I woke up fresh next day, looked towards the next room to see two twinkling eyes greet me. I was making my way to the bathroom, when I heard my uncles discussing about the looming hartal in the state. In Kerala, hartals with a community clause are brutal and those after a string of communal murders in the district, the place were tense. What ensued was that the function lost its luster, for only we close relatives and others who had landed up the previous day were the only ones there. Not to be deterred by the low crowd the religious rituals went on in their own platonic fashion. Morning breakfast was pretty good, and I was expecting a good lunch. Man, Kerala food is awesome. Functions? They are usually boring, unless you have someone special to watch out for and try out for a cozy little chat.It was late in the afternoon, around 4, when I asked my dad “When are we returning home?” . You should have seen the angry grin on his face complaining as who will take the risk of driving in this violent situation. I led my hands forward for the keys. His grin only got wider. What was I even thinking? Well, doesn’t matter as he thrust the keys in my hand. My move got another group of people also moving. Guess two vehicles on the road together was safer!

I was going to miss the fragrance though, as she was going to be in the other car. She had to leave the state, which meant the two groups would drive together half of the entire journey. She just waved her hand as I turned the keys on my car. We had moved only a few 100 meters and I could see burnt tires on the road. My dad’s frown was deepening. After a calm drive of about 5 kms, is suddenly stopped the car. My dad looked at me questioningly, then gazing at the bricks on the road, he understood the problem. I got down, looked around. Not a soul in sight. Picking up courage I began moving the bricks of the road. Uncle stepped out from the car behind, but I had moved enough bricks by then. Our journey resumed, only to be stopped by groups of bricks at least 5 times in the next two kms. On one of the stops I noticed her worried look sitting in the car behind. I gave her a reassuring smile that we would finish our journey safely. The next 20 kms were anyway safe as we were on the highway and the highway patrol police kept it pretty safe. It was after this part of the journey when we deviated into a side route did a cold shiver pass through my body. Lying across the entire width of the road was an electric post. Damn, my weak body wouldn’t enable me to move it even an inch. Nah! Not all the men in both the cars could move it together. I turned the keys on the car, my dad game me a confused look as he couldn’t figure out my plan. I took the car off the road onto the field on the left and drove through the field and came across back onto the road after covering over a span on the electric posts. The only problem was that the rest of the road was literally dug out and it was pretty rough on the cars tires. Thus cutting off roads, moving bricks the ordeal continued until we reached home. I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as I got in home but then a worry crept in me as to the fate of others in the car that moved further forward. Watching the news made a chill run through my spine and I constantly looked at my phone waiting for an assurance of the safe conclusion of her journey, with a wait for a call that never came as the dreadful day came to an enigmatic close.