"Jailed in Jaya Nagar" - Infosys, Mysore Diaries - #BlogChatterA2Z

 “What plans this weekend?”, Myra had sent us an email. We were in the classroom and a Database practice session was going on. Usually, the practice sessions did not require our full attention, we just had to finish the assigned tasks during the session.  

“Nothing specific, why?”, I replied. 

“I might have to go to Bangalore to visit my aunt this weekend. Do you guys want to join? We can start to Bangalore on Saturday early morning, stay at her place on Saturday and start back to the campus on Sunday morning”, Myra’s email said.

“Sure, why not?”, Arjun replied.

“Is it okay if we visit your aunt’s place? Can we go to any places nearby?”, I asked.

“Yes, it’s absolutely fine if you accompany me. Regarding places to visit, I cannot promise that.”, came her reply.

I was excited about this trip, I had visited Bangalore when I was little but never later. Also, the training was getting tougher and it was time to cool off some steam.

*

On Saturday at 6AM, we boarded a bus to Bangalore from the CBS (Central Bus Station) in Mysore. The bus journey felt very quick and we reached the Majestic Bus Station of Bangalore in about 3 hours. 

The bus station was extremely busy and Arjun guided us to a different part of the station. He had done some research on local transportation for this trip.

“Let’s take a bus, we are new here and don’t want to trust the autos or taxis”, he said to us. We nodded.

A local BMTC bus came by and Arjun pointed towards it. We followed him. He then asked the conductor, “Jaya Nagar, 5^th block?”, 

“Houdu” (yes), the conductor replied in Kannada.

We took three tickets and since we were the first ones to get into it, we got nice seats. The bus got full in the next few minutes and we were glad to have hurried up. The bus started and took us through the roads of Bangalore. The first impression that I got about Bangalore was – it had wide roads and it’s a busy place. 

About 35 minutes later, the conductor shouted, “5^th block”, and we got down.

“Your aunt’s place is just 5-minute walk from here”, Arjun said.

We started walking and were admiring the serenity of that area. It had the city vibe, yet it was so peaceful. It was a residential area.

We reached her aunt’s place in no time. She stayed in apartments and it was a very large area and had lots of greenery. 

Her aunt received us and was very happy to see Myra. She then greeted us, asked us to get refreshed and have breakfast. We joined her in the dining room in about 15 minutes, she’s made dosas for breakfast. 

“So aunty, how long have you been staying here”, I asked her.

“I moved into this apartment 5 years ago. But I’ve stayed in Jaya Nagar all my life. It’s a wonderful area and has seen so much growth in the last 10 years”, she said.

“This does seem like a very large place”, Myra replied.

“Does this area indeed have 10 blocks, aunty?”, Arjun asked. Whenever Arjun does research, he likes to show off.

“Yes, it does. Jaya Nagar is one of the first planned neighborhoods of Bangalore. All the blocks except the 3^rd and 4^th blocks are residential blocks. The third and fourth blocks are commercial blocks. Earlier I used to stay in the 6^th block. It’s a nice residential area too.”, she said.

“Sounds interesting. Is it, in general, a rich neighborhood?”, Myra asked.

“Yes and no, I would say it’s a mix. But this area does have lavish homes of celebrities. For example, your Infosys Chairman, Narayana Murthy also has a place here. “, she said. We felt excited, Mr.Murthy could be here nearby !!

“And many more cricketers, actors, and celebrities”, she added, laughing at our excitement and handing us filter coffee.

“Why don’t you guys go to dinner today, 3th and 4^th block have nice restaurants”, she said.

“Nice idea, aunty”, Myra replied. 

I took a sip of the filter coffee, it was heaven.

“Thanks for the coffee aunty, it’s quite refreshing”, I replied.

Myra and aunty slowly started getting into their family issues; Arjun and I excused ourselves on the pretext of searching restaurants for dinner and took our coffees to the living room. 

“I don’t think we have time to explore Bangalore this time, let’s explore Jayanagar and leave early for dinner”, Arjun suggested.

I agreed and we started looking for restaurants. A place called “Central Jail”, caught my eye. It’s a prison-themed restaurant where we can pretend to eat like inmates for fun. We decided to go to this place for dinner.

We had a simple home-cooked lunch in the afternoon and went for a walk in the neighborhood. It was a lovely place and was very peaceful. By 7 in the evening, we started to the restaurant and reached in about 30 minutes. 

The place was hilarious. A prison-uniform-clad mannequin was at the entrance of the restaurant. Inside the place, the walls were plastered with posters which said “Most Wanted”.

We entered inside, there were booths in chained-up jail cells, guns hanging from the ceiling, etc., and many more creative props. 

We chose a cell and ordered food from it. The whole thing felt very unique and we had a splendid time that evening……

The next day on our trip back to Mysore, we were discussing our trip when an idea struck me. I decided to implement it on Anusha, who was very naïve sometimes.

“We were jailed yesterday”, I told an astounded Anusha and cooked up a serious story. I then showed her some pictures – the three of us had long and sad faces and we were beyond jail gates.

She was very sympathetic but within a few seconds, she said,

“But wait a minute! How did the jailer agree to take so many pictures of you three?”, she said, scowling.

I did not stop laughing for the next 5 minutes...

-- To be continued

This post is a part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge.

“I Too Had a Love Story” - Infosys, Mysore Diaries - #BlogChatterA2Z

 Prelude: This chapter is dedicated to the novel “I too had a love story” by Ravinder Singh

                                    *

Tired after our trip to Chamundi Hills, Arjun and I were glad that we did not have any other plans for the day. Myra, on the other hand, had dinner plans with Chetan. We reached the hostel by 5 PM and went back to our respective rooms. 

After 2 hours or so, someone knocked on my door. It was Myra. She had a Fastrack watch in her hand, it was one of the gifts that Arjun and I got for her. I had totally forgotten about the gifts.

“This is so good”, she said. Before I could say something, she grabbed my hand and took me to her room. The closet that she never used was open. In it, there were a couple of hangers with some clothes hanged; the whole arrangement looked like a mannequin. The hanger mannequin had a lovely top and a pair of jeans on. There were sneakers at the mannequin’s supposed feet. As our hanger mannequin lacked hands, there were a few accessories such as a bracelet, clutch, etc. placed in the closet. 

“This feels so special”, she said. 

“Glad you liked it”, I smiled. 

“I’ll wear the top and jeans that you guys gifted for today’s dinner”, she said.

I looked at her bed, a lovely dress was on it.

“No, save it for another day. For today’s dinner, that dress would be lovely. Now, get ready, have a good time, and let’s meet tomorrow”, I said. 

                                     *

The next morning, we three met for breakfast. Myra had a book in her hand. The title of the book was “I too had a love story”. 

“Let me guess, Chetan gave you that book for your birthday?”, I said.

“Yes, he did. I think I exaggerated my reading habits. Why don’t you guys read this book and let me know? If it’s good, I’ll read it. “, she said. Arjun and I were the readers of the group. Arjun took the book and started flipping pages of the book.

“It looks like a cheesy love story, which is not my favorite genre. Priya will read it”, Arjun said.

“I would love to read it. In fact, I’ll read it today”, I said.

It was Sunday and I did have time to read it. 

We planned to meet for lunch and dispersed.

                                    *

I sat down with the book and flipped the pages. It was a small read, it was about 200 pages. I read about the author and acknowledgments.  I was thrilled to find out that he was a fellow Infoscion. He started his career in Infosys and later started writing books. 

I started reading the book, which was an absolute page-turner. It was a love story, had interesting characters and extremely interesting dialogues. I just couldn’t put it down. 

Suddenly the phone rang and it annoyed me. Arjun had called me, it was lunchtime. I said impatiently that I was not hungry and would skip lunch.  

“You’re reading the book, aren’t you?”, Arjun said.

“Yes, I am in the middle of it. It’s very interesting. I will call you guys after finishing it”, I said quickly. 

“Just come for 15 mins and have a quick lunch”, he insisted.

“You don’t get it, do you?”, I said and hung up the call.

I had already lost a few minutes. 

I started reading the book and in about 30 minutes or so, Myra knocked on my door. She simply handed me a sandwich, juice and left. Our understanding was beyond words.

I put down the food on the table and resumed reading the book. I read on and on and on. After an hour or so, I put down the book and hid my face in my hands. After a minute, I started bawling loudly. The book had moved me so much that I just couldn’t stop weeping. The story was quite emotional. I wept for about 20 minutes. I then went straight to Myra’s room and knocked on her door. I thrust the book in her hand. 

“Read it… NOW”, I ordered, weeping all the while. She looked stunned for a second and then looked at the book.

“I’ll start immediately”, she said. 

After 3 hours, she knocked on my door with tears in her eyes. We wept together. 

We then headed to dinner with our tear-laden faces. Arjun was surprised to see us like that. Myra gave him the book, “Read it NOW”, she ordered him. We had a quick dinner and dispersed.

After 3 hours or so, nearly at midnight when I was half asleep, I got a call from Arjun. He was crying. 

“I know, it’s okay”, I said. 

The next week, the book was passed onto Anusha, Swati, Sravya, Sirisha, and almost every other person we knew. Some of them hardly ever read books but they all read this one.

They all had a similar reaction. We were all extremely proud because the author was a fellow Infoscion.

I grudgingly thanked Chetan for introducing us all to such a lovely book. He looked extremely pleased with himself.

Note: Don’t you want to know why we’d all wept after reading the book? Then, please read “I too had a love story”, by Ravinder Singh, an Infoscion. (I say the last part with a lot of pride) 

-- To be continued

This post is a part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge.

"Hillside Getaway" - Infosys, Mysore Diaries - #BlogChatterA2Z

 It was finally Myra’s birthday that Saturday and we were glad that it was during the weekend. We'd planned a cake cutting for her at the Oasis food court on Friday night at 12 AM. We wanted to plan a surprise getaway for the weekend but sixth sense told us to ask her what she wanted to do for her birthday. When we asked her, she said that she wanted to visit the holy Chamundi Hills with just the two of us: Arjun and I.

On Friday, all our college mates plus Chetan and Suraj gathered for the cake cutting. There were about 25 of us and it was a nice celebration. Her birthday was the first birthday in our group at Mysore and not one person missed it. It was also nice to see many other cake cuttings happening around and Myra got wished by almost everybody in the food court. 

We all dispersed after the cake cutting. I wished Myra “Happy Birthday” once again and retired to bed. We had plans of visiting the Chamundi Hills the following day and had to wake up early. She had plans of meeting Chetan for dinner. I could see him itching to ask her if he could join us but she was firm with her decision. 

The next morning, we woke up early. I packed all the gifts that Arjun and I had bought for her. I then went to her room on the pretext of borrowing clothes and placed all her gifts in a closet that she never used. We wanted to give her gifts throughout the day but it would be a lot to carry them.

We wore traditional attire and boarded the bus from Infosys bus stand to CBS (Central Bus stand) of Mysore. From there we hired a taxi to reach atop the Chamundi Hills. Tourists can also take the bus to reach the hilltop but there’s also a trekking option of climbing 1000 steps. 

We got into the taxi and slowly it started ascending the hill. There were a lot of twists and turns but I could see the view getting better at every turn. 

“What are the famous places here?”, Myra asked us.

We had done a lot of research and couldn’t wait to show off.

“First you have the famous 16-foot-tall Nandi statue. It is halfway from the bottom. Then there’s the actual Chamundeswari temple on the hilltop. The statue of Mahishasura is also famous”, I said.

“Tourists usually first go to the temple and on the way back, at about halfway down, they visit the Nandi statue. There’s also a viewpoint there”, Arjun said.

“You two have done your research”, said an impressed Myra.

We reached the hilltop. It was surreal. If the weather in Mysore was good, on the hilltop, it was perfect. And there was the actual temple which was golden yellow in color and had a quadrangular shape. 

The darshan line was not long and the idol of Goddess Chamundi was spectacular. The three of us were particularly silent that day, maybe we were just lost in our own thoughts or we were just taking it all in. After the darshan, we bought some idols and little gifts for our family. 

Coming out of the temple, we walked towards the large statue of Mahishasura who demonized people and got ultimately lost his life in the hands of Goddess Chamundi. The statue of Mahishasura had a sword in one hand and a serpent in another. 

We took pictures of the idol and got into the taxi. Halfway down, we got down at the statue of Nandi. It was beautiful and a lot of people spent a good amount of time near it. 

There was a nice viewpoint where a lot of people took pictures. The three of us stood looking at the view. It was like meditation.

“Happy Birthday Myra”, Arjun and I shouted from there. Myra had tears in her eyes. 

We then got back to the taxi and went to a restaurant called RRR. It served local South Indian meals. We had lunch and none of us said much. Guess we were having an out-of-the-world experience. 

On our way back to the campus, Myra hugged the two of us and did not let go for a long time…

--To be Continued

This post is a part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge.

GEC 1 & GEC 2 (Global Education Centers) - Infosys, Mysore Diaries - #BlogChatterA2Z

After the creepy stare from Chetan yesterday, I decided to keep an eye on him. If things get difficult to manage, I’d ask for Arjun’s help.

It was Sunday and having stayed in the hostel yesterday, I wanted to explore the campus. I asked Myra and Arjun to which they said yes and we decided to go exploring after lunch. 

We had a quick lunch in the Oasis food court along with a few of our college mates. We told them of our plan and amongst them, Anusha and Swati wanted to join us. 

“Do you have a plan?”, Swati asked us.

“Not really, but we are planning to walk via the Multiplex (dome-shaped building) and also go to the huge Parliament-like building”, I replied.

“The large building is called GEC2, also known as Global Education Center – 2”, Arjun said.

“But the building where we currently have our training is also called GEC, right?”, Myra said,

“Yes, that’s GEC1 and the large building is called GEC2”, Arjun clarified.

“GEC2 spans over a huge area has a musical fountain in front of it which plays music every evening at a scheduled time for a few minutes.”, Anusha told us. 

“Actually, why don’t I get my camera today?”, she said.

“We can do a photoshoot as well. Let’s also wear white, we can click some pictures in front of it?”, I suggested. 

“Okay, let’s regroup in 30 minutes. Not more than that.”, Arjun warned us.

I was quite excited about all of it. 

“How about we invite Chetan?”, Myra said. 

My excitement was burst like a bubble, but on second thoughts as I’ve planned to observe him, I thought, why not?

“Sure, that’s okay with me”, I said. I could see Arjun hesitate for a minute but quickly said yes. When Anusha and Swati looked at us questioningly, I could see Myra looking flushed. 

I diverted their attention by replying instantly “He sits beside Myra, he’s a friend of ours”, I said. 

We all gathered in 30 minutes and started walking along with Multiplex. Myra took a couple of shots of the Multiplex. I could see Chetan and his friend, Suraj walking towards us. We introduced them to Anusha and Swati. 

“Shall we hang out at the pool for a while?”, Chetan suggested. 

“We’ve already been to the pool. I’ve heard of a place called Gazebo near GEC1, our training block. They sell snacks and tea there. Why don’t explore that place?”, I suggested. I wanted to see how he’ll respond to opposition. I was determined to uncover his true side today.

Just as I’d expected, I saw a flicker of annoyance but he agreed right away. 

Myra took a few shots of the ECC building and we walked to our training center GEC1. Although we had our training classes every day at this building, there was something different about visiting it like a tourist. The central block of the building had large pillars in front of it and a few buildings encompassed it. There was a fountain in front of GEC1 but the most striking part of GEC1 was its never-ending rows of stairs. It was a beautiful building and one couldn’t stop admiring it.

We took some candid photographs near GEC1. 

“We visit it every day, what’s so special about it?”, Chetan said to which we all stared at him.

“Look at the architecture Chetan! “, Myra scolded him. He remained quiet. 

“Gazebo is this way”, Arjun changed the topic. 

We reached a hut-like lovely place which had trees all around it and I could see some stalls there. We ordered tea and enquired the vendor about the available snacks.

“Bun Samosa is available, it is very famous here”, he replied.

There were large benches to sit on and we chose a bench. Anusha and Myra had large plates in their hands. Their plates were laden with samosas which were sandwiched between buns, they looked like mini-burgers. The bun samosas were a synonym for delicious and we loved them.

I could see that Chetan and Myra were a little conscious of everyone and weren’t being themselves. Chetan did not speak much after his GEC1 comment. Arjun finished his samosa quickly and was already checking the pictures that we’d clicked.

After we were all done with having the yummy tea and bun samosas, we walked towards a large dome. We could see the GEC2 building even from a distance. 

“This is THE biggest building of this campus”, Chetan said. 

We reached the GEC2 in a few minutes and stood there staring at it. No adjective could do justice to this building. We were speechless. It was an enormous building with a large dome and a massive central structure with Colonial architecture. It had countless small buildings attached to it, giving it the look of a bird with its widespread wings. There was a huge fountain in front of it and patches of greenery everywhere. 

“Woah”, Anusha and Swati said in unison. 

"Yeah, Woah”, I replied.

We all walked quickly towards the building. I wanted to touch it in order to believe that this was all happening. After a few minutes of admiring the structure, we took some pictures and just sat in front of it. We could see many people staring at it like us.

And then suddenly, it started getting dark and more people were appearing. It must be the time for  musical fountain. And within a few minutes, the musical fountain started spouting water in various patterns and also play nice music to compliment it. It was like watching a ballet. 

After 20 minutes or so, we started walking back towards our hostels, speechless after such a surreal experience. 

After reaching the hostel room, I realized that I had more time to keep an eye on Chetan. For now, I just wanted to enjoy this amazing feeling of being on this campus. 

- To be continued

This post is a part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge.

"Fiesta" Food court - Infosys, Mysore Diaries - #BlogChatterA2Z

“Hey Priya, what are you up to?”, Myra asked me on phone.

I had just finished laundry and come back to my room. 

“Nothing much, I might go out for dinner in some time.”, I replied.

“Why don’t you and Arjun come to the main gate? There’s a food court called “Fiesta” here and it looks awesome. Let’s have dinner here.”, she said.

“I’ll check with Arjun”, I replied.

I called up Arjun but he did not take my call. I sent him a text about the dinner plan and after 5 minutes, I got a reply saying that he’ll meet me soon. 

Annoyed at this behavior, I was resolved to find out what was happening.

                                                                       * 

“What’s with the no-calls policy? And why are you acting strange? ”, I confronted Arjun as soon as we met. 

“Sorry, my phone was on silent”, he replied.

I wanted to ask him why he ignored us in the evening but I did not argue; He looked miserable. 

 “Okay, what happened? Is everything okay?”, I said instead.

“Am okay”, he lied.

We started walking towards the main gate, it was a 30-40 min walk depending on our pace. We could take bicycles but it was an upward slope and riding would be difficult.

“Change is inevitable. We have no option but to embrace it”, I said after 10 minutes. Arjun slowed down.

“But what if we don’t trust ‘the change’?”, he asked.

It was clear whom we were talking about. 

“Time will tell. “, I said, “Moreover, there’s nothing we can do about it”.

“Are you okay with 'change'?”, he asked me.

“I’m not but when it’s not in my hands, I try to embrace it. ”, I replied.

 “Some people have the knack of winning hearts”, he said with spite.

“Are you jealous?”, I asked. He looked at me.

 “It’s not jealousy. I don’t like certain changes”, he replied.

I did not know what to concur. Was he upset because it was all happening so quickly? Or did he secretly like Myra? 

We reached the main gate. Myra was coming in through the main gate. 

Chetan followed her.

“Hey Chetan”, I said. Arjun said nothing. 

“Hey guys”, he said.

There was an awkward pause. 

 “Look at Fiesta.. “, Myra said trying to diffuse the tension, pointing to a building ahead. We looked at the enormity in front of us. 

“So that’s Fiesta! I saw it on our first day here. It's huge”, I exclaimed.

“I knew you’d like it”, Myra said.

“Yes, it has almost all cuisines of food available in it. Guests are not allowed beyond this point and hence it has high traffic of people coming in”, Chetan said. 

“Yes, it makes sense since it’s the first food court that you come across on the campus”, I agreed. 

There was another pause.

 “Okay guys, have a nice time. Myra, see you on Monday.”, Chetan said.

“Wait a minute.”, a voice said. It was Arjun. “Why don’t you have dinner with us?”, he asked. 

“Okay”, said a surprised Chetan. I could see Myra smiling.

We entered the famous Fiesta FC (food court). The hall was larger than all other food courts and the FC had multiple levels. The popular kiosks seemed to be Dominos, Polar Bear (ice cream stall), Idlys, and Juice Junction. I took Poori bhaji from one of the less crowded kiosks and chose a table. 

Chetan was the first to come back. He had ordered Chinese food. 

He looked around and said, “Hope we are cool”.

Before I could reply, Myra joined us. I nodded as if saying “later”.

Arjun also joined us shortly and we had a pleasant meal. The food was really good, and we gobbled it. Arjun and I were especially hungry due to the long walk. The conversation was light and we could see that Chetan was a happy-go-lucky person. He asked us questions about our college days. He was not extremely chatty but he was decent enough. Moreover, Myra and he shared a very good rapport and I could see that she was enjoying his company. After dinner, we bade bye to Chetan and stood outside Fiesta. His friends were joining him. 

“So”, Myra said after a pause, “what do you guys think?”

She asked Arjun specifically.

“He’s okay”, he looked into her eyes. “As long as you are happy, we’re okay”, he said with a smile.

We started walking when suddenly I saw someone’s shadow from the first floor, it looked like they were peeping at us. 

It was Chetan…

- To be continued

This post is a part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge.

ECC (Employee Care Center) at Infosys, Mysore - #BlogChatterA2Z

ECC stands for Employee Care Center, in short, it refers to the Hostels managed by Infosys for employees and trainees. All the trainees were supposed to stay in the residential area of the campus. There was strict separation of hostels for boys and girls and each hostel building was guarded 24*7. Our hostel guard's name was Bojappa who was stern but helpful. He would remind us whenever we'd forget our ID cards.

Our training batch was allotted single rooms and I still remember the first day that I entered my room. One glance at the room and I felt grateful that all my hard work has finally paid off. 

The room was spacious and had a neatly laid bed with two side tables, a study desk + chair to work on, large TV, and a seating area with 2 chairs and a center table. The room also had a large mirror, few cupboards, a safety locker, a telephone for calling room services, and a kettle.  The bathroom had vanity cabins, a large shower area, and good lighting. 

Looking back, I’d say that the Rs. 3500 rent for this room was one of the best expenses of my life.  

We never really got time to spend in our hostel rooms and finally one weekend, I got some time.

The last few days of the training were quite overwhelming and I was glad that it was weekend time, I could finally get some rest. We were going back to the hostel on a Friday evening.

“Chetan asked me out.”, Myra said. Of course, he did. They spent a lot of time now that they were seated next to each other. Arjun and I exchanged looks.

“What did you say?”, I replied. 

“I don’t know, he seems to be a nice guy beneath all that tough boy facade”, she said.

“And those creepy eyes. I still don’t like the way he looks at you.”, I added. 

“Well, maybe he’s creepy. But he cannot help it, he has large, owl-like eyes. I feel I should give him a chance.”, she replied. 

“So, you’re going out with him?”, I asked.

“Am planning to say yes. He’s become a good friend of mine and I would like to get to know him”, she said.

“Sweeeeeet”, I said, enunciating the e’s. 

Myra then got a call and got busy. We reached the Girls’ hostel by then. “So, this is really happening!”, I started a conversation with Arjun. He was unusually silent the entire time. 

“Good night girls”, he said instead of replying to me and sped away. 

 I realized that it had something to do with Chetan.

Myra and I headed to our hostel rooms. I unlocked my room's door and felt an immediate peace on seeing the tidy room. Of course, the housekeeping staff had cleaned it. Every day, we could come back to immaculate rooms, with the bed done, everything in place and the desk would be stocked with tea, coffee sachets, and milk powder. My favorite part of the hostels was definitely the housekeeping services.

*

The next morning, a telephone call awoke me. It was Anusha, who sat next to me in class. She asked if we could meet for breakfast and I told her that we could meet later for lunch.

Myra called within a few minutes and said that she’s meeting Chetan in an hour, “Arjun is not picking my call”, she added.

I sensed something was wrong and assured her that I’ll contact him.

I called him up but he did not take my call. He instead sent me a text saying that he was going out with some guys and would meet me in the evening.

With Myra & Arjun away, I started planning my day. I would have lunch with Anusha, Swathi ( another college mate) and maybe chill in my room for the rest of the day. We went to lunch and met other college mates in the food court. 

“Hey shall we go to the laundromat today evening?”, Anusha asked me after lunch. We decided to meet at about 5 PM and went back to our hostel rooms. I laid down on my cozy bed and watched TV for a while. It felt very peaceful. We all need privacy once in a while. 

At about 5 in the evening, I knocked on Anusha’s room. She came out with her laundry bag.  

“Hey is it okay if Myra doesn’t join us?”, she asked.

“That’s okay. We’ll go next week”, I replied.

“You three seem very close and rather keep to yourself”, she said.

From a third person’s point of view, we did look like a closed group.

“Yes, we are close, we hung out in the same group in college”, I replied.

We reached the laundromat which was about 1 block away from our hostel. It was a large room and had about 100 washer-driers. 

“Woah”, I exclaimed looking at the stack of machines. 

We picked 2 washing machines and dropped our clothes in them. 50 minutes time was displayed on it. 

“Let’s go out for tea? We can come back in 40 minutes.”, I suggested.

We were crossing the road to go to the Oasis food court when we saw Arjun going on a bicycle. 

“Arjun”, I shouted.

He gave a quick glance and sped without responding.

Why was he ignoring us???

- To be continued

This post is a part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge.