‘Wake up, you asses. It’s already 6.30.’
Someone was struggling to get us out from our utopia of dreams.
In the hostel, Amardeep was the first among us to wake up and, of course, the only one to wake up others. So we knew that it was our
early-morning Amardeep.
Still, how can somebody thumping your door to get you out of bed be pleasant? We human beings have such a weird nature—while asleep, we hate the person who is trying to wake us up, but once we are awake, we tend to love that same person because he did the right thing. As usual, Amardeep was successful in his endeavor. It was 7 in the evening.

This was the first time Amardeep and MP had come to the city, so we decided to explore the streets of Kolkata.

Fortunately our host possessed two bikes—his own Pulsar and his younger brother’s Splendor. We got ready and pulled out the bikes from the garage. MP and I got on the Splendor,Happy and Amardeep on the Pulsar.

We crossed the river Hooghly, over the Vidya Sagar Setu, shouting and talking to each other.
Speed-breakers couldn’t break our speed that evening. And where were we? On cloud number nine.
Being with your best buddies after such a long time is, at once, sentimental and thrilling.

We went to the Victoria Memorial and few other places. At times, we got down to have some fruit- juice. At times, we halted to enjoy Kolkata’s famous snacks and sweets. At times, we got down because one of us wanted to pee—which initiated a chain-reaction among the rest of us.

We were at some place, enjoying ice-tea in an earthen cup, when MP asked, ‘When do we need to
get back home?’ It was already 10.30.

‘No worries. I have the keys for the flat upstairs. We can go any time we want.

Hopefully,
we will not move in before 1,’ Happy said, finishing his ice-tea down to the last drop.
‘And where are we going to be till then?’ Amardeep was concerned.

Amardeep and his 11 p.m. sleeping time, I remembered, but didn’t bring it to the others’ notice.

Happy looked at me and asked with a smile, ‘Shall we go to the same place?’
‘Oh! That one …?’ Before MP’s dirty brain-cells could start thinking something filthy,

I tried to clear the picture. ‘Gentlemen! We are going to a very cool place now, and I bet both of you will find it.

…’
I was trying to finish when MP became impatient and cut me off, ‘Oh yes. I heard that Chandramukhi was from West Bengal. So, are we guys planning to …?’ His wicked smile and naughty
eyes completed the question.

‘You’re nuts,’ Happy said, laughing.
‘Don’t think too much, MP. Just follow us,’ I added.
Without revealing any more, we were back on our bikes, driving to our destination.
It wasn’t yet midnight when we reached the place.

The air here was a little colder. At first glance it looked as if we were in the slums. There was a run-down garage which was shuttered. Some trucks were parked outside. Their drivers were probably sleeping.

We parked our bikes beside one of the trucks and walked through a small street to the right of the garage. The place was badly lit and utterly silent. Our voices and footsteps rang out loudly.
The sounds of insects added to the eeriness of the
place. MP heard a pack of dogs barking somewhere nearby. I don’t know if he really heard them,though. Maybe it was just his poor heart, beating loudly.

‘Shhh! They will wake up,’ said Happy with a finger on his lips.
‘Who?’ Amardeep whispered.
‘There are people sleeping on the ground ahead. Watch your step,’ Happy said.
‘People! Sleeping on the road?’ Amardeep slowed down.

They were local fishermen. Some were sleeping and some were hung-over from home-made liquor.

Suddenly, the street ended in a wooden channel. This was a staircase-like structure going down, and we could hear a dull sound, like that of water beating against the shore.

We stepped on this channel
leaving behind the insect sounds.In a few seconds, we were at our destination.

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