Friends in a Fort

The two friends, they hardly spoke. Sweet lemonade, sightseeing, and lots of awkward silence later, they decided to walk up the neat cobbled paths. Up the medieval steps, beyond the cozy yellow café, they sat atop the structure, watching the commoners’ lives unfurl below them. The cloudy sky was littered with brightly colored kites and birds and the unmistakable monsoon heaviness. A lone green parakeet gave them company, while they sat mostly in blissful silence…

…One pleasant August morning, he drove her to the fort. All the distance traveled just to show her a place she has been wanting to see, a place where he has gone only one too many times. Walking among royal remnants, they both had created their own tiny little universes, where they were immersed in their own thoughts. Nearing sunset, the day faded into the young night sky. They began their journey, homeward bound.

They were chasing the monsoon. She loved the rains, and she loved it even more if rained during such a road trip. She happily wished for raindrops trickling down the windowpane. The more practical among the two, he worried about how difficult the drive would become, if it rains. Barely a few meters away from her home, they were caught in the heaviest downpour of that month! It continued to pour as she hugged him and planted a kiss on his cheek, and it continued to pour while she stepped out of the vehicle and he started for his home. It almost seemed like the “fake rain” on a movie set. But the rain abruptly stopped—just as it had begun—as he approached home. Fate, it seems, had decided to step in and grant a little of each of their wishes. To give a perfect ending to a perfect day… for two friends in a fort.