Cruising through .. Part 3

That morning's sunrise was the best sunrise she had seen ever, the gold rays of sun kissed her forehead whispering good morning in its own charm. Parth lie beside her deep in sleep. She held his hand and rested her head on his chest. He slowly opened his eyes cleared the strings of hair which had fallen on her face and held her in his arms.

The knock on the door for the morning coffee awakened them. Kshama had plans of spending her morning in the sophisticated inhouse Spa where the expert hands worked. Parth was lazing around when Kshama hurried through the door to reach the luxurious spa on time so that she didn't miss her appointment.

Tejas dropped by when Parth was munching on a multigrain sandwich in the living area in his suite and the memories poured one after the other. Parth questioned Tejas about Manya. Manya was the girl who had to be tying the knot with Tejas but the misconceptions that cropped, had them part ways. They were no more in contact with each other. Parth could see the shine in Tejas eyes as he stood shaken on hearing Manya's name. Tejas remembered the last glimpse of Manya on the farewell day celebrations at College. She had a million things to say, she wanted to ask him so many questions, she wanted to talk to him one last time but he had never cared then. Parth interrupted the thoughts "Hey Tejas, I was just kidding. I know you don't want to talk about things that has absolutely no priority in your life. See I still know you in and out. Don't I??". Tejas grinned away.

Both of them headed to the lounge where a lot more souls with stories of their own wandered with no known destination. Tejas had a few shots of tequilla for the first time, after that day's incident. Parth gulped the orange juice and walked out of the bar behind Tejas. As they walked Tejas broke out, he needed a shoulder to rest on, he needed some words to cheer him up and now he knew Parth was there, his friend was there to fill the void. Tejas finally spoke about what had happened between Manya and himself 7 years ago.

Tejas loved Manya and she loved him more. Everything fell right in place and they were going on pretty steady. That day made the difference. Tejas had visited a pub late in the night after a small fight with Manya. Last thing he could recall at the pub was that he ordered for a Whisky on the rocks. Next morning when he woke up, he was on an executive bed next to the dancer he had seen at the pub, previous night. Tejas was disheartened at what had happpened, he did not want to cheat Manya and had messaged her a note "I've been disturbed for reasons which cant be explained. Please move on in life ". Manya had responded with various sorrys, what? where are you? what happened? Need to talk.. Please call? pick my call .... NO answer for any. She tried confronting him a few times face to face, but he shrugged off and avoided her contacts. Truth was - he still loved her.

Tejas's eyes were moist. He finally had revealed his dark-side story and felt better. Parth knew that Manya was not married yet and was already making plans in his mind of re-uniting these love birds. For the moment Parth said "Buddy, things of past, Let it remain there. Life is bliss and very beautiful. Stop the worries. Come on, lets go. Kshama might be done with her spa and looking out for us."

The trio spent the wonderful evening watching the acrobatic show followed by an extra ordinary dinner at the Pizza centre. 9 days cruised away. It was such a beautiful experience so far. As they were enjoying every bit of it, there came the report on the transistor.

Kshama was shivering, as the weather was getting worse and colder.The night before, on the upper deck Parth had booked 2 tickets for Royal Court Theatre to witness the worlds best Opera show. They could not believe they were caught up in a tornado ruining all the excitement. Only hope was to sight a shore as quickly as possible. Tejas ran to Parth with some safety jackets that was being distributed to all of them as an emergency precaution. Kshama's voice was cracking and she struggled to ask "Are we going to live Parth? I want to spend more time with you". Parth consoled her and with a positive note comforted her saying "Dear dont worry, we will be okay. Just be calm darling" Tejas turned to Parth and said " Hey man, if I die today, please do let Manya know one day as to why I had to go away from her and please ask her to forgive me. Did I sound a little filmish.. Ha ha ha .. but certainly do let Manya know okay". Parth's courage was going down looking into the death feared eyes of people near and dear to him but kept his calm.

The level of water was rising every now and then. Some splashes of water was so fierce that the sound began to become unbearable.

Captian Sheperd had spotted a small island "Palo-Quasi" a few minutes ago. That struck an idea and Captain immediately turned the vessel's direction to move towards that Island. It took about 3 hours before the ship touched the island travelling against the currents of waterflow. Everyone was safe but were in a state of shock . The island seemed to be dark and silent even with more than 2000 people in it now. Radio signals were wired to the mainland from the distant island. After the sea calmed down and Clear signal was received , Captian Sheperd made the announcement "Lets all board the ship to have the journey continued. Sea seems to have settled and everything looks okay." The journey beyond this was scary but smoother than expected. They reached harbour quite close to noon and there was a huge sigh of relief on each face. Fetching their baggage, Parth and Kshama bid a bye to Tejas and called for a taxi standing nearby.



A couple of days later the door bell goes tring tring tring. As Tejas opened the door, Manya stood there as beautiful as ever. She was draped in a peacock blue saree and a simple saphire necklace beautified her neck. He did not know where to start, what to tell, how she ended up here ... Questions ran in his brain and before he said a Hello... Manya asked "I am coming in, into my home." Speechless Tejas just nodded. Manya spoke her heart out, she knew everything and she was happy for Tejas being honest. They both exchanged sorry's , love you's ... and hugged each other.



Parth and kshama had invited family and friends for the occassion. It was a bright evening filled with mixed emotions.

"After every storm the sun will smile; for every problem there is a solution, and the soul's indefeasible duty is to be of good cheer." - William R. Alger