In an impulse

Chapter XII
Impulse : The Lunch Box Journal

Chapter I, Chapter II, Chapter III, Chapter IV, Chapter V,
Chapter VI, Chapter VII, Chapter VIII, Chapter IX, Chapter X,
 Chapter XI

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Thinking a lot sometimes leads to over thinking, it goes without saying. So does planning. Something like those million Goa plans made every other day. So near yet too far, like most things in life. But there is a certain beauty to the things that are done in an impulse. Like the moment you got down on the knee, err no, that doesn’t happen in this part of the world, or the decisions made which once camouflaged the two distinct choices a little well. For better of worse, they vowed, quite an apt interpretation of the impulsive decisions. Otherwise, the what ifs’ and why’s, the who’s, the where’s just haunt the plan more severely than it should.

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It had been quite a long time since they all went on a trip or even met outside of office. It might have been eternity, or a little longer perhaps. A group trip had been on discussion from a long time. May be they were looking for an excuse, or just a reason to break the shackles of everyday 10 AM to 10  PM routine (traffic information excluded). After long debates and endless coffees, in one coffee break, it was all decided, on an impulse. It wasn’t a plan, it was an execution sort of, with no time to think or ponder. Because they knew thinking would mean checking calendars and probably postponing, or preponing, either of which would finally end up in cancelling the idea.

The coffee glasses clinked on the tables as the preparations were made for the two day long trip. The transportation was on top of the list which was taken care by Neil. Accommodation came next. Since we were visiting Gautham’s hometown, that two was taken care of. The next thing on the list was making a list of places that were to be visited in and around Gautham’s hometown. Since it was set up in the western ghats, there were quite a lot of options – trek, waterfalls, river rafting, more trekking. Only thing they had to do was to create a timeline for the places they have to visit. Ofcourse, all of those were at just one place, on the contrary they were quite scattered. The next thing besides making a list of places to visit was starting on time, which was the biggest obstacle of all. Though, it was a known fact that some or the other person is going to make some or the other person wait, it was decided that there would be no delays, whatsoever.

The day had finally arrived. Since they had office, they decided to start directly from office, while Ranjiv was out of station on that day on “official” purpose. But, he would be joining them directly on their way from the airport. And no matter how many rules were made, someone would turn up late. Being late wasn’t the problem, the problem was some other people relying on people to be on time. If they started late, they would have to reach Ranjiv’s pick up point a little late. The consequences however mild, sometimes can be mild as well.

Nonetheless, the journey started a little over 30 minutes late, courtesy of the truck carrying on the shoulder’s guy. Ranjiv was picked up on the way, who was waiting at the stop for quite some time, courtesy of the traffic, ofcourse. It was a casual Friday and yet Ranjiv was in formal dress. He decided to change them on the way at Neil’s house which was part of the plan as well. After a little refreshments at his house, they set out on a journey to the weekend getaway.  But before all, Ranjiv had two news to share. The first one that he would be leaving the project account (a sigh of relief in the minds of the other people) and the former small trip (him being out of station) was the product of that. But, it felt more like the second news (a silent sigh of ‘finally’ in the minds of others) to be the reason for him being out of station! There was photo proof as well, but then he denies it ofcourse.

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( To be continued… )

If it interests you, you could find the other parts here :

Chapter I : Introduction
Chapter II : Be the Sherlock
Chapter III : A New Leaf
Chapter IV : Adieu
Chapter V : Being Decent
Chapter VI : Capricious 
Chapter VII : Delighted
Chapter VIII : Too Early
Chapter IX : Fitness..zzz
Chapter X : The Health Guru
Chapter XI : Horror Story

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