Some parts of the dialogue (in italics) are in Hindi. They do not add much to the story. Translations available at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!

"Bye papa!" Randhir lifted his suitcase and swung it around his back. "I'm going back to college today."

His father rose from the couch, swaying. "Beta, so soon? You just arrived yesterday." He tried to take a sip from his bottle, but most of the clear liquid spilled onto his beard.

"Papa, I've been here for the last two months."

"And half the time you were in bloody Gud - Gurgaon." His dad collapsed on the faded grey sofa.

Randhir rushed to help his father up, but his father waved him away.

"You know I had an internship at Microsoft. Anyway, I will see you during term break."

"Beta let me drop you at least," his father said, trying to pull himself up.

"There's no need, I can manage. I'm leaving now."

The stench of day old sweat was becoming worse as his father finally rose. Where is that cab?

"Give me a hug," his father slurred.

Randhir braced himself and held his father tight, feeling the sting of unwashed clothes hitting his eyes. "Take a bath at least today."

He forced himself to close the door gently and got into his Uber.

-+-+-

Vidushi Kumar looked at the wall clock, frustrated. Her bus was supposed to have left an hour ago, but she was still sitting at the stop, watching vehicles of all sizes zoom around her, trying to ignore the eyes sizing her up.

A small van shuddered to a stop, smoke billowing out of its exhaust. Vidushi turned around to face the man who sold her the ticket. KPM Roorkee Delhi Shuttle was painted on the side. "What the hell is this? You told me it was a luxury AC bus."

The man smirked. "Discount rate pe discount van hi milega."

Vidushi sighed. She had saved two hundred on this trip, so she couldn't complain.

She went to the back of the van to load her luggage. As she put the bags in, she could feel many pairs of eyes on her legs, and there were many men staring at her hungrily as she turned around. She didn't want to cause a scene, so she silently walked into the van and sat next to an open window.

"Hey baby," a man said. Vidushi looked around in alarm but he had already sat down next to her.

"Listen, I don't want to talk to you."

"You must be feeling very hot no baby?" he said as he looked at her legs and her shorts.

Vidushi was furious. "You can't sit here, you creep!" she tried to make him go away.

"But baby, my friends and I really want to know you." He leered at her and with sudden dread, she realized that there were three more men surrounding them.

"Listen I'll - I'll call the police." She scanned the bus, hoping for some help. Everyone else was busy on their phones.

"Police won't reach in time," one of his friends said and moved closer. "Who is going to stop us?"

Vidushi froze, wondering what to do.

Please God, help me!

--+-+-+--

"No Papa, the driver didn't stop the car even once - we are going straight to college," Sanyukta said. "And tell Ma that I remembered to pack the sweets!" She couldn't hear her mother's voice clearly in the background, but Sanyukta could always guess.

"Okay beta," her father said. "Take care of yourself."

"Papa - get an iPhone so I can iMessage you. Why are you still using an old phone?"

"This phone is good enough for my work," her father said. "Bye Sanyu, call when you reach the hostel."

Sanyukta shoved her phone into her bag and turned towards the window. Acres of farmland zipped past her, dotted with lone human beings bent over with ploughs.

She could see signs of civilization sprouting up - a petrol bunk and a farmer selling carrots under a blue tarpaulin. She leaned forward and smiled. The yellow wall, the water tank that stood at the corner of the campus were coming into view. A few more metres now and she could finally see it. On the brown stone arch were the words in silver. Founder's Institute of Technology and Engineering. The number one college in the country.

She was finally here!

"Jaldi," she urged the driver.

"Ji madam."

"Take a left here and stop at the second building."

She alighted the vehicle and skipped up the steps to the Administrative Block. Her driver followed behind her, carrying her suitcases.

"Some people just act so childish," a male voice sounded from behind her. "Jumping around like a bloody school kid."

Sanyukta's nostrils flared. She turned around, ready to give him a piece of her mind but she saw something else that drew her attention.

"Kaustu!"

"Sanyu!" her best friend called out. Sanyukta ran to her and gave her a hug, feeling the muscles in her neck relax. "I missed you! How was your summer?" 

"It was great, I worked in my family's tea factory, and we went to Singapore."

"Wow Kaustu, you must have done a lot of shopping!"

"Yes, I'll show you everything in our new room. I'm so happy it's just you and me again Sanyu," Kaustuki gushed.

"I don't think anyone else can tolerate her," Randhir said to Jignesh who had just arrived.

"Randhir - just because you have no friends, you don't have to irritate mine," Sanyukta said.

"Oh please Sanyukta...I don't need any useless friends, and I don't need advice from useless people like you."

Sanyukta moved closer to Randhir. "Stop calling me useless you MCP, I'm much better than you."

"Oh really. Hum dono me se Microsoft me intern kisko mila tha?"

Sanyukta smirked as she responded, "And who was in Google?"

"Come on...are you really comparing your job in the marketing team of Google with the Azure team? I was working on cloud computing and you were selling Organic Weight Loss pills on Google ads."

"Listen Randhir, just because you can't understand the complexity of the algorithms that Google uses doesn't mean it's easy. And why do you know so much about my internship anyway? Were you feeling jealous you didn't get it?"

"I was not interested...Jignesh told me about it. And even he agrees that my internship was a lot better than yours. They offered it at the last minute just because Vardhan sir asked," Randhir said.

"Oh just shut up you MCP," Sanyukta replied. "Why do you always try to put me down?"

"Listen okay," Randhir wagged a threatening finger at Sanyukta. "You can't just keep shouting like this, act like a civilized person." He moved closer to her to intimidate her.

But Sanyukta was not one to back off. "No, I won't. What are you going to do about it?" She pushed him back, and Randhir was shocked.

"How dare you?"Randhir raged. "I'm just leaving you alone because you are a girl. Otherwise...?"

"Otherwise what? Are you threatening her?" Kaustu tried to defend her friend.

"Stay out of this, Kaustu," Jiggy said. "It's not your business."

"Oh, so you can defend your friends?" Kaustu asked.

"Come on guys, stop fighting! I had the best internship in PKC's summer classes."

Randhir, Sanyukta, Kaustuki and Jignesh turned to this new voice. "And I learnt so much, from this class."

"What did you learn, Yoyo?" Kaustuki asked, relieved for the interruption.

"There's only one way for me to pass, Kaustuki - copying from you." Yoyo said. "That's why I failed so many times, I was waiting for you to join my batch."

Kaustuki started giggling, she couldn't help it. "Don't be stupid, Yoyo," she said. She tugged on Sanyukta's hand and said, "Let's collect our keys. I'll see you later Jignesh."

As she trailed behind Sanyukta, she called out, "Bye Yoyo!"

"Bye Kausukiji!" Yoyo said with a grin. This year was going to be his year, he could feel it.

----

Translations:

Beta - son/child

Discount rate pe discount van hi milega - at a discount rate, you will get a discount (read low quality) van

Jaldi - go fast

-ji added to the end of a name - a sign of respect (think San in Japanese)

This is not edited. Please point out any errors if you see them.