It had been a twelve-hour tedious journey to Tarkarli, a coastal town in the south of Maharashtra. By the time we arrived, we could have even stumbled into dangerous caves to sleep. So it wasn't a surprise when none of us noticed Lila's beautiful villa in the darkness and entered whichever rooms were allotted to us by the housekeeper, a thin, pallid, old man with his stout, salubrious wife.

"Don't worry, I got us the best room," I heard Lila discreetly whisper in my ear so Raul and Anthony couldn't hear as we all zombie-walked in the dimly lit corridor.

I blinked at the blur of the golden lights and confusingly asked her, "We're sharing a room?"

"It's very big. Oh, Raul, here's your and Anthony's room." She halted, yawning into Raul's shoulder as he snugly pulled her into a hug. Anthony cleared his throat as a hint that the old couple were approaching us. Lila freed herself as smoothly as possible and addressed the old man in Hindi, "Ramu uncle, you have kept the house tip-top."

The old man's smile seemed a novelty on his sallow face as he guided the boys into the room like a shepherd hurriedly huddling his cattle.

His wife was going to show Lila and I our room when Lila said, "Don't worry, I know."

She grabbed the end of the full sleeve of my beige hoodie that I had worn in the air-conditioned car and hurried towards the end of the corridor, making me grumble, "The room won't run away, Lila." My voice was hoarse from the desperate need to sleep and with great exertion, I could keep my sore eyes cracked open. Lila pushed open a dark wooden door and switched on all the golden and white lights of the room and I had to shield my heavy eyes for fear that I would go blind. The hazy spots of lights dancing in front of my eyes vanished into the darkness when I reached over her flippantly and switched off all the lights- except for the golden lamp on the nightstand. "Let's just put away our things and go to sleep."

"You sound mad." She had observed my belligerent clicking of switches in mild fascination (if I judged her correctly). "Your mother- aai was right. You love sleeping."

I had discarded my hoodie and slipped into the thicket of covers, sinking contentedly in the spongy bed which reminded me of clouds. As a kid, I looked up yearningly at the fluffy clouds and wondered what it would feel like to sleep on them. To float away in the limitless sky and to dream of all the dreams that would be called impossible down on earth. The impossible being the things that we hadn't discovered yet and didn't want the dreamers to possible the impossible. New possibilities were naturally accompanied by fear in us. For us, dreams had to be within the realm of existing possibilities. If they were, how could they be dreams?

"Did you sleep already?" I heard Lila's distant, low voice, the words quietly piercing the night air as if she was afraid to disturb the darkness. Lila would have burst out laughing if anyone tried to put an end to her fairytale dreams, in turn, making them feel silly. "Did you see the view?"

"Tomorrow," I promised to the feathery pillow as I flipped on my stomach.

"You're the better view," I heard her corny joke and felt her playfully flick a strand of my hair which made me deeply muffle my head in the pillow. The last thing that I felt was the soft sinking of the bed beside me and a soft hand reaching mine under the covers. My little finger intertwined with hers and sighing, I let myself be carried away by the cloud into the world of dreams- into the world of Lila.

* * *

I tapped woozily on the empty bed and realising that I was searching for a soft hand, I woke up, startled.

"Did you see some ghost in your dream? I have never seen any ghosts!" Lila complained, clad in a wet, navy blue swimsuit which would have modestly reached her knees. But because of the wetness, it had rolled up till her mid-thighs. Her hair was tied into a bun with a careless pink scrunchie, some strands curling near her ears, a mix of frizz and dampness.

"What time is it?"

"It's almost lunchtime! Raul, Anthony and I have been playing on the beach since morning." She rushed towards the massive sliding doors, leaving a quick trail of water droplets on the wooden floor. "You were deep in La La Land and I was scared to wake you up."

"Don't run, you'll slip and fall," my voice thick from sleep felt like an invisible weight hanging in the summery, light air.

Lila eagerly pulled away the frail, white curtains with so much force that I was afraid she would rip them. And the sunlight filtered in our minimally furnished room, a slice of light falling slantly across the mahogany desk and on the white covers of the bed. Slices of sunlight like mangoes spilled on the textured, grainy, white walls, the juicy light trickling into the darkness. Our spacious room consisted of a locked cupboard, desk, bed, nightstand all made out of mahogany and an air-conditioner and large sliding doors of the sea-view balcony.

"Isn't it amazing?" Lila slid the glass doors and proudly stepped into the balcony, the juicy sunlight dripping from her body. "Look!"

"I'm looking." I squinted while shading my eyes with my hand, sauntering towards Lila.

"See! Anthony and Raul are playing there!"

I could see two vague figures as tiny as dots in the middle of the sparkling blue water, but I could hear their ecstatic shouts clearly over the softly, crashing waves. We were on the first floor of Lila's one-storey villa which had no terrace due to the sloping roofs. The white-sand, the pristine beach was beyond the backyard that extended for a few meters and boasted of diverse, flourishing trees and plants. A rough path led to the beach, sparse, dry grass-like plants sprouting in the sand on either side of the walkway. I could smell the wet mud from the freshly watered soil by the gardener (who I later discovered was "Ramu uncle" himself).

Lila was jumping to go down again and she grabbed my hand, "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"

"I haven't even brushed my teeth---"

"They use salt in most toothpaste. There's plenty of salt there!" She urgently pointed at the sea and I couldn't tell whether she was joking or not.

"Well, the beach isn't going to run away. You go ahead, I'll join in sometime."

"Some time!" She scoffed at that, leaning over the balustrade as far as she could and I suddenly grew afraid of her falling. "They're having so much fun! How can you not feel bad that you aren't there? These are the best moments of our life!" She whirled around and leaned back into safety, her tone turning accusatory and authoritative. "Come now. I'll wait for you right here."

Noticing the rare determination glazing her eyes (which would split into giggly eyes if I had held her gaze for just a second longer), I surrendered to her demands and emerged out of the bathroom as soon as humanely possible. She wasn't standing on the balcony as promised but was pacing outside the bathroom door as if she wanted to use it next. My feet barely touched the wooden floor of the bedroom before I was whisked away by her, running after her on the wooden landing and down the stairs.

"Oh God," I heard myself breathing as I ran in my nylon jersey and shorts, wincing at the amount of noise our shameless feet made.

"We're going to the beach!" Lila announced to the concerned wife of the housekeeper who stood in the living room with a steel plate of shelled peas, dumbstruck.

Both of us crossed the backyard and Lila didn't slow down even when we entered the walkway, her lithe legs floundering in the sand.

"Easy, easy. I'm sure Raul and Anthony can't have all the fun in the world in just two seconds."

"They better not!" Her struggles persisted all the way till our bare feet landed on the firmer, darker sand and the salty water drifted serenely towards our toes. "Raul! Anthony!"

"Lila!" Raul shouted from afar, both of them waving wildly at each other as if they were reuniting after some war. He waded through the water and instantly picked her up in bridal style as she squealed in delight. He energetically ran holding her and once waist-deep in water, he tossed her like a sack of root veggies.

"I'm tired," I mumbled to Anthony who had quietly stood beside me, both of us watching the joyous couple.

"Why are you tired?"

"I'm bored," I corrected myself, retreating towards the hay shed erected in the sand where some belongings of Lila lay strewn around.

"You don't want to swim?" Anthony sidled beside me, the sweltering heat of the sun made my underarms and inner thighs sticky and damp with sweat.

"I'm hungry. I didn't eat anything since yesterday." I plopped on the cool shade of the sand, unabashedly and rigorously wiping my thighs and underarms with a fluffy, white towel. Why did Lila drag me in this heat only to cling to Raul? I was fine in the cool room, I could have had a relaxing shower and breakfast. My sunken, defeated stomach was roaring in rage.

Anthony uncomfortably towered over me, rubbing and scratching the sand off from his arms. "Should I . . . Should I bring something to eat?"

"Please! I think I'll faint if I get up to do anything," I moaned, stretching myself. "But you don't have to bring much. Just an apple or banana will do."

"Don't worry." He smiled, darting to the walkway without any hesitation.

I gathered the sand which passed through my fingers like fine grains of wheat and began covering my legs with it. I heard Lila screaming my name sporadically, but I didn't look up. The dry sand slid off my smooth thighs, but when I had accumulated enough with my hands, I could bury half my body with it. I did feel like disappearing forever so self-pity couldn't consume me. My stomach was convulsing in hunger and my eyes grew heavy with exhaustion.

When Anthony came back, he had a pile of different foodstuffs in his arms and he handed me a roll of food packed in silvery foil. "These are uh-some Puran polis."

I was about to tell him that an apple would have been enough, instead, I gratefully accepted it. "Thanks."

I unwrapped the foil and shoved half the rolled Puran Poli in my mouth, chewing as fast as I could.

"You were very hungry," Anthony murmured to himself, sitting beside me and scattering the two apples, half a dozen of bananas, a box of Frooti and a packet of Jim-Jam biscuits on his lap.

"Is a picnic going on here?" Raul asked, drenched from all the splashing around. He swiftly stooped down and picked up the same fluffy towel with which I had wiped my sweat. Before I could object, he was happily muffling his face in it.

"Its lunchtime!" Lila cried out as if she cared that I ate some snacks before lunch and scurried towards us.

I ignored her and I was thirstily going to reach for the box of Frooti when Raul plucked it from Anthony's lap like a seagull hunting a fish. He jabbed the straw in the silver hole and gulped down the entire drink till the box shrank. He mindlessly threw it on the sand beside me and Anthony took it, folding it into a neat square to later put it in the trash. He slung his arm around Lila's shoulder (who I assumed had crouched down in search of a crab?) and hauled her towards the villa.

"Why can't she see what we can?" I found myself speaking out loud only to get a clueless blink from Anthony.

* * *

Glossary :

Puranpolis- a sweet flatbread originating from southern/western India.

Frooti- a mango drink.