Chapter XIX
Aftermath: The Lunch Box Journal

______

Demonetisation took the nation by a storm. It quite literally hit people like a truck full of unused money. It was a Tsunami that no one saw coming and washed everyone’s bank away. Money was floating everywhere, literally, because that was the plan all along- to bring out or cut the corrupted money from the hands of the people. There was literally money everywhere, the old notes which no longer were part of the society. In spite of those rich and wealthy people dumping their hoardings of money in the nearest canal or dump-site, they could find far away from their home, of course. This was very unexpected and apparently, no one saw coming. Even when the new channels scrolled the news of the same, quite a lot many couldn’t even believe that it was actually happening. Usually, there is a notice to people before any such drastic change happens, especially in the economic paradigm of things, that too when it is on a spread across the whole nation.

While all this was happening, Aryan prayed that he got hold of at least one bag full of money. Whilst, the rain washed away the unused money and his dream along with it. Akhil and Neil were drowning in the music downing with a bottle or two on the sandy shores of Goa with their bae’s. Though the thought how they could manage given that the whole country had a makeover in the currency department. And on top of it, Neil forgot to bring his hard cash that he withdrew the previous night at his home, which he thought he could go to the bank and get it exchanged with the new notes, given the queue is small and the notes were still available. But fortunately enough for them, it wasn’t big of a problem for them as they managed with the money they had. Everybody was high on the vacation mood.

The vacation mood, speaking of it, the plan for the vacation was to visit the most talked about place in the history of planned-but-never-happened trips, but there was no solid plan so as to what they were going to do for the coming two days. There was a list of places that they had thought of visiting, but then again checking all of them would not be possible in such a short while. But the goal was to go there and the plan could be sorted out later, but the excitement got to them. They didn’t have a solid plan until they got on their first bus.

A day or so before the trip, Akhil got sick. Perhaps it was the advent of the winter or maybe the rain, or maybe the excitement got to him. But he downed a few pills and he said he was all fine for the trip. Even though he said he was fine, someone was really worried about his well being. And no, not his parents. He didn’t quite tell them because by doing so, he won’t be able to go on a trip that he had planned ever so seriously along with his ‘friends‘. So, besides the obvious fever taking over and the constant care he had received, the whole squad along with Neil managed to make the best of all they had planned. They rode into the sunset, sat on the shore, with a bit of drinking, and a whole lot of a great time amidst friends.

The trip was supposedly a huge hit, with a lot of drinks, dances and a lot of new memories besides getting hit by that surprise bus of Demonetization. The Facebook was flooded with a great many photos, the profile pictures changed. And most of all they could scratch off something from the list of things one has to do – Go to Goa. The trip was over and they had all the bragging rights and the countless stories that they wanted to tell, blurring out the important details, because apparently what happens in Goa should stay in Goa, if there is such a thing.

(To be Continued …)

_____

The Lunch Box Journal