The Golden Balloon

However busy one is, one needs to take time out to celebrate his good friend's birthday. Yups! It was Swats birthday and wasn't she delighted to see her elder friend Prads waiting for her outside the campus waiting for the classes to get over.
The birthday girl made her way out of the campus along with Jeevitha (Jeevs).

She asked Prads, what every birthday girl would normally ask, "Where is my birthday gift?" Prads smiled, "Tell me what do you want and I will get it for you. But don't ask me for the moon or Rahul Dravid. " Just then a colorful van whizzed passed them up and the van contained all types of balloons and Swats,like Sita Mata spoke, "Wow! what a colorful balloon. I have never seen such a golden balloon. Pradhyumna! I want that golden balloon as my gift..."

Prads got into action and jump started his bike just to be stopped by Jeevs as she spoke some philosophical nonsense, "Its all Maya...Illusion. Can't you see! Like Sita fell for the maya of the golden deer, so is this great lady here... falling for the maya of the golden baloon. She sent her husband Lord Ram and rest is history... "
Swats shouted at her friend Jeevs, "He is not Lord Ram and you are not Lucky Singh either... " Swats didn't complain about her being compared to Sita because she knew Sita was very beautiful. Swats turned to Prads, "What are you waiting for! Its normal for Jeevs to get jealous on seeing a boy like you doing anything for me...."

Prads went behind the Golden balloon not wanting to be sandwiched between these two girls. As he went around the turn some yards away and disappeared from their eyesight, they heard a thud sound and a shriek from Prads.
Swats got a lump in her throat as Jeevs joked, "Seems like that he has been wasted"
Swats gave a frantic call, "Start your vehicle...lets go find him now..."
Jeevs laughed, "Its hardly that distance. Go walking and find for yourself. Nautanki math kar...."

Swats shows her golden feet,"I am wearing golden heels re.. Those balloons had a matching color. That's why I insisted them... I can't run, baby!..."
Jeevs thought Swats was acting too smart and she spoke in the 'ramayana spirit' "I am not leaving you alone in this college ashram..."
Swats wanted to bash her, "Seems... you are possessed by your dead granny's spirit. I know there are many ravans here. They have just one head, but they look as though they have twenty eyes. But I can take care of myself..."

Jeevs refused to leave the place nor allowed her vehicle to be touched by Swats. Swats lost her cool and shouted, "If you don't do something now to help my friend out, I will throw these heels at your face"
Jeevs laughed, "If you can remove the heels to do a act of violence like hitting me why can't you remove it and run down the street and find for yourself what happened to Prads?"
Without waiting for Swats to answer, "I will tell you why you will not do like that. You have lost the power to make proper decisions. That has happened because your Buddhi(thinking) has become brasth (corrupt). And your buddhi became brasth because you got krodh (angry). And you got angry, because you had kaam (desire). And you got Kaam because of Sangham (Proximity)...."
It was the height of puranic overdose and without thinking further, Swats took her heels and flung it at Jeevs who was had stepped two steps back. Jeevs ducked and escaped from being hit. But Poor Prads with bruised feet who had made it to the campus gate was hit by the heels in his right eye"

A crowd gathered to see what was happening and the college principal came down asking for an explanation. Prads didn't know what to say and very stupidly handed the baloon to Swats and said, " MANY MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY"

The Swayamvar

Swats or Swasthee got bored waiting for the pooja at the temple and asked her elder friend Pradhyumna or Prad, who had forced her to come there to tell her a pucca time-pass story. Prads thought that a mythological story would suit the situation. But she wanted something futuristic. So Prads smiled and decides to convert the mythological story he had selected into a story of Swats herself from the pages of her future life,
*********************
"It was Swats' 24th birthday and her father has arranged for her swamayamvar. Who's who of India were there. IPL superstars. Bollywood heroes. Indian Idol singers. Even the Gods in the heaven wanted to attend the swayamvar after hearing about her beauty. But sage Narad, the heavenly wanderer of the seven worlds told them that the girl had already selected a simple human soul as her life partner and the garland would be put around his necks
Her selection looked like a mixture of Harry Potter and Abhishek... only difference is he didn't had a wand and he was not a flop show. And his name was Rahul.But the Gods became jealous and Lord Varun said "He may have cast his spells, but we too have some tricks in our bags..." and Lord Vayu added "and he may be lucky till now. But not any more."
The four gods decide to make her choice very difficult by participating n the Swayamvar by taking on Rahul's appearance. When Swasthee came to the stage with the garland in her hands, she found five rahuls to her surprise. And she was not Draupadi to select five men as her husbands.Swayamvars usually had a MC who would introduce the eligible bridegrooms. For this swayamvar, Goddess Saraswathi was herself the MC. And Swats looked towards her for help. Saraswathi had a tough task on her hand. Being a Goddess, she cant allow the Gods lie to be caught because of her and at the same time, being a woman, she didn't want to do injustice to Swats.

The four gods are Agni, Vayu, Indra and Varuna. Saraswathi introduced the first guy, I mean, the first Lord, Lord Agni "This guy is Rahul....Rahul Number 1...He is from the City of Gods i.e Kerala and a doctor by profession. When he keeps his stethoscope on young girls heart, their heart beats stop... And yes, he loves idlis....."
Saraswathi was stressing on the word idli and Swats immediately ordered idlis. The white idlis when it went into mouth of the fire god, it automatically became Black.
Swats said, "Are you eating idlis or black coal?" And she said without thinking she was talking to a God, "You are fired..."

Next Rahul was the cool Lord Varun, the lord of rains. "This is Rahul... Rahul number 2... doesn't he look really cool?"
Swats listened carefully and read between the lines and guessed that this guy was also a impostor and said, "You look cool with a pretty face.But you could be fool with a dirty mind.How to know your mind is beautiful?... my psychiatrist friend once said that a person with a good mind would have really nice handwriting. Would you write a prem-pathr addressed to me?"
The rain-god didn't foresee the trick and fell for it. Swats ordered paper and pen and as soon Lord Varun touched the paper,it became wet.
Swats smiled, "I knew kids who wetted their pants with fear...I muss say dude you sweat buckets...."

Now Goddess Saraswathi came to the third Rahul.. Lord Vayu... The Air god., "Here is Rahul... Rahul number three.... is he your rahul? The one whose name you want to write in every breath of yours.... "
Swats guessed it and without shyness declared, "Gosh! I am sure you are mine and I want to feel you in my arms before I garland you."
Lord Vayu was not prepared for this when Swats suddenly embraced her in front of everyone and.... did she feel anything???. She felt nothing...only emptiness because air has no substance, "Wow! You are so light weight....Damn! You just got dissolved in ma arms.Don't you think you are a bit too romantic? I need someone realistic......."

Next in line was Lord Indra, God of the heavens. Goddess Saraswathi herself didn't like Indra. Indra was known for roving eyes and earlier had been known for trapping wives of rishis when they were not at home,"This guy is Rahul... Rahul number four... He may have seen many girls, but once his eyes fell on you, he has not seen any other girls.. Bring any apsara before him and he will not be tempted..."
Swats got the message, "You mean he has his indriyas under his control. So all the apsaras of the heaven like Rambha, Menaka and Thilothamma won't have any effect on him.." she deliberately missed one apsara.
So Indra spoke out without even thinking, "You missed my favorite one... Urvashi..."
Swats gracefully told him, "O Lord! You might get many other. But I need a one woman man"
All the gods made their exit after praising Swats for her intelligence and giving her their blessings...
Swats then looked at the real Rahul and said...."I always knew you are the one. From the time I saw this shyness of yours I fell for u. People could copy your looks but not your innocence..."
*****************
Suddenly the prayer bells rang and everyone was called for pooja and Swats had only one wish, "Oh God! Make this story come true in the future...at least some parts..."

(Adapted from Damayanthi Swayamvar appearing in the Mahabharatha)

Till Death do us apart... Can it?

"Some people never grow up.. As a kid, they have this ability of conjuring false stories around them.. And they keep holding on to it, even after they have grown up" ,said Pradhyumna to his young friend Swasthee. Swats was surprised and she queried, "Whom are you refering to..."
Prads didn't had to answer. All he did was point his finger at the cafe's entrance. There was Spandana, Swats good friend. Though she was intelligent, it seemed that she just told hard to believe real life experiences. And that day also she had a tale to tell.

Swats tried to make the environment a bit romantic and broached up a topic, "I love the atmosphere at the cafe. There are so many beautiful pairs.They seem to be made for each other..."
Prads rebuked the statement, "There is no such thing as 'made for each other'.All of them are 'mad for each other'. And you just can't say by looking at them that they are made for each other. You have to see their entire life as to how they live their life for each other"
Spandana agreed on that one, "That reminds me of my uncle Sudeep and his wife Ragini..."

Prads just smiled and whispered to Swats, "Shatabdhi express suro hogayii..." And no one dared to stop Spandana, "My aunt Ragini and uncle Sudeep came to the big bad city some five years back to settle down after they got married. Uncle Sudeep had got a job in the RTO. They were looking for a home to be called their own." As if to irritate Prads, Spandana broke into a song, "Do deewane sheher mein... abudhana dhoondthe hain." Prads chose to remain silent after observing her very long polished nails.
Spandana's story suddenly turned mysterious after the song, "At the first house,my uncle experienced something very strange. He felt as if he was being smocked by some invisible forces. He felt it hard to breath.My uncle felt some extreme heat inside the building. The broker got them out of the apartment and into the open air..."
Prads had to comment, "May be... he got the premonition of his wife choking him to death on his failure to gift her on their first wedding anniversary"

Spandana was totally absorbed in the story, "A minute after they walked out of the apartment, the whole apartment went up in flames. The broker was shocked and thanked my uncle for saving his life and also commented, 'You are gifted and able to foresee the danger...' But my uncle thought otherwise and said that it was just a coincidence."
Prads smiled at the way she was building up the story, "And you too are gifted...."

Spandana continued her 'real' story, "If a strange thing happens once, it should happen again. So it did...My aunt and uncle were showed another apartment which was still at the construction stage...And this time my uncle felt something sharp and heavy fall on his head and that too from great heights. There was no injury marks, but my uncle just couldn't explain the pain he was going through. They took him to a side tea stall. Before even they could take a sip of their tea, they heard a deafening sound. They looked across the road and saw that a huge pane of glass which was being lifted by a crane to be fixed on the eleventh floor fell onto the ground crushing some bystanders"
Prads. criticized Spandana's story, "Are you are just telling the story to entertain us? or does it really have anything to do with the statement 'Made for each other'?"

Spandana cleared her thought, "Listen completely!!! My Uncle thought that this was far more than premonition. His mind started giving him crazy ideas. He got the feeling that maybe death was after him.If this went on, then his life would be hell and so would be the life of his dear wife ragini who has to bear with it all."
Prads knew the next part, "And so he decided to make the sacrifice and leave his wife... Love triangle hain kya? I mean... tumhare aunt ka koi purana boyfirend tha..."
Spandana, "No! For her uncle was the world.. But my uncle refused and left her and started staying alone.And then one day he got the news that his wife has met with an accident and was in a critical condition. He immediately run to the hospital. There he saw a blackish apparition that no one else present there were able to see...It was death himself... And it talked to my uncle..."

Prads couldn't control himself laughing, "Spandana! Thank you very much. Though I am thirty two, many say I just look like sixteen years. You must have taken them seriously"
Spandana was more focused on the climax of her story "Death like any typical bollywood villain had to tell my uncle his scheme, 'You are such a fool... I was always after your wife... but because of your selfless love, your soul was able to foresee the danger and save her life every time I came close to her... but your mind ditched you completely by depicting the picture that you could bring her some harm... and you believed it and deserted your wife making my job very easy...Why can't u be like that hero who said 'Ek baar jo maine commitment kar diâ...uske baad toh main khud ki bhi nahin sunta!' You shouldn't have listened to yourself"
Prads laughed and slowly whispered to Swats, "The movie 'Wanted' released just a year ago...as far as I know"
Spandana didn't hear it as she had completely lost hold of the real word "Just then doctor came in and with a dull face showered the bad news to my uncle that Ragini was showing unexpected changes in her health conditions and it was impossible to treat her. At that time my uncle began to experience some changes in health and he got suddenly ill and started sweating profusely as if his blood pressure rose...My Uncle maintained his pose and said to the doctor, "Gosh! Please put me on observation... by observing me, you will know what dangers await her in advance and accordingly you can treat her. As you have no other alternative, you need to agree on this one"
Prads started loving the crazy story, "And the rational doctor believed it and started treating Ragini by observing changes in your uncle . Must be first such case in medical history ..."
Spandana smiled, "Yes... and then they saved her... Death put his tail between his legs and departed from the scene..."
Swats put an end to the story ,"And they lived happily till death did them apart...
err I mean.. It can't..."

Prads paid the bill and prepared to leave, "Spandana, I don't know what you will become in life. But one thing is for sure.. U will be a great mother who will put her kids to bed very easily with some very 'real life experiences'"

Sajjanre Jhoot Math Bolo...

"Don't wait for things to happen.. make them happen"
Swats believed in the quote and she wanted to bring love into the life of her good friend Pradhyumn or Prads. She was trying her best though providence didn't seem to support her.The girl she had in her mind was her senior Spandana. Their first meeting was disastrous (Read here). But Swats was not to be dejected by such incidents . So she whisked away Prads once again and this time to spandana's home to meet her family.

Prads opened the heavy gates to her home and kept his left foot first. And then a frantic young man came running out of the house and fled past them, all the time yelling like a madman, "I thought I was going to see a angel. But there is a devil inside which feeds on human parts.." Swats felt a little odd and sensed that it was very bad timing. Looking at the young man who was happy to see the open gates, Prads crooned humorously (from the eagles hotel california) pointing at the house, "You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave..."

It definitely was not a Ghost House as they found worried parents on the Sofa and a full-bindas girl who has come of marriagble age, Spandana, in front of the computer. Prads who was neither young nor old was able to read the plight of the parents, "Another proposal rejected by your girl?" Before they could answer, Angry voice of Spandana filled the entire house, "I didn't reject him.... You will never believe as to what happened here before you guys moved in... " and she narrated the story

"When I was told that a boy called Sajjan was coming to see me, I was confused. As a young girl, I also dreamed of love and marriage. But I also dream of being independent and being self sufficient. So I turned to the net for help. And exactly on the strike of twelve, a fairy god mother appeared....on my google chat window and after hearing my story handed me the first edition of Pinocchio and like our family priest, advised me, 'Light a lamp in front of this book and read this story 12 times before next day morning and see the results' I didn't question her and did as I was instructed to do...

Next day, the bridegroom appeared and he failed to sweep me off my feet. I kept my mouth shut and eyes fixed on the clock hoping to see his back at the earliest. But my good parents vacated the room allowing us much unwanted privacy to speak our hearts out. And it seemed, whenever he opened his mouth, he said only things in his praise and that too, lies, 'I did my Ph.d In Economics from Win-Cheaters University and now working for the logistics department for a health-care facility in States. Though I am working abroad for a long time, I have not picked up any bad habits like smoking and drinking.' Suddenly Sajjan's nose began to shrink. And I began to laugh out aloud realizing that fairy god mother was working her spell. The spell was a newer version and with some modification - whenever the guy lies, his nose would shrink rather than grow.

Seeing me smile, the modern day Pinocchio started making confessions,'Hmm... I do smoke but not more than 2 smokes a day... I do drink but only when there is a occasion to do so..." The nose shrank further and that had me in complete splits. Cupid struck the boy as he admitted, "You have a beautiful smile. I loved those dimples. I have never seen a girl with such a beautiful smile..." And I laughed more not for his silly romantic lines but for his fast shrinking nose. I wanted to see them disappear

So I put forward my feelings, "I am not expecting a perfect boy with no vices whatsoever. All I want from my boy is not take the name of his old girlfriends in front of me and to be at home before the sun sets and be faithful to me..." And the boy dropped to his knees and proclaimed and it looked to be taken directly from his curriculum vitae, 'If I get appointed as your husband, I promise to serve you with utmost faith and love and so on... ' and I went 'Wow' as I saw his nose nearing to its extinction from his face.

I had to reject the proposal and did it in a cool manner,"Don't take me wrong. But I feel you are desperate and isliye lying all the way. I want someone who is more truthful and one who speaks his hearts out without being afraid....I hope you are not hurt' Sajjan was really hurt yet lied, 'No! Its okay. Your life and your choice.'...."
And before Spandana could complete the story, Prads interrupted with a stern voice, "And his nose completely disappeared. He realized this as he went to the washroom to wash his REAL tears. The frightened guy just let out shrieks and ran out of the house...Rite???"

Spandana was dipped in the pleasure she was deriving from the story, "Yups! Exactly!"
Spandana's mother had prepared a cake for the occasion and Spandana wanted to celebrate and she started with the outer cream. That's when Prads bluntly said, "Do you think I would digest this stupid story of yours? Why it couldn't be that you got tired of his lies and just landed a punch on his face?"
Spandanda looked at him with the cream filled hand which stopped midway to her mouth, "No! I didn't do anything like that...."
Prads laughed and said, "Look! your nose has already started shrinking"
Spandanda placed her cream filled hands on her nose and she looked no different than a buffoon from the local circus.

Is this called 'Falling in Love' ?

Swasthee or Swats had promised her friend Spandana that she would come down to pick her up. So even if it was eight o clock she was there at the station. Very courageous. Any girl would be when she has a elderly friend like Pradhyumna or Prads besides her. And when the train finally arrived, Swats had a wise comment to be made which was definitely picked from somewhere,"Now I know what does IST mean... Indian Stretchable Time..." As soon as the train arrived, Prads was made the coolie and the luggage got shifted from the train to the bus. They still had some sixty kilometers to covered by the bus.

Spandana looked still energetic and instead of taking a little nap, she took up another book and started reading it.Definitely the book was not some paper back novel.Rather it had such heavy words like finance and commerce that made Swats jaw drop and eyes feel sleepy. She turned towards Prads and saw him selecting some songs on his music player.

Girls sometimes get strange ideas and what is even strange is that the Lord Almighty says yes to it. Looking once at Prads and then at Spandana, Swats started dreaming of prads falling in love with Spandana.And like the witch in the old siticom bewitched, she twitched her nose. And it seemed to work though not as Swats would have liked it. Prads felt that music could be better enjoyed with lights switched off and asked the driver of the bus to do ao.

When the lights got switched, Spandana's moods also got switched. Now anger was written all over her face as she shouted at the conductor, "Abhe Andhe! Can't you see... I am reading...#@^*&%~ "
Prads was amazed by the language of Spandana. Swats looked at Prads' dumb-stuck face and expressed to herself, "Don't tell me that he is falling for her selection of abusive words"

Prads was a gentleman and said very gently "Madam! It is not at all healthy to read in a moving bus... and besides tat, I thought you must be really tired from the train journey... You should take some rest"
But Spandana was not the type who liked being told what was wrong and what was right, "Even in computers, I don't ever click the help button..."
Swats immediately gave a angelic smile and thought, "Dialogue maar rahi hain... is she trying to impress my handsome friend"
Spandana continued, "I know what's best for me... Keep your advice in your own pockets...Mind it, Idiot!!!!"

Prads who didn't raise his voice till now lost his cool, "Gosh! Why am I unnecessarily getting into a brawl with you, egoistic girl! Read a novel or do whatever you wish... I don't mind at all!!! Burn in hell!!!"
Swats was disappointed, "In the first rendezvous itself, they are cursing each other. Even those MLAs in the parliament are slightly better. How will love bloom in such a atmosphere. Oh God! I thought you said yes to my wish.."

Then she heard a voice in her mind.She was not sure it was her atma-sakshi(inner conscience) or the almighty himself answering her. But She felt it was God's voice because she heard a male voice answer her, "Haven't u seen those romantic bollywood movie.When somebody hates someone they think more of them... more than they would have had they loved them. And in the first rendezvous there should always be a war of words. Now they go home and yearn to see each other so that they can curse once again and would be waiting for the next time...This yearning would make them definitely come together once again and then see for yourself what would happen!!!"

Swats didn't like the waiting game but she couldn't do anything, "Damn You! God! You leave me with no choice."

She deserves better

Pradhyumna's parents were at Karthika's place discussing as to how the marriage proposal was to be finalized. Swasthee, being Prad's good friend should have been present there. But she was at the local beach with Prad's best buddy Surendra.

Surendra felt betrayed by his best friend Pradhyumna. He found Pradhyumna guilty of stealing his girl Ksrthika. Swasthee thought surendra may be suffering from a severe heartache and may need some consolation.

But Surendra was a strong person and said with a angelic face, "She got what she deserves..."
Swats still pricked him, "But don't tell me you are not mad at your best buddy"
Surendra said. "I think she deserved some one better than ma and Prads is the best choice..."
Swats was surprised by the words. At the same time she felt sad that her task was cut short.She loved the task of consoling muscular men who wept buckets in front of her.

Surendra carried forward the conversation, "A panchathantra story helped me to come out of this." Swats may have been transformed from a playful child to a beautiful girl a long time back but she was still a child in her heart and wanted to listen to the story. Surendra sat down for his story telling session,"There was a sage living near the banks of a river. Once he found a small rat and took some special care of it. The care turned into liking and he got the rat converted into a cute baby girl. The sage brought it up like his own child and gave it all the love and education. Soon, it turned to a beautiful girl and it was the time for its marriage. That's when sage decided that she had to get the best"

Swats was enjoying this story where the girl was the center of the attention, "Girls should be given all the attention. Did the sage arrange a swayamvara for her?"
Surendra shook his head, "More than that! The sage decided that the strongest one in the world should get the hands of his adopted girl. So he asked Adithya to make his presence felt there"
Swats good a bit confused, "Adithya chopra? maker of dilwala dulhaniya le jayenge... how is he powerful? He only makes young girls weak by making them dream a lot."
Surendra continued, "Adithya, the maker of days and nights. The largest of the stars, the sun himself. But the rat-girl refused vehemently saying 'he is too hot to handle'...."
Swats smiled, "She's right. Being hot is the quality of a girl not of a boy... she very well knew that..."

Surendra continued, "Adithya, the sun god thanked his stars and advised the sage on the powerful one he knew, 'It is the Megh-Raj, (Lord of clouds) who is the strongest... before him I am nothing... when he shows up on the horizon that too in his darkest form, he makes me go into hiding like Bush did to Osama..."
So Megh-Raj was summoned immediately. Megh-Raj came down and the rat girl's face showed her dislike, "He is too dark, Daddy!"
Swats broke into a song, "hum kaale hain tho kya hua... dil waala hain... Megh-Raj must have said something like that na..."
Surendra smiled a bit, "No! He is not a nautanki like you. Rather he was happy on the proposal getting quashed and advised the sage, "Dear learned one. I am not the strongest. When the winds come,I am nowhere to be seen... "

Surendra allowed the cool breeze to brush through his hairs before continuing the story, "But the girl refused the wind lord too saying, 'He is too chanchal...He doesn't stay at one place... how can I make him dance to my tune all the time... NO!... papa... No!. The wind lord looked at the girl and suggested the bride's father, "I think you have misjudged me. There is someone stronger than me. That is Parbath Singh (The Mountain Prince).When a mountain shows up on my path, I just bow down to him. Only poets say 'hum chatton ko heela saktha hain' I definitely cant."
Swats didn't disturb the flow of the story and was eagerly waiting to know the var the rat-girl had selected.
Surendra started the parbhat singh's tale, "Parbhat singh came on to the stage. The rat girl instantly took a dislike to him,"Father, look at him! His belly is showing up.If this is the state now, just think what would happen ten years from now. How can I go to parties with him without getting embarrased."

Swats found the girl a bit too choosy, "If she goes on rejecting offers like this, she may end up being a kuvari..."
Surendra was nearing the end of the story, "Parbhat singh was sad, but he decided to help the old sage and dispensed his advice, "She is right...I am big and fat and i am also not the strongest. I should be humble enough to accept this. A creature which is much much smaller than me makes me cry a lot.He makes thousand holes inside me and digs mud out of me... in a way he is taking the life out of me". The sage without even thinking spoke, "Who is that guy?" and sprinkling some water onto the air, he made the creature appear in front of him. And there was no bounds for girls joys as the creature appeared before her. The girl liked him immediately and instantly choose him as her husband, "Small, Short and simple. Nice eyes.. Nice teeth.. I love him" It was a male rat!!! The sage learned his lesson and with a sigh declared, "Whatever one does, one can't change the destiny. He will get only what he deserves. You deserve a rat and you got it."

Swats was not at all happy on hearing the climax of the story and she chased Surendra all aroung the place cursing him and shouting out loud, "How dare you address my good friend prads as a rat?"

I want to live....

Prads was traveling along with Swats to the place of Karthika, the new girl in his life. The public transport vehicle they were traveling in was much like a ghost vehicle with the driver at the wheels and the conductor at the other end and there were hardly ten passengers including Prads and Swats.
There was no music playing inside the vehicle.Yet Prads was lost in his own world. From the small coastal town, he went to the big bad city to the girl who had said goodbye to him. Swats realized this from his sober face and immediately got up and instructed the conductor to bring the vehicle to stop.

As Swats got down and the bus prepared to move,a speeding lorry came from the corner and just smashed the bus from the behind...reducing it to smithereens. Swats was left speechless by the site of the destruction. She just prayed that nothing would have happened to her good friend Prads.

But at the moment of collision, All thoughts came running to his mind. His life got replayed in front of him... specially the moments with the girl from the big bad city... the meeting, the exhange, the breakup and etc and etc and he yelled out "Gowthami...."
From heavens above and on the newly constructed four lane to the earth was coming, a white sedan with Yamadhoothas(Agents of death). They were driving smoothly and they were not aware of the vishnu doothas(guardian angels) who were just behind them in the bLUE maruthi omni. Yamadhootas didn't seem to take the warning, "objects appearing in the mirror may be closer than they appear" very seriously. But after some time, they realized that vishnudoothas were gaining speed. Yama dhootha's didn't want to lose a prey this time around and stepped on the gas and the chase ensued. Though they didn't had a advanced vehicle, the vishnu doothas had their lords name in their favor. One "jai shri raam" and their maruthi moved like a lighting and they touched the base. Before the yamadhoothas could even lay their fingers on Prads, vishnudoothas had formed a vyuha around the young man with their semi automatic weapons pointed at the yamadhootas

One of the yamadhootas spoke out, "Comon!!! Why this time around?.This guy is a not a ardent devotee of the almighty. He is just a wastrel.He wastes his time thinking of a girl who doesn't even care for his existence..."
Vishnudoothas spoked out, "That is selflessness,a good quality... loving someone without expecting to be loved back. And our lord is present in all good qualities" Swats who was nearby swung into action and shouted out, "That's not selflessness.. that's stupidity... yearning for something that cannot be achieved"
Yamadhootas loved it and asked her, "You should have been with us when we went to pick the souls of Savithri's husband, markendeya and ajamila.Gosh... its time Yama, recruited such bright youngsters.. directly from the campus"

Yamadhootas said very bluntly to the vishnudoothas, "Whatever it is... We were just instructed not to touch a guy who remembers god during his final breaths... here he has not done that na... so how come you are obstructing our job?"
Vishnudoothas smiled and said, "Naa... you have wrongly misinterpreted our lord's words.Our lord hari is everywhere.. and when a human acknowledges it, it is like remembering God... This guy Prads saw God in his girl Gowthami...and that way he has remembered our lord"
Swats could not control herself laughing out aloud at this statement and pointing finger at the vishnudootha who made that statement she commented, "And this guy must have seen Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi last night and must have fallen in love with the song... tujh mein rab diktha hain... yaara mein kya karoon..."

Yamadhoothas loved it and looked at their new 'recruit' for more guidance and to help them out.Swats gave her opinion in favour of the yamadhoothas, "If that is the case, no one in the world can be taken... Everyone is living for someone. A mother sees God in her new born baby. For a loving husband, his wife is the goddess, A devoted son would serve his parents and treat them at par with Gods. And I am one who believes in Acharya devobava... If what you say of seeing god in someone as the criteria for not touching a soul, then Japan should have been left untouched..." and then Swats thought practically and continued, "If you really stick to that dogma, What would happen to the world? It would become frozen with no deaths hardly happening..." Vishnudoothas were speechless and looked at each others faces.
Suddenly Prads rose up from his slumber and shouted at Swats,"Are you hell bent on seeing me dead... TEEK HAIN... MERI MAA... I will do as you say."
Everybody in the bus turned to Prads who suddenly had brought the bus to a halt...
Swats was embarrassed as everyone in the bus was looking at them, "Were you seeing a bad dream?"
Prads looked at her and replied, "No! Was just realizing that there's no escaping from a good friend like you..."