All Roads Lead Home - 9

Prachi’s plans, were even more vague and impractical than my non-existent ones. We sat up late that night, poking fun at her best laid ideas. As we giggled and laughed, we never realized when the conversation took on a serious tone.

“What do mum and dad feel about this whole thing?” I asked her. I hadn’t spoken to them about it in great detail.

Prachi looked at me sharply. I played it cool, playing with the piece of paper I held in my hand.

“What do you mean?” She asked, pulling the paper out of my hand.

“I mean, are they okay with it? I never asked.”

“Well, I don’t think they are too happy about it.” She said thoughtfully. “But there’s nothing they can do to stop you, and they want you to know that they are always there for you. Whatever decision you take, they’ll be behind you, one-hundred percent, even if they don’t like it.”

I nodded. I already knew all that.

“Can I ask you something?” Prachi asked hesitantly.

“Sure.” I was intrigued.

“What’ll you do if you find them?” Prachi looked me straight in the eye. “Its not going to change anything right?” She wanted me to reassure her that everything was going to be just the same.

“I don’t know.” I told her the only thing I was sure of right then.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” I could see the lines on her forehead gathering, which indicated that she was trying to not to lose her patience.

I held her by the shoulders. “Please Prachi, I don’t have the answers right now. All I know is that I HAVE to do this. It’s a part of who I am. When I find the answers to the rest of your questions, I’ll let you know. Okay?”

She looked at me for the longest time and then nodded slowly.“Okay, deal.”

“Now that that’s clear, lets sleep! We’ve to start early tomorrow.”  She yawned loudly. I laughed. It was 3 AM, there was no way, we would start early tomorrow. As I turned off the lights, I heard my sister call out. “Goodnight sis.”

An involuntary smile touched my face. Despite her staking claim on the window side bed, she had moved to the other one. I fell asleep as I watched the moonlight stream into the room, illuminating it softly.

Turns out, we did have an early start. Prachi, the practical one, had asked the front desk to wake us up at seven. When the phone rang, Prachi lifted on one lazy finger, which promptly went under the blanket.

The phone rang persistently. Cursing Prachi under my breath, I got up and groggily made my way to the phone.

“Hello..”  I said, stifling a yawn.

“Madam, this is the front desk.” His cheerfulness was almost annoying.

“Yes, we’re up. Stop calling!” I gave out precise instructions.

“No Madam, there is someone to see you.. He’s waiting in the lobby. He says his name is Om and you’re expecting him.” *Poof!* my sleep all but disappeared.

“I’ll be right down.” I had hung up before the words were out of my mouth.