For people who do not know Indian geography, Pune is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the western part of India. Near Pune is a hill-station called Lonavala which attracts a lot of tourists.

Haina?= right?, okay?

Also, in India, there is a telephone company, called "Idea", that provides sim cards and cellular service. Similarly, there is a company called "Vodafone"

Warning - Bad puns ahead ...............maybe!

chits= small pieces of paper

yaar = buddy

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With the precision and speed she had collected over the years traveling on a short notice, Arya started collecting her stuff in the room and packing them neatly in her suitcase. Shruti had taken Kiran to the bank. 

It was not after many "No I can't"s and "Yes, you can!" between Kiran and the other 2, that Kiran finally had decided to step out of the car to get inside Arya's hotel. She was worried about the stares she will get. And what people might think to be seeing her all dressed up in her wedding outfit, and not being at her wedding. 

Frustrated with her stupid concerns, Arya and Shruti each respectfully barked up with a," Nobody gives a damn about you in there!" and "The more time you waste, the easier it becomes for your fam-jam to catch us, you drama queen!".

Seeing that it would be best not to argue with her nose-flaring, angry looking best-friends, Kiran slowly scooted out of the car, dragged her leg down on the floor, with her hands holding her heavy lehenga(skirt) as Arya and Shruti helped her.

She got out of the car and took a good look at the entrance of the hotel, while Arya and Shruti had started discussing something that she was not paying attention to. The only thing that she was looking at was how the guard at the hotel door was staring at her. There would be a bajillion people inside, who would stare at me like him!  She gulped thinking that thought.

Arya and Shruti were discussing how much time it will take to take Kiran to the bank and back when Arya's eyes fell on Kiran, her worried face, the guard, and back to Kiran's face. Arya sighed audibly as she gave a knowing look to Shruti, who nodded back. Arya went to Kiran and stood beside her as she held Kiran's hands and waited for her to look at her. As soon as Kiran felt Arya's cold hands against her sweaty ones, her face shot up to look Arya in the eyes, a very determined Arya who did not give a damn about what other's thought of her. 

"Can you pick up the bag with her clothes in it and follow us?" Arya asked Shruti, who nodded in response and went around the car to get the small duffel bag which Kiran had packed the night before containing all the necessary things she might need immediately after running away from her own wedding.

The only thing needed next was a background music of some warrior movie as, with a stern look on her face, her shoulders squared, her chin high, and her hand holding Kiran's hand, Arya walked towards the hotel door.

The guard that Kiran was worried about looked at the oncoming duo, and nodded to Arya, saluting her as he would normally do to all the guests, only this time he was a bit surprised by the unconventional attire of the girls. Arya gave a curt nod to the guard as she walked in through the door that he had held open.

Kiran, on the other hand, was just glad that she had Arya holding her hand otherwise she would have easily either stumbled upon the stairs or would have had no guts to even reach the lobby of the hotel.

The lobby, where Arya and Kiran were now walking in. Arya's face looked at only one direction - towards the elevator, while Kiran looked like a deer in a headlight- scared and conscious of every stare that they were getting -from the guard, the receptionist, the family with their suitcases and from the aunties sitting on the couch.

Kiran shook off her thoughts as she concentrated only at the back of Arya's head to shift her mind from those stares to just the black hair on Arya's head. 

Her hair has grown much longer than the last time I saw her. The last time I saw her was ........2 years ago? 3 years ago? No......no it feels like the last time I saw her was a lifetime ago. She is sooooooooooooooo much more confident now! Wow....I wish I was this confident. I ...... I also wished I had her height. God dammit! Why am I so short? This lehenga will drown me if I don't get out of it! Stupid lehenga in stupid red colour! HMPFH! It is great that I ran away. Yes! I ran away............................................................Oh no no nooo............. I ran away! How will I face my parents? Oh no no no noo..........

"...........an.....Kiran...Kiran get in the elevator, bubba!" Kiran was brought out of her thoughts when she heard Arya's voice and an elevator open in front of her with Shruti in it.

"Hu...huh? Yeah, yeah..." She mumbled as she walked into the elevator as Shruti asked her, "Done? Trip to dreamland done?"

Kiran made a puppy dog face as she spoke softly, "It was nightmareland, not dreamland...." and then as if a lightbulb turned on in her head she spoke excitedly, "Speaking of dreamlands, do we have a Disney Land in India? Do we?" She asked looking at both Arya and Shruti, who looked at each other in confusion.

"No....I don't think so..."Shruti said.

"Dang it! I wanted to go there!" Kiran said, punching her own fist on her other hand.

"Go in the future, who is stopping you as it is?" Arya commented.

Kiran thought for a while and then smiled widely as she exclaimed, "NOBODY! Oh my gawd! Nobody is controlling me now! Like, literally NO ONE! Oh my goodness! I am free! I am NOT getting married oh my my yes yes yes!" She exclaimed squishing her own cheeks in surprise as Shruti laughed. Arya just placed her hand on Kiran's head as she smiled, looking at her best friend be so free. Arya had noticed a stark difference in Kiran right now to what she had seen in the video call a few months back. She looked like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. And Arya could not be much happier to see her friend so happy. 

Soon after, they entered Arya's suite.

It took about 21 minutes for them to untangle all the jewelry, the hairpins, the safety pins, the false eyelashes and everything in between, and then finally Kiran could get into a comfortable pair of jeans and T-shirt. 

Kiran and Shruti then rushed out to go to the bank as Arya started packing her own bags.  

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Dressed in her dark blue jeans and red flannel shirt, Arya stood outside the hotel after clearing out the bill at the reception. She had freshened up before leaving her hotel room and was now waiting for Kiran and Shruti to come and pick her up. They had left as soon as Kiran had finished changing, which was about 32 minutes after they reached Arya's room. Her left feet kept tapping the ground as she finally saw the white Toyota Fortuner come inside the hotel's compound.

The car came to a screeching halt right in front of her.

"Took you guys long enough." She said as Kiran rolled down the windows.

"We kinda sorta almost got caught by my fam-jam!" Kiran answered, extremely casually for someone who kinda sorta almost got caught by her fam-jam!

"WHAT?!" Arya shouted as Shruti came around to help her with her bags.

"She seems quite cool for someone who almost got caught!" Arya complained to Shruti as they loaded the last of her bags in the trunk of the car.

"She is in denial. Wait 20 minutes and then she will blow up. But, we need to hurry. We need to get out of the city!" Shruti said as she jogged back to the driver's seat.

Arya came to the front passenger seat and knocked on the door, "Oi! Go back!" And before Kiran could protest, she added, "There is more space in the back to hide!" 

Kiran hurriedly got out of the front seat and got inside the middle passenger seat while Arya took her place.

Arya closed the door and wore her sunglasses as Shruti asked,"Ready?"

"Ready." Arya nodded.

And the untoward had to happen when Kiran started singing another One DIrection song," THIS TIME I AM READY TO RUN, OOO....ESCAPE FROM THE CITY AND FOLLOW THE SUN......"

Arya and Shruti groaned as Shruti turned on the ignition.

"If she wasn't our friend I would have already thrown her out! Her singing is terrible!" Shruti complained while Kiran kept singing,

  "I wanna be lost, I wanna be free................................................................Then I don't remember what comes next ohooooo....."

"Thank God!" Arya mumbled.

"Where are we going?" Arya asked after a few seconds.

"We haven't decided yet. But for the time-being, I am just getting us away from the city. Once we get out of the city, we can decide where we want to go."

"Okay......Kiran, where do you want to go for this roadtrip of yours?" Arya asked looking in the rear-view mirror.

"Go-go-go-goaaaaaaaaaaaa!"Kiran chanted.

"Ae no Goa! Please ! Not in the middle of summer!" Arya protested.

"Tha-Tha-Tha-Thailand!" 

"What?!" Arya and Shruti asked confused. Clearly, their friend had lost her senses somewhere along these days.

"Guys............." Kiran came putting her head in between the front seats, "Take me anywhere. But just take me away from here."

"Uff......that ...that helps a lot. So that leaves us .....with probably 1000 cities, minus Pune." Arya commented.

"Let's just go to Lonavala, haina? Let's just go there!" Shruti commented sarcastically.

"Noooooooooooooooooo......no Lonavala." Kiran said shaking her head left and right dramatically while lying on the back seat.

"Then?" Arya and Shruti asked.

Suddenly Kiran gasped as she again came between the front seats,"Guys! Idea!"

"Vodafone." Shruti and Arya said at the same time. They looked at each other and started laughing as Kiran groaned and face-palmed.

"Guys...........you are the worst punners in town!" Kiran complained.

"Punners?" Shruti repeated the word.

"Does that word even exist?" Arya asked.

"Leave it, whatever! So my idea is that we each write the name of one place, within India that we would like to go, on this road-trip, on a piece of paper, and then shuffle the papers and one of us selects one of the paper, and we will go there! How about that?"

"Kiran, this road-trip is for you, so I think it will be better if you choose one place, one decent enough, good weathered place, and we go there," Arya suggested.

"No yaar....what will be the fun in that?! Listen, see, when we shuffle the chits with each of our places on it na, then I will choose. But right now, let's just please do this na! Please, common! It will be fun!" Kiran expressed, nudging Arya.

"Fine, let's do that!" Shruti agreed hesitantly. Clearly, Kiran's happiness meant a lot to them.

"Yes! So, once we get out of the city, we will do the chit-chat, and then onto we goooooooo!" Kiran squealed excitedly as Arya and Shruti chuckled.

"Fine, let's do this!" Arya stated as they made their way through the traffic.

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DUN DUN DUN!!!!!!! Where do you think the girls should head for their road-trip????? Any suggestions?

Do vote , comment and share.

All the love,

~Inolas