Posted:
Dear Lovely readers,
You know what they say all things come in Threes, the last week was just crazy for me. So much is going on that I haven't had a time to update my FF, but the wait is over. I haven't replied to any of your comments because I haven't had the time. I will post replies to all comments in the coming days.
Enjoy the update, some of you may call it a filler, but it is necessary to have the story move forward, as they go along their road trip they are going to get clues but now the question is will they actually notice them, what do you all think?
Enjoy,
Polki
Part 21
Feeling the wind threw her hair and seeing the sun come up was the perfect beginning to the trip that she had embarked on along with Radha. Radha was driving and Geeta was enjoying all that India was, they had left early in the morning and we already on their way to Shimla, they had already driven for 100 kilometers and were nearing Panipat. Radha turned to Geeta who was enjoying the wind in her face, she had her eyes closed and it seemed that she was listening to something beautiful because she was humming and had a smile on her face. Radha didn't want to disturb Geeta but she was getting hungry.
Radha, "Geeta, are you hungry?"
Geeta, "Yeah! I am hungry." She still had her eyes closed.
Radha, "We are approaching Panipat, do you want to stop and get something to eat, or do you want to see if we can find something else later?"
Geeta opened her eyes and turned to Radha, "No, I think Panipat is fine, where is your list, I am sure you have written something in there about Panipat."
Radha, "It's in my backpack" she pointed to the back seat.
Geeta turning around grabbed the notepad out of Radha's bag and proceeded to read. "Oh! cool, there are a few things to see in Panipat, although they are all associated with war and dead people, do you want to visit any of these places?"
Radha, "Na, not today. The day started so beautifully, I don't think we should ruin it by visiting depressing places."
Geeta, "Okay, then just lets get something to eat"
On reaching Panipat, the girls drove around for a while trying to find the perfect place to eat.
Noticing a small little restaurant tucked away between two shops, Geeta, "what about, there? We can eat there, it looks like a nice place."
Radha, "Looks good, lets eat."
They entered the restaurant and took their seats. They didn't waste anytime in ordering food. Once the food arrived, the two girls started to laugh, they hadn't realized exactly how much food they had ordered. Once again their eyes had gotten bigger than their stomachs. They decided to eat all the food that wouldn't travel well and asked the waited to pack the rest. There was absolutely no reason to waste perfectly good food.
Once finished they started back on their trip, Radha remembered Geeta smiling earlier and asked, "Geeta what were you smiling about earlier, it also seemed that you were humming."
Geeta, "I don't know Radha, for some reason I just feel so comfortable. It's not home, but it feels like home. I can't really explain what I am feeling, but it is a good feeling."
Radha, "That sounds wonderful, oh! I just remembered that you have to call Adi Uncle, remember we have to call every few hours."
Geeta thanked Radha for reminding her and called Adi, in Delhi both Maan and Adi picked up their phones, they had Geeta's number programmed so that when she called Adi both of them received the call so that Maan too could hear what Geeta was upto instead of waiting for Adi to pass on the news.
Geeta, "Hi, Adi Mousa. Just calling to check in. A deal is a deal, I promised I would call every few hours so here I am."
Adi, "Where are you girls now?"
Geeta, "We just left Panipat, I believe we are heading towards Ambala" she looked at Radha who nodded her head confirming what Geeta had just said.
Adi, "That sounds good, how has the traffic been so far? Any problems?"
Geeta, "No no problems at all, the car is absolutely fabulous, thank you for getting us a car with the steering wheel on the left side, it makes it easier for us to drive. Also the traffic was pretty lite."
Adi, "Okay since you girls are fine, I will let you go now. Don't forget to call in a few hours again. Bye"
Geeta, "Bye"
The girls finally got to Ambala around 2 in the afternoon. The sun was shining bright and hot, and the girls decided, that for today they had driven enough. They looked for a hotel and found one thanks to the on board assistant. They thought it was quite funny that the hotel that was recommended to them was called the Khurana House.
They arrived at Khurana House and noticed that it was a really nice small boutique hotel. The gardens surrounding the hotel were beautiful, They entered the hotel and proceeded to the check-in desk. When asked if they had reservations, they said no but they really needed a place to stay. The receptionist was quick to tell them, that unfortunately there was only one room that was available but it was reserved by owner for clients and special guests.
Radha being the person she was, turned to the guy and said, "That is exactly the room we need to be in, do you know who is standing in front of you?" she was trying to intimidate the receptionist, but he seemed to be a little harder than she thought to crack.
Receptionist, "I am sorry you cannot have that room, and who exactly is she that you think I will allow you both to stay in that room."
Radha, "You will have to give us the room, that I am certain of"
Receptionist, "You are very confident aren't you? You don't know the owner, he just doesn't allow anyone off the streets to stay in the private accommodations, plus he is not here, he lives in Delhi, so how can you be so certain that when I find out who she is, I am going to hand over the keys."
Geeta was starting to get angry at the entire situation, she looked at Radha and the Receptionist and in a very loud voice said, "That's enough, Geeta Khurana has some self respect. Come on Radha we don't need to stay in this place. I am sure there are other awesome hotels in Amabala. My mother didn't go through everything for me to be growling for a place to stay the night." She turned around and started to walk out the door.
The receptionist couldn't believe what he had heard, 'could she be the one' he thought. He ran after the girls and asked them to wait, he told them that he would call the owner and see what he could do. He apologised and told them that he could see that they looked tired.
The girls told him that they would wait, not because they wanted to stay but because they were not rude like him.
He thanked his lucky stars and hoped that he hadn't done anything to jeopardize his job. What if she was really the owner's daughter after whom this hotel was built? but then again chances were that she was just a random stranger who shared the same name as the owner's daughter. After working here for 17 years not once had he seen the girl, so what were the chances that she would show up on her own.
He called the number he had on file for Maan Singh Khurana, he was a little hesitant to speak to him, to confirm with him whether the girl standing in the lobby was his daughter, asking personal questions wasn't really allowed, but his hands were tied, he was stuck between a hard place and a rock.
Receptionist, "Sir, I am sorry to bother you, but I needed to ask you a question regarding the private room you have at the Khurana House, the one you reserve for clients and special guests."
Maan, "Yes, ask fast, I don't have all day."
Receptionist, "Sir, there are two girls here, they don't have reservations but need a place to stay. I told them clearly that we didn't have any rooms available except for the private room which is off limits, however one of the girls insisted that I would let them stay as soon as I found out who the other girl was. When I said no, the other girl got angry and said that she had heard enough and that they would find another place to stay."
Maan, "So why are you calling me, it seems you took care of the problem."
Receptionist, "No Sir, I thought I had taken care of the problem, until she said that Geeta Khurana had some self respect and that they would find somewhere else to stay."
Maan, "What? Did they leave?"
Receptionist, "No Sir, I stopped them and I called you right away. I don't think she is related to you, but I thought I would make sure."
Maan, "Give them the room, don't make a big deal about it, you are not to charge them for anything while they are there, don't tell them I told you to give them the room or to not charge them. Just tell them the hotel is sorry for inconveniencing them and to make it up the room is complimentary. Assist them in whatever they need, do you understand?, Once again they are not to be told my name or that I have instructed you on how they are to be treated."
Receptionist, "Yes, Sir. I will do exactly as you say."
The receptionist returned to where the girls were standing, they looked really upset, as soon as they saw him, the girl called Geeta spoke up, "First you insult us by not giving us a room to stay in when you had one room free and secondly you insult us by making us wait in the lobby while you go do God knows what. I wonder who rated this hotel highly cause trust me we are never going to recommend it to anyone."
Receptionist, "I am sorry. I spoke in haste, we are really nice hotel and for a few minutes I had forgotten my manners. Please accept my apologies by accepting to stay here. Also since I have inconvenienced you enough already the room is on the house. Hopefully by agreeing to stay here, you will give us a chance to prove what a great hotel we are, please don't refuse."
Geeta looked at Radha, "What should we do? You think we should give him a chance?"
Now it was Radha's turn to speak to him, "Didn't I tell you that once you found out who she was you wouldn't be able to deny us the room. Well since we are tired we will give this hotel a chance."
Receptionist, "Thank you so much, please come and receive the keys to your room, do you have any luggage that needs to be taken to the room?"
Radha and Geeta in unison, "No, we take care of ourselves, we will take our bags to the room."
Once they had the keys to the room, they were relieved and excited, their first freebie in India and too it was a really nice one. The room was really nice, for some reason it reminded them of their apartment in Delhi. It was starting to seem that all of India had only 2 decorators, one who decorated the rest of the homes in the country and the other who decorated all the places they ended up in. The relaxed ordered room service and decided to lounge on the balcony. It was still bright outside and they noticed military planes flying overhead every few minutes.
Radha turned to Geeta and even before she could say something Geeta stopped her by saying, "you are going to tell me that Ambala has the largest Airforce base in the country right, I already read it in your notepad. So how about we not talk and just enjoy the atmosphere."
Both Geeta and Radha closed their eyes and took in some rays, and waited for their food. Their food arrived and they were in heaven, Geeta remembered her mom as she ate the food, it tasted almost like she had cooked it, of course her mom's food was better that's why the almost. She decided to call Geet while she was still eating, she spoke to her for almost an hour, feeding herself in between words. She missed her mom, "Mamma, why don't you take a few days off and come visit me while I am here in India. I am sure it has changed a lot since you were last here."
Geet, "Sorry meera baccha, as much as I would like to visit India, it is not possible. I am really really busy at work and you know that I never leave anything half way. Maybe we will take a trip together next year."
Geeta, "Okay, sounds fair."
After a few minutes they hung up and Geeta noticed Radha was still eating, "How long does it take you to eat?"
Radha, "A really long time when dinner is concerneed, at home dinner sometimes lasts for 2-3 hours, we eat, we talk and just enjoy each others company. Since we have nothing else to do tonight, I thought I would enjoy every morsel that enters my mouth. So how is your mom? Did you tell her that we are staying at Khurana House" she smiled.
Geeta, "Mom is well, Ya, I told her all about the incident related to us getting this hotel room and she laughed. She told me we were clearly in the wrong to demand a private room and we could have found another hotel instead of being stubborn, but she got a kick out of your threats to the receptionist just because my last name is Khurana."
After calling Geet, Geeta made sure to touch base with Adi and let him know that she and Radha were staying the night in Ambala, she also went over the days events with him. Adi told her that he was happy that she was safe and was having an eventful trip while Maan listened in quietly smiling that the true owner of the hotel had finally found her way to it. Geeta eventually hung up the phone after telling Adi to give her love to Pinky and Sameer.
The day was over and the girls decided to call it a night, they were tired and tomorrow was a new day, with highway to conquer and a new destination to reach.
Spoiler
Are you sure?
You know what they say all things come in Threes, the last week was just crazy for me. So much is going on that I haven't had a time to update my FF, but the wait is over. I haven't replied to any of your comments because I haven't had the time. I will post replies to all comments in the coming days.
Enjoy the update, some of you may call it a filler, but it is necessary to have the story move forward, as they go along their road trip they are going to get clues but now the question is will they actually notice them, what do you all think?
Enjoy,
Polki
Part 21
Feeling the wind threw her hair and seeing the sun come up was the perfect beginning to the trip that she had embarked on along with Radha. Radha was driving and Geeta was enjoying all that India was, they had left early in the morning and we already on their way to Shimla, they had already driven for 100 kilometers and were nearing Panipat. Radha turned to Geeta who was enjoying the wind in her face, she had her eyes closed and it seemed that she was listening to something beautiful because she was humming and had a smile on her face. Radha didn't want to disturb Geeta but she was getting hungry.
Radha, "Geeta, are you hungry?"
Geeta, "Yeah! I am hungry." She still had her eyes closed.
Radha, "We are approaching Panipat, do you want to stop and get something to eat, or do you want to see if we can find something else later?"
Geeta opened her eyes and turned to Radha, "No, I think Panipat is fine, where is your list, I am sure you have written something in there about Panipat."
Radha, "It's in my backpack" she pointed to the back seat.
Geeta turning around grabbed the notepad out of Radha's bag and proceeded to read. "Oh! cool, there are a few things to see in Panipat, although they are all associated with war and dead people, do you want to visit any of these places?"
Radha, "Na, not today. The day started so beautifully, I don't think we should ruin it by visiting depressing places."
Geeta, "Okay, then just lets get something to eat"
On reaching Panipat, the girls drove around for a while trying to find the perfect place to eat.
Noticing a small little restaurant tucked away between two shops, Geeta, "what about, there? We can eat there, it looks like a nice place."
Radha, "Looks good, lets eat."
They entered the restaurant and took their seats. They didn't waste anytime in ordering food. Once the food arrived, the two girls started to laugh, they hadn't realized exactly how much food they had ordered. Once again their eyes had gotten bigger than their stomachs. They decided to eat all the food that wouldn't travel well and asked the waited to pack the rest. There was absolutely no reason to waste perfectly good food.
Once finished they started back on their trip, Radha remembered Geeta smiling earlier and asked, "Geeta what were you smiling about earlier, it also seemed that you were humming."
Geeta, "I don't know Radha, for some reason I just feel so comfortable. It's not home, but it feels like home. I can't really explain what I am feeling, but it is a good feeling."
Radha, "That sounds wonderful, oh! I just remembered that you have to call Adi Uncle, remember we have to call every few hours."
Geeta thanked Radha for reminding her and called Adi, in Delhi both Maan and Adi picked up their phones, they had Geeta's number programmed so that when she called Adi both of them received the call so that Maan too could hear what Geeta was upto instead of waiting for Adi to pass on the news.
Geeta, "Hi, Adi Mousa. Just calling to check in. A deal is a deal, I promised I would call every few hours so here I am."
Adi, "Where are you girls now?"
Geeta, "We just left Panipat, I believe we are heading towards Ambala" she looked at Radha who nodded her head confirming what Geeta had just said.
Adi, "That sounds good, how has the traffic been so far? Any problems?"
Geeta, "No no problems at all, the car is absolutely fabulous, thank you for getting us a car with the steering wheel on the left side, it makes it easier for us to drive. Also the traffic was pretty lite."
Adi, "Okay since you girls are fine, I will let you go now. Don't forget to call in a few hours again. Bye"
Geeta, "Bye"
The girls finally got to Ambala around 2 in the afternoon. The sun was shining bright and hot, and the girls decided, that for today they had driven enough. They looked for a hotel and found one thanks to the on board assistant. They thought it was quite funny that the hotel that was recommended to them was called the Khurana House.
They arrived at Khurana House and noticed that it was a really nice small boutique hotel. The gardens surrounding the hotel were beautiful, They entered the hotel and proceeded to the check-in desk. When asked if they had reservations, they said no but they really needed a place to stay. The receptionist was quick to tell them, that unfortunately there was only one room that was available but it was reserved by owner for clients and special guests.
Radha being the person she was, turned to the guy and said, "That is exactly the room we need to be in, do you know who is standing in front of you?" she was trying to intimidate the receptionist, but he seemed to be a little harder than she thought to crack.
Receptionist, "I am sorry you cannot have that room, and who exactly is she that you think I will allow you both to stay in that room."
Radha, "You will have to give us the room, that I am certain of"
Receptionist, "You are very confident aren't you? You don't know the owner, he just doesn't allow anyone off the streets to stay in the private accommodations, plus he is not here, he lives in Delhi, so how can you be so certain that when I find out who she is, I am going to hand over the keys."
Geeta was starting to get angry at the entire situation, she looked at Radha and the Receptionist and in a very loud voice said, "That's enough, Geeta Khurana has some self respect. Come on Radha we don't need to stay in this place. I am sure there are other awesome hotels in Amabala. My mother didn't go through everything for me to be growling for a place to stay the night." She turned around and started to walk out the door.
The receptionist couldn't believe what he had heard, 'could she be the one' he thought. He ran after the girls and asked them to wait, he told them that he would call the owner and see what he could do. He apologised and told them that he could see that they looked tired.
The girls told him that they would wait, not because they wanted to stay but because they were not rude like him.
He thanked his lucky stars and hoped that he hadn't done anything to jeopardize his job. What if she was really the owner's daughter after whom this hotel was built? but then again chances were that she was just a random stranger who shared the same name as the owner's daughter. After working here for 17 years not once had he seen the girl, so what were the chances that she would show up on her own.
He called the number he had on file for Maan Singh Khurana, he was a little hesitant to speak to him, to confirm with him whether the girl standing in the lobby was his daughter, asking personal questions wasn't really allowed, but his hands were tied, he was stuck between a hard place and a rock.
Receptionist, "Sir, I am sorry to bother you, but I needed to ask you a question regarding the private room you have at the Khurana House, the one you reserve for clients and special guests."
Maan, "Yes, ask fast, I don't have all day."
Receptionist, "Sir, there are two girls here, they don't have reservations but need a place to stay. I told them clearly that we didn't have any rooms available except for the private room which is off limits, however one of the girls insisted that I would let them stay as soon as I found out who the other girl was. When I said no, the other girl got angry and said that she had heard enough and that they would find another place to stay."
Maan, "So why are you calling me, it seems you took care of the problem."
Receptionist, "No Sir, I thought I had taken care of the problem, until she said that Geeta Khurana had some self respect and that they would find somewhere else to stay."
Maan, "What? Did they leave?"
Receptionist, "No Sir, I stopped them and I called you right away. I don't think she is related to you, but I thought I would make sure."
Maan, "Give them the room, don't make a big deal about it, you are not to charge them for anything while they are there, don't tell them I told you to give them the room or to not charge them. Just tell them the hotel is sorry for inconveniencing them and to make it up the room is complimentary. Assist them in whatever they need, do you understand?, Once again they are not to be told my name or that I have instructed you on how they are to be treated."
Receptionist, "Yes, Sir. I will do exactly as you say."
The receptionist returned to where the girls were standing, they looked really upset, as soon as they saw him, the girl called Geeta spoke up, "First you insult us by not giving us a room to stay in when you had one room free and secondly you insult us by making us wait in the lobby while you go do God knows what. I wonder who rated this hotel highly cause trust me we are never going to recommend it to anyone."
Receptionist, "I am sorry. I spoke in haste, we are really nice hotel and for a few minutes I had forgotten my manners. Please accept my apologies by accepting to stay here. Also since I have inconvenienced you enough already the room is on the house. Hopefully by agreeing to stay here, you will give us a chance to prove what a great hotel we are, please don't refuse."
Geeta looked at Radha, "What should we do? You think we should give him a chance?"
Now it was Radha's turn to speak to him, "Didn't I tell you that once you found out who she was you wouldn't be able to deny us the room. Well since we are tired we will give this hotel a chance."
Receptionist, "Thank you so much, please come and receive the keys to your room, do you have any luggage that needs to be taken to the room?"
Radha and Geeta in unison, "No, we take care of ourselves, we will take our bags to the room."
Once they had the keys to the room, they were relieved and excited, their first freebie in India and too it was a really nice one. The room was really nice, for some reason it reminded them of their apartment in Delhi. It was starting to seem that all of India had only 2 decorators, one who decorated the rest of the homes in the country and the other who decorated all the places they ended up in. The relaxed ordered room service and decided to lounge on the balcony. It was still bright outside and they noticed military planes flying overhead every few minutes.
Radha turned to Geeta and even before she could say something Geeta stopped her by saying, "you are going to tell me that Ambala has the largest Airforce base in the country right, I already read it in your notepad. So how about we not talk and just enjoy the atmosphere."
Both Geeta and Radha closed their eyes and took in some rays, and waited for their food. Their food arrived and they were in heaven, Geeta remembered her mom as she ate the food, it tasted almost like she had cooked it, of course her mom's food was better that's why the almost. She decided to call Geet while she was still eating, she spoke to her for almost an hour, feeding herself in between words. She missed her mom, "Mamma, why don't you take a few days off and come visit me while I am here in India. I am sure it has changed a lot since you were last here."
Geet, "Sorry meera baccha, as much as I would like to visit India, it is not possible. I am really really busy at work and you know that I never leave anything half way. Maybe we will take a trip together next year."
Geeta, "Okay, sounds fair."
After a few minutes they hung up and Geeta noticed Radha was still eating, "How long does it take you to eat?"
Radha, "A really long time when dinner is concerneed, at home dinner sometimes lasts for 2-3 hours, we eat, we talk and just enjoy each others company. Since we have nothing else to do tonight, I thought I would enjoy every morsel that enters my mouth. So how is your mom? Did you tell her that we are staying at Khurana House" she smiled.
Geeta, "Mom is well, Ya, I told her all about the incident related to us getting this hotel room and she laughed. She told me we were clearly in the wrong to demand a private room and we could have found another hotel instead of being stubborn, but she got a kick out of your threats to the receptionist just because my last name is Khurana."
After calling Geet, Geeta made sure to touch base with Adi and let him know that she and Radha were staying the night in Ambala, she also went over the days events with him. Adi told her that he was happy that she was safe and was having an eventful trip while Maan listened in quietly smiling that the true owner of the hotel had finally found her way to it. Geeta eventually hung up the phone after telling Adi to give her love to Pinky and Sameer.
The day was over and the girls decided to call it a night, they were tired and tomorrow was a new day, with highway to conquer and a new destination to reach.
Spoiler
Are you sure?
