love to be Avi's tail once again and he's going to take me to Itwari, isn't it sweetheart?' Paul flashed his ridiculous grin accentuating his own bit.
'Alright whatever. So its done then. We're going to hit the road early morning', I said.
'Why not now? I can't wait', said Mrinal.
'For now, I think we need some more greenery. Gayon, where are the wristlers?'
'They're over, go get the rice papers'.
'Okay, I'll be right back', I got up and sighed. It’s going to be an awesome day, I thought.
NH-6, Gondia to Nagpur, Maharashtra:
A nimbus grey Volkswagen polo passed by as we were seated at Dwarika, our customary poha-centre about a mile away from the campus exit.
'I hate that bitch', said Mrinal staring at the supermini car.
'Who's it?’, Paul quacked with a mouthful of poha.
'Our warden, D.K.Pandey', I said, 'He's considered as Praful Patel's right hand. You better be cautious about your remarks towards him man'.
'Fuck Patel, He's not going to give us a job, is he? I havn't seen his face once since joining college and people say he runs this institution?'.
'C'mon he keeps visiting campus on his private chopper now and then. Anyhow cut this shit now, where the hell is Gayon? We're getting late', I tried to divert the topic.
'He went to meet Chauhan Ji at 420 for some fresh material', Paul said.
'420 Dhaba? Does it remain open this early in the morning?'
'Well Avi, he's Gayon and that's Chauhan, isn't it enough?' said Mrinal, eyes fixed on his poha plate.
'Hey guys, I'm done let's move', Gayon cried out from his Avenger.
I got our flakes and in the next moment we were on our wheels. Paul and me on my Pulsar-150 and Gayon carried Mrinal.
After about 30 kilometres we hit NH-6 and we tore apart our respective engines from then onwards. 135 kilometres more to the Orange City, Nagpur.
It took around an hour and we were at Lakhani, 90 kilometres of a hurricane ride. Our next stop was at Bhandara, 20 kilometres away. Soon, we were at Nagpur in no time.
We kicked the brakes. Gayon and my eyes met. I could see his face glowing with his ever widening smirk. This was the ride.
'Phew! We made it brothers', I always enjoyed speeding my bike above all bounds and highway experience is just one of a kind.
'Mrinal and Paul, are you people alive?'
'I'll burn your machine to ashes if I don't get my hands on the accelerator during our return journey', Mrinal fired at Gayon.
'Where are we? Is this Itwari?' Paul woke up.
Gujarat Lodge, Garage Pub, Nagpur, Maharashtra:
"m gonna smoke'a de ganja until I go blind.
You know I smoke'a de ganja all a de time.
Smoke'a de ganja when I'm with friends.
We gonna smoke'a de ganja until the very end.
Whoo-oo Ganja ganja
Whoo-oo Ganja gun
Whoo-oo Ganja ganja
Whoo-oo Ganja gun"
BOB MARLEY did the rounds on the records as Gayon lifted another well shaped joint.
'Look at this man, just pure state-of-the-art Hingna Pooh. This is it', He said.
Hingna's another small town around the Nagpur suburbs, famous for its so-called pooh or the weed.
'I'll need the silem', I said pulling out my smoking pipe with the bowl intact.
Gayon handed over the dry loose cannabis buds.
'Where do they get these from? It’s not cultivated here right?' I asked.
'Mundipur. It’s the primary hub around. They hire it from Orissa mostly'.
We finished few rounds of the so called silem as Mrinal and Paul entered the room.
'Guys, are you going to keep lying inside this dump? It’s getting dark outside, let’s hit the sparklights. The pubs are hungry for us', said Mrinal.
I don't know how Gayon got up at once but I was struggling to lift myself up after those rounds.
'Anybody want to catch the Titans at Express City?' Paul said.
'Movie? You know what Paul, you better save your ass for the GJ thing', I said.
'Oh yeah dude, thanks for reminding me. I almost forgot that'.
I immediately felt like swallowing back my words.
We found ourselves at the Garage pub within an hour. The slow music which the local band were playing at the dias got us into the mood at once.
"I was gonna clean my room until I got high,
I gonna get up and find the broom but then I got high,
My room is still messed up and I know why (Yeah, hey!)
Because I got high, because I got high, because I got high."
They went on as I saw a pathetic Mrinal headbanging to some soft jazz.
'Do I realy see a blonde in the house or am I too high?'
Alarmed by Paul's words, I followed his eyes to witness a foreigner in the pub pulling shots.
'Ahem! Now what on earth is that thing doing on a Garage pub in a city like Nagpur?' said Gayon.
'Guys I guess we're in for some treat here, do I see her approaching us?' Mrinal said.
'What the... Get some life Mrinal you bitch, she's in her own damn place', I had a sudden rush of adrenalin hearing Mrinal's last statement.
Paul couldn't take his eyes off her.
'I'm going to get myself a handsome beer, anyone joining me?' said Mrinal.
'I heard Garage Pub's popular for something called Shisha. I better try that', Gayon winked.
'Hookah? Shisha tobacco flavour?'
'Right', said Gayon and they left.
'Are you guys students here in Nagpur?' I suddenly heard a female voice uttering those words.
I turned my head round the corner on the spur of the moment and couldn't believe what I saw.
Her long blond hair hung down over her shoulders front and back. She had beautiful blue eyes. They were pools of blue water, calm and quiet. Her teeth were evenly distributed and as white as any freshly fallen snow. Everything about her was perfect, right down to her luscious figure that the faded jeans and denim shirt she wore, tided in a knot at the bottom, which only embellished it even more. It felt like I was facing a girl for the first time so close.
'Yes we are, we're soon going to be engineers. Would you like to join us here?' Paul said that at one go.
She agreed and sat down beside us. Meanwhile, a beaming Gayon and a taken aback Mrinal were back with their stuff.
'Hello, my name's Ashlynn. I’m from Australia', she said.
'Brooke?', Paul asked at once.
'Yeah, how'd you know?'
Mrinal and I exchanged blank looks. Gayon couldn't help laughing.
'Ashlynn Brooke. Just guessed. Nice name', said Paul wearing a million dollar grin on his face.
'Well thank you, actually I was wondering if you guys could help me find some good marijuana for my bowl', she said.
Gayon was laughing aloud now.
'Why? I mean you guys don't do weed?'
'What made you think we possibly could?' said Mrinal.
'Well I met these guys the other day at Baga, Goa. They were students from Nagpur with quite a healthy collection of cannabis. We had a great time at the beach', she said.
'Did you know Ashlynn, we Hindus consider cannabis as a very sacred thing. It would be a sin if we don't lay our hands on it atleast once in a lifetime', Gayon made a gesture towards me as he said that. I took out our Hingna thing and placed it ahead.
Ashlynn seemed excited.
'I guess those students are in engineering too', I said.
'How?'
'Well, I just know'.
'Ahah! So what's the name of your institution?' She asked.
'MIET, Gondia', said Paul.
'MIET stands for?'
'Mrinal Iyat Enei Thake', Gayon smirked.
'Sorry?'
'Manoharbhai Patel Institute of Engineering and Technology', said Mrinal in a proud tone.
'Alright! Hey wait, MIET? What a coincidence!' she exclaimed.
'What? You did your bachelors from MIET too?' quacked Paul as I gave him a dirty look.
'Haha, well those guys at Baga were from your MIET too. I remember one guy, Chintu'.
Holy cow! Chintu? Our very own goalie? We exchanged puzzled faces.
'Chintu was at Baga the other day? We didn't know'.
'You guys know him? He's a great fella', she said.
'Indeed!' said a disgraced Mrinal.
Meanwhile the Shisha and our bowls and pipes kept doing regular rounds. We talked a lot about cannabis too.
'I used to import a huge amount of cannabis tea, green dragon, kief, all kinda trichromes, even hashish from New Zealand and Vancouver. Somehow I just ran out of those dry granules here in India. Glad I found you guys', she said.
It was ironic to actually discover the kind of a person she was, from the initial hiccups her external beauty conveyed. One hell of an Ashlynn Brooke this was, I thought.
Paul and Mrinal kept chatting and manipulating her. Gayon updated his marijuana knowledge.
I could hardly figure out what was going on. I felt the walls closing in. My eye-lashes grew heavy.
The last stuff I heard before crashing was something like this:
'So you guys passed an entrance examination for your engineering seats? I've heard about this exam called JEE. Is that it?'
'Ah no, Ashlynn', said Gayon, 'JEE was just for fun. The only reason I appeared in JEE was because it stands for JOINT Entrance Examination'
Itwari, Gandhibagh, Nagpur, Maharashtra:
Ganga Jamuna or the GJ is one of the largest red light area in India today after Kamathipura and Sonagachi, located at a small town called Itwari, about 5 kilometres from Nagpur Railway station.
There we stood infront of the grayscale slum. Paul had his digicam in his hands.
'Now what's that camera for?' I felt ridiculed.
'This remains with me during all my serious expeditions man', Paul said proudly, 'We got some amazing snaps of our Ashlynn too last night. You were in another world by then'.
'Oh what a bitch she was. You still want to visit GJ after all that folded up last night?' said Mrinal.
'What do you mean? What folded up?' I didn't believe them.
'Ashlynn Brooke only raised my appetite, buddy. I'm up for more. GJ, here I come', Paul said with his eyes fixed at the troubling scenario ahead.
I had to accompany Paul as I promised. Gayon and Mrinal made way to Punam Chamber mall. Ah sorry, its Express City mall. My friend Mrinal hated the name Punam for some 'mysterious' reasons.
'Gayon, where are you? Come to GJ right now, We're done'. I called Gayon up after an hour.
'Woah! Done? So soon? That is a superhuman effort indeed'.
'Yeah superhuman Paul, he'll remember this day', I said.
'Okay, We just reached Express City. Come over'.
'Where is it?'
'Near the station. About 4 kilometres from there'.
'Alright, catch you soon'.
'keyahahaha', Gayon burst out at Paul with all his trademark chuckle and chortle.
'You got whacked? Oh man', Mrinal just smiled, feeling pity on Paul.
'Or was it rather a smack?' Gayon continued.
Paul was quiet. He just received the most thunderous slap of his life at GJ.
'It's okay Paul. Atleast now you know what Ganga Jamuna's all about', I said.
'Yeah buddy, cheer up', Mrinal followed.
We moved on. For the rest of the sunny day, we let our bikes do the talking. Every bit of Nagpur got a taste of us. Right from Kalamna , Mominpura in the east to the Civil lines and Seminar Hills in the West. From Mecosabagh at the north to Tajabad at the South.
I was exhausted when we were on our way to our lodge from Gandhibagh. It was already dark.
I let Paul do the driving. We were on a deserted lane with thick dark trees on both sides of the road. I couldn't recognize the place. Mrinal and Gayon sped past way ahead. Paul went steady.
It was strange that there was nobody on the dark road.
Few minutes later we left that creepy lane behind.
We caught Gayon and Mrinal at a nearby dhaba.
'Damn, I'm tired. What a day it was!' said Mrinal.
I saw Gayon lifting a plastic bottle half filled with water out of nowhere.
'Now where did you get that from?' I said. It’s strange that no matter how bad you keep puffing, a fresh sight of the shit always brings out a whole new amount of excitement within.
'That's not the question dude. The question is, where the hell is our bowl and pipe?'
Our joint engineer ruled man, I thought. I gave him the pipe. Mrinal had a few more blunts.
We did the joints as Gayon drifted out yet another alluring bong.
'Hey where's my cam?' said Paul all of a sudden, 'I gave it to you Mrinal, at Gandhibagh'.
'You gave your cam to me? Well, infact you did, I think', said Mrinal, 'But I don't have it now'.
'I'll be damned if you meant what you just said, freak', a visibly distressed Paul said.
After a few hapless attempts of triggering an improbable recovery, we realised that the cam slipped off somewhere around the road from Gandhibagh.
I never imagined I'll be back to this creepy lane again. It was quite an edgy situation. Mrinal and I decided to scoop it out leaving Paul and Gayon at the dhaba.
I kept my eyes fixed on the road as Mrinal was on the accelerator.
A few slides downlane and we still couldn't figure anything out.
'Do you hear what I hear now, Avi?' Mrinal suddenly said.
I got alarmed and came back to my senses. What I started hearing next came as a huge blow to the vanity of my ears.
'Now this is unreal. Are those police sirens? What is going on here?'
'I don't know. The empty road makes those sirens even more apprehensive'.
I started getting more nervous as the sirens kept getting louder.
'Shall we return? I don't see us finding a tiny cam on this never-ending concrete terrain', I said.
'Hey look up, I guess we made it', said Mrinal and hit the brakes.
I still was unable to see anything.
He got down handing the bike over to me. The sirens grew painfully distinct. I could almost see some lights within my range now.
All of a sudden Mrinal let out a horrific screech. He came running towards me.
'We gotta go', He was panting. I could see horror in his eyes.
'What's wrong? You got the cam?'
'Just drive the fucking bike, I have the cam', I never heard Mrinal stammering that way.
I turned the bike round as he leaped on. Two police vehicles were evident on the other end of the road as my speedometer zoomed. I tore the creepiness of the lane apart the next few minutes as we reached the dhaba in no time.
The cam was handed over to its owner. Mrinal was still gasping for breath as Gayon inquired the matter.
'We should leave Nagpur here and now guys. You won't believe what I just saw at the edge of that road beneath the shrubs', said a trembling Mrinal.
'What is it?'
'She's gone'.
'Who?'
'Ashlynn. Yes, the blonde we met last night'.
'What the devil are you talking about', we were stunned.
'Yes I saw her dead body there. It’s a murder case and the cops are already involved'.
'Oh well well, where's our pot? You badly need some air my man', Gayon blew it over.
'I'm serious for God's sake. I havn't seen anything so horrific in my whole life', Mrinal said.
The news of Ashlynn getting murdered and Mrinal seeing her body lying there was hard to soak in. It was just the other day when I had met one of the most beautiful creatures on earth. I didn't know why Paul was perfectly silent.
'Ashlynn Brooke's no more?', he finally said. 'Guys, I think we have another problem here'.
'What's that now?' Gayon became furious.
'I don't have my wallet with me. I guess I left it behind at GJ', Paul said in a low tone.
At that very next moment, the old tattered TV set hanging in the dhaba flashed:
'Crime branch today raided the city's red light area at Ganga Jamuna and took four women into custody along with a man with charges of human trafficking'.
This was prodiguous, as if everything was written.
'Those bastards had to raid only today when I left my wallet there?'
'Fuck my life', Gayon yelled aloud, 'You fuckers spoiled my whole bonged trip. I was having so much fun with the grass and everything. I'm going to the lodge right now, need to sleep this off'.
'Is this really happening?' I found four low words for myself.
'You coming, Avi?' Gayon asked.
'I'm afraid but I think there's more trouble steaming in, guys', I said.
'What's wrong with you now?'
'Can't we hear it?'
The police sirens were within range again and they were closing in.
'Holy shit', Gayon ran to pick up his joints and get hold of his bike.
Paul and Mrinal leaped on as we found ourselves emptying our fuel tanks at a furious rate once again as we left the cops way behind.
'We got to leave Nagpur now, we're no longer safe here', Mrinal yelled on the way.
'Hey, what about my wallet? I have important documents there', said Paul.
'We're not leaving anywhere, let's meet at the lodge', Gayon declared and started accelerating. His bike disappeared within seconds.
I was a few miles away from Gujarat lodge with Paul when we saw Gayon and Mrinal returning towards us.
'No option but hit NH-6', Mrinal said.
'What happened?' I asked confused.
'Huge quantity of charas recovered from room number 201 of Gujarat lodge this evening. The cops are strolling over the whole area to give us a warm welcome', said Mrinal.
'What the..! That's our room. Gayon?' I choked.
'Now what, bitch? Look at you now. It's that Hingna or Mundipur thing for sure. Our joint engineer can't even tell hashish from marijuana. Wow!', Paul came hard at Gayon.
'Will you shut the fuck up? Charas and marijuana are totally different stuff. Charas is the fine dried resin. The only thing common is the source. That's cannabis sativa. No way I would've brought some without recognizing it. And they said it’s a huge amount for God's sake', Gayon shrieked.
'We're badly fucked up', I said, 'I guess you all know what we need at this moment'.
So, our joint engineer pulled out the final four rolled wristlers, we did one last round and the next moment we disappeared onto the dark NH-6, heading for Gondia.
After few miles of a screaming ride, Paul cried from my back: 'Guys! You know what, this is just perfect'.
'What?' Mrinal yelled from the other bike behind.
'I just realised. The cam you guys brought, the one in my hands. It’s not mine'.
My four limbs froze at the very moment. I hit the brakes involuntarily. My 150 cc two-wheeler turned around sideways recklessly as Paul jumped his way out of the mess. Gayon and Mrinal, who were following us steamed in and hit the rear rack of my bike and the next moment NH-6 saw two lacklustre giants somersaulting and ramming on its flawless turf amidst screeching noise. We four hapless souls could do nothing as the laws of physics took over and were down head-over-heels.
Block 3, M.I.E.T Gondia, Maharashtra:
Chintu watched Abhijit closely who went silent for a moment. His eyes were shut.
'Phew! I never knew you guys faced this lot? I thought it was just another routine trip to Lakhani. What happened next?' Chintu asked.
'We lay there for hours, on the middle of the highway, growing cold...and'
'And what? What next?'.
'Next, we were flying...', Abhijit babbled abrubtly.
'Huh?'
'I saw Mrinal up in the air. Gayon had wings too....', He went on.
Chintu shook his head in disbelief, 'What are you talking about?'
'I saw angels. Gree..en angels.. Yes yes Chakri Bhau, this feels awesome'
Mrinal kicked open Chintu's door at once.
'Damn you Avi, you're still in here? We've been searching the whole goddamn block for you ', said Mrinal.
Avi was fast asleep by then.
'Hey what's going on?' Chintu asked.
'What? Avi was here for the rice papers ain't it? We just ran short of our wristlers'
'Yes he was here for those papers but..'
'But what? We just finished our endsems and you are digging yourself in here inside this useless den? We've planned a highway trip to Nagpur this morning, you know? It's going to be awesome', said Mrinal.
'Trip to Nagpur? Again?'
'What you mean?'
'Didn't you guys already have one recently? One hell of a trip?'
'Lakhani? What's so dramatic about that?'
Chintu paused for a moment, 'Can you guys imagine a Chintu lying with Ashlynn Brooke on a Goa beach when you're high?'
Mrinal started giggling aloud, 'Hahaha, you and Ashlynn Brooke?'
'Avi, you bitch, get up. How could you make something of this sort up?' Chintu was annoyed.
'He made you up? Oh man', Mrinal couldn't stop laughing.
There was a sound of an approaching bike outside the block by then.
'Avi, Mrinal let's go. It's time', Gayon howled from his Avenger with Paul at the back.
'Its time. Avi c'mon', Mrinal pulled Abhijit up.
'Huh? Its time? Where are we?' Abhijit blurted out.
'Its 2 in the morning. Where are you guys leaving? It’s not safe', said Chintu.
'I'm taking your bike, Chakri Bhau', Mrinal snatched the keys hanging in the wall and rushed outside as he said that.
'Hell wait, not my bike', Chintu screamed.
'Hey, hi Chakri Bhau. Did I tell you about our Panchmari trip? Will let you know about it soon man. We had great fun. I got to go now. See you around', Abhijit followed Mrinal with a grin on his face.
Soon the four reckless souls started flying high in the air. They went hard on their vehicle, pushing them to their limits. Within half an hour, they reached NH-6.
As they started crossing the bypass leading to the highway, Gayon lost control. He hit the divider separating the bypass gateway. Paul threw himself around in search of an escape. With troubling sights around, Mrinal couldn't focus too and succumbed to a similar fate. He rode straight into a traffic light post beside the divider as his vehicle tumbled up.
Fate brought their high-flying fake souls crashing straight down to earth as the world around them went silent.
Epilogue:
Its amazing how life brings aboard a moment when you are in immense pain without much help around, in an awkward place, all tangled up but all you can do is just wink and grin, laugh and scream out the joy in the pain within you. Abhijit, Mrinal, Paul and Gayon. Four budding youngsters, soon to be engineers, find themselves in a similar state, here on a Highway bypass, Nagpur, Maharashtra tonight. They lay strangled right in the middle of the road, cold, frozen, gasping for breathe, bodies strewn around. They could get the raw smell of blood, scattering fast. Their bikes seemed like damaged prototypes across the road. Crunches of the machines set themselves apart. They had just had the most roaring crash of their highway life. All they could do now was look at each other and giggle in amazement.
Gayon let the buzzer out: 'Goddamn, are we dying?'
And their world went black from green.
P.S: For all the music-lovers and Bob Marley fans out there, deep apologies on behalf of a high Abhijit. 'Ganja-gun' is not a Bob Marley song.
:RAKESH"11
