In a COVID19 world, Aryan started sorting files on his laptop during the weekend. While going through a folder, Nexus 5X, he noticed a picture from 5 years ago.
Circa 2015…
Aryan and Savchi just had their breakfast, Khara bath and coffee, at the Panchami Garden on a lazy Saturday. While walking back to Aryan’s place, Savchi goes through his email notification, pauses for a minute and clears it. Right before the entrance of Aryan’s place, Savchi mentions that he wants to go for a one-day road trip and asks Aryan to join him. But, neither of them have a motorcycle.
Savchi calls his research labmate in Rajajinagar, 15 km away from Aryan’s place in Bangalore, and arranges a motorcycle with a broken brake system for the next day’s road trip.
Savchi travels to his labmate’s place and collects the motorcycle. On his way back, Savchi visits his place near Rajajinagar to finish off the presentation due for the week and starts to Aryan’s place around 6 pm.
Savchi steers the motorcycle majorly with his right hand and holds his mobile phone with Google maps on through his left hand. On the way to Aryan’s place, upon crossing the KR market, the motorcycle stops abruptly. Savchi googles for a service centre nearby and finds one 300 metres away, and notices that the mobile phone’s battery is 3%. He instantly calls Aryan and tells him that he should be reaching his place in 60 minutes.
Next day, Savchi wakes up early in the morning around 6, his first early morning for the past 4 years. Gets freshened up and wakes up Aryan, who reluctantly freshens up this early in the morning.
Aryan and Savchi start their road trip around 7 am with Aryan being the pillion rider and navigator with his mobile phone. As they crossed the outer ring road, they enter a village with the muddy road. Towards the end of the village, as they ride through the muddy road they enter a curvy hillside road. Savchi speeds up the motorcycle much to the dismay of Aryan (Remember, the broken brake system!). This road takes them to the destination, Thattekere Lake, right behind a Temple surrounded by tall trees. Savchi parks the motorcycle in the woods, and they walk further into the woods to witness the serene lake.
While sitting by the lake on a rock, surrounded by lush green trees and with birds chirping, Savchi opens his previous day’s email and shows it to Aryan. Aryan screams in excitement, hugs Savchi and congratulates him. Savchi nods his head but looks away at the still lake. That’s when it dawns upon Aryan that his childhood friend of 22 years is moving to Canada as a permanent resident in a few weeks.
Both sat on that lakeside rock silently, cherishing their bond, and embracing the fact that it would take years before they do another road trip.