Dumpling

They were friends since school. Four girls with hopes in their senses and adoration in their spirits, were inseparable. They felt an uncanny solidarity which was near impossible to find in this imperfect world. Their secrets were their own, their madness hidden safe among them and their love for each other shone brighter than fireworks in a dark night. They were as different from each other as sun from the moon yet were part of one whole. Their journey together was from pig tails to hair straighteners, from childhood to adulthood and was a ladle filled with memories of affection, home-works, cycles, laughter, heartbreaks, tears, loyalty, confidences and finally maturity. They were friends, they were sisters.

This was their first trip together. Since, they had started working, staying in different cities, they hardly met. Even though they were constantly in touch, they missed spending time together. This trip was a relief. Traipsing through icy cold mountains, sharing a room and old jokes, fighting about the same thing for the umpteenth time, having chai together early in the morning and laughing like idiots was what they needed. As they travelled from Manali to Kasol, they were welcomed with a cold shower throughout. It didn’t stop them from halting the car again and again, jumping out of it to click photographs along the dainty looking river which ran beside the hilly road. They were drenched and giggling like little girls caught doing something mischievous.

Their silences were as strong as their constant bantering. They were as comfortable sitting together and not saying a word as they were talking to each other till they collapsed. While on the road, they grew quieter. Listening to music, lost in their thoughts and taking in the view, they were content. The trip was coming to an end and they had already started getting nostalgic. The drudgery of life was getting to them and a part of them just wanted to stay right where they were. Their driver throughout the trip was a young man who had harmlessly fallen in love with them. He happily showed them around, told them stories and conveyed them the best things to do in that beautiful place. He had a little crush and the girls knew it. In Kasol, he took them to this hill-side Café overlooking the river and in a very embarrassed undertone suggested they try a special dumpling.

The supposed special dumpling tasted like soil and they hated it as soon as they took a morsel of it. Out of good heart, they refrained themselves from screaming at the driver for recommending the worst dish in the entire country. They spent the next couple of hours sightseeing and soon it was time to get back to Manali, to their hotel. As they made their way back, one of the girls thought of something quite amusing that had happened earlier and started laughing. The other three looking at the girl giggle, started giggling too. Soon, they began laughing so hard that they had tears running down their cheeks and they couldn’t even stop. They tried very hard to school their thoughts, but when one of them gave a chuckle, the rest followed.

Maybe, people don’t know this but laughing too hard also makes a person hungry. It takes about three-four hours to reach Manali from Kasol. By the time, they were about to reach they were famished and halted at a dhaba to pack some food. Never in their lives, they had felt the kind of hunger they were feeling then. At that moment, they would have eaten the world away and wouldn’t have cared. Holding the bursting nourishment that could feed the entire population of India with utmost care, they headed towards their hotel. And without getting changed, they jumped into the packed contents and started eating. They ate and ate and ate. From the time they started laughing till the time they started eating, they hadn’t said a word to each other.

The next morning, they woke up to hurting cheeks, the smell of chicken and a hazy recollection of uninhibited laughter. They looked at each other. They looked at their disheveled hair, their unchanged clothes, the make-up that hadn’t been cleaned and smiled. They smiled and then they started cackling again.

They realized they were wrong. It was the best dumpling in the country.