Our homestay at Latashore is surrounded with forests; crickets chirp relentlessly all through the day and night. Every direction you look, its green, like a great buildup of leprechauns. Sunlight twinkles through the canopy, and the air is so fresh, it feels like my lungs would burst if I take in too much. All I want to do is to crawl in the heart of the forest, sit on the bench put there by the owners of the homestays and wait for the day to slip in the calm of the night. But Kevin and Sarah have other plans, and the cab is at the door at exactly two o'clock.
I put on a blue, flowy dress, Sarah in a black and white striped mini dress, and Kevin a blue checked shirt and chinos. We take a moment by the mirror to take pictures of us posing with our sunglasses, we look like hot mafia. The cab takes us to a river, its water clean and sparkling. I sit on a rock in the river, cool water flowing through my feet, and feel my frustration ebbing away. Leaving the river doesn't make me happy, I could spend all my time here. We move through the plains and towards the hills.
The hills beckon me. The greenery is mesmerizing, and the cool wind blowing on my face is refreshing. There are small streams of water flowing through the gaps in the rocks, some of the small, and some bigger than life. We stopped at one such place, the waterfall roaring through the hill air like a giant dragon. Every sounds seems magnified, every feeling blooming a thousand fold, and I feel a pang knowing that this trip is going to end in two days. We reach our homestay at five in the evening, content and grinning from ear to ear. I want to spend the evening in the forest, but Sarah brings out seven bottles of beer, one bottle of vodka, and a packet of something I don't recognize.
"Let's celebrate!" She shouts.
"What?" I ask.
"New friends, and beautiful places."
We open up the vodka and drink it straight from the bottle. It tastes like medicine, unlike the one I had at my home. Sarah takes a few sips and she's laughing like crazy. I feel nothing, except the medicine like taste on my tongue, a burning sensation in my guts, and the feeling that we should have brought some cold drink with it. When she begins flirting with Kevin, I feel angry. It should hit me more! I am a newbie, and Sarah has been drinking for years.
"Give it to me." I say.
Kevin refuses to drink much, so I end up drinking twice the amount Sarah did. It doesn't hit me yet, but my stomach feels a little funny. Thinking it is the road trip and tiredness of the day, I lay down on my stomach.
It's been a few moments when I realize Kevin is calling me. Its still light out, but he is ordering me to get up. I don't think I can get up, though. Something has happened to me, and I think I was talking or screaming a few moments back. Kevin pushes me in a sitting position, pulls me into the bathroom, and throws me on the floor. I don't realize what is going on until my face is over the toilet seat, Kevin holding my hair in his hands, and I'm puking all over.
Sarah woke me up for the dinner. They have gotten dumplings, rice, flatbread and chicken stew. Both of them looks at me in concern and I can tell they want to laugh. I put my spoon down and look at them.
"Go on, then. Laugh"
Both of them begin rolling on the bed, laughing their heads off. I pout. They look at my face and doubles up.
"Are we done?" I ask.
"Yeah, almost." Kevin is out of breathe. "Damn, Az, I didn't know you were so weak."
Sarah gives him a look and tells him to lay off me. "Don't call her weak, you idiot. She is just new to drinking."
We then talk for hours and hours, about ourselves, our families, or ex-classmates, and our love lives. It feels better, as if I was somehow initiated into a normal life, quite different from the one I have lived till date. When at last we do fall asleep, I can't help being thankful to my job, and that probably everything is going to change now.