Keeping up
Chapter XIV
Keep up : The Lunch Box Journal
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I have been told that it would be difficult for people reading to follow, the people who weren’t involved in the story. I completely with their opinion. But to be fair, who else is reading, beside me and one or two of the people who are actually involved? Too harsh? May be you haven’t met my friend, Karma! Welcome to my reality. But I have to apologize for my rudeness, to be frank society wants us to be polite, otherwise the blames goes on our upbringing, the easiest way to pass on the baton, I mean find a scapegoat. To cut the bullshit, I hope this following recap would put things in order, if the chapters weren’t already orderly written. You are welcome, I mean thanks for dropping by.
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It all started in the middle of the year when the summer was just burning fresh in the air, the air which had a reputation for being cold, or at least cool the most part of the year. The Lunch box group was well in operation for quite some time, but some of the people who are still there weren’t actually the part of it. It was a much bigger group and consisted of people higher up in the work-position scale. Sameer, Neil, Madhav and Akhil were practically what formed the lunch box group because two of them brought lunch boxes. Sameer was fresh out of the onsite and still relishing the country air while Neil had settled perfectly, mostly because he was staying in the place where he grew up and is currently staying with his parents. Akhil was in anticipation of still listening to everyone telling about the onsite and very much looking forward to putting his feet in the foreign soil. Perhaps, he is in need of money or just his life long dream to go onsite.
Meanwhile, Aryan joined the group, thanks to his previous encounter with Neil and Akhil. But officially he wasn’t still part of the group, because he used to have his lunches on his own for a major part of the time after he had joined back into the account. It took some time for him to get adjusted to the Lunch Box group, because he wasn’t carrying a lunch box either and the talkative guy that he was. Gautham joined a little late. He was a very good friend of Akhil, because musicians. Gautham was a good friend of Aryan as well, before he joined another account. So, it didn’t take much time for him to adjust into the group.
After a month, the people got reshuffled and the people who stayed back in the group were Akhil, Aryan, Sameer, Madhav, Neil, Gautham and Madhav. Akhil was the talking machine with a nightingale in stuck in his throat. Aryan was the silent one, with occasional failed puns and blurry photos. Sameer was like the captain of the group. Of course he has many caps with him, probably the reason why he is sort of the captain. Humor is one of the caps he has. Madhav was the decent of all, in the group. One time to prove otherwise, he took an hour to come up with a joke. But there was no denying the fact. Neil was the observant type, living in the moment, valuing time spent with people more than the worldly obsessions. Gautham was pretty good with his fingers, on the keyboard and meanwhile he earned the title of gizmo guy, for his obsession with the music systems and his attention to clarity.
Meanwhile, Madhav got married and got busy with the customary after marriage activities which involved him to meet all the relatives and well he had to set up the house and get adjusted to. It was a big deal since it was a big step and an even bigger change. It was one default reason for him very less involved in the weekend activities or trips, whenever they happened. Sameer hasn’t yet stopped pestering people to join his little big club, since it is falling quite short of people. He is still recovering from the question from Saira, but besides that everything seems to be working fine. And oh, he is expecting a baby anytime soon. Neil, after being shaken up a little by the little departure of one almost ideal life-partner is back on the hunt, preferably similar to Mirza, but fingers crossed. Akhil besides complaining about his teammate, who seems to be failing to keep up with the work assigned to her, but otherwise he is still trying to get to the end of his 5 years so that he could finally fulfill his dream of going on-site. Gautham is also complaining about his teammate who is somehow making more work for him rather than lessening it.
The most recent trip was a much awaited and much-needed one as many plans have been made and cancelled and remade and recancelled. It was an escape from the daily chores of office and life. And as suspected, Madhav had family obligations and couldn’t make it to the trip, even though he wanted to. He had been doing his bit of travelling as well. Ranjiv! He could be called as a person who interests himself in imparting gyaan or gossip (the sacred secrets of the group) or occasional trips. So, somehow he made into the trip because he didn’t much of a choice. So, they set out on a trip on the brink of the weekend and made it to the first pit stop to have dinner. But then perhaps the trip was jinxed that put an abrupt stop to their travel plans. They even had to take a detour, to the police station.
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What could have possibly gone wrong after dinner? Why did they have to go to the police station? How did it put an abrupt stop to their weekend plans? Hang on for the next part …
( 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
Chapter XII : Impulse
Chapter XIII : Jinx
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