It started raining.

Rain in the hills, making a visit, any place outside, nearly impossible.

The whole place was covered in a thick shawl of fog and mist.

Staring outside the window, watching the rain drops hit the ground,

ANKHI asked her mother; '' Ma, why does Baba get all these vacations at these odd times of the year?"

SOM was grimly reading the newspaper he brought from the reception, RANI looked at that direction and said:

"Why don't you ask your dad yourself? Tell me, does anybody come to the mountain in this season? I am scared, may god forbid but a landslide might occur on our way out, returning home will become impossible in that scenario. The whole world just finished their summer vacation and your dad took his leave at the onset of the monsoon, yet it is good that he could at least manage to get a leave at all, given the condition at his workplace, ehh!

ANKHI smiled and replied; "that is even better then, who wants to get home? I want to stay right here in this place."

RANI glared at her and said; "yeah, that is what you will want, you don't have to go to college then."

ANKHI said; "O Baba! Please get tomorrows' sight-seeing cancelled, I am really enjoying watching the rain from this room."

SOM replied; "yeah, why will we even go out in the rain? I am also enjoying from here, they are making 'KHICHURI' for lunch today along with meat."

RANI said; "this hotel is quite nice, they are fulfilling whatever we are asking of them. Hey, are they cooking 'KHICHUDI' only for the three of us? What are the rest of the people going to eat?"

SOM replied; "where did you see any other person? Is there any other tourist other than us in this hotel?"

RANI replied: "I guess, I saw someone at the breakfast table."

SOM said; "oh yeah! He is also crazy like us, came to see the mountains in the monsoon."

ANKHI sighed; "Bengali? Shit! I slept in the morning and missed seeing him."

SOM said; "you are saying as if Bengali means something you go to the zoo to look at. You could tell me that you love crowd, people, we would have stayed at Gangtok then."

ANKHI curled up her lips and said; "Duh! When did I say that? It's quite thrilling isn't it? Another Bengali in such an off-beat place."

SOM replied; "had we come in the proper tourist season, you would not have felt this thrill, you would get irritated then. There would be people all around you and mostly all Bengali, as if someone had regulated and lowered the temperature of Dharmatala and converted it into Sikkim.

RANI said; "I, prefer people and crowd way more, such an off-beat place and moreover with all these rain, gosh! What a sickening job you have, there are neither holidays for the "Durga Pujo", nor the summer vacations. On top of that, all our relatives perceive us as if the job of a policeman itself means black money and bribe. I am really tired and sick of this!"

SOM said; "that is good! You should enjoy and boast about it just like the wives of powerful men do. Your friend, SUJATA basks in boasting because her husband is a businessman, and your husband is a police officer but you cannot boast even a cent percent compared to her."

ANKHI said; "How can she bask in boasting dad! She can boast only if she can stay serious. Ma just looks for an opportunity to laugh. Even if she gets a tiny reason, she starts laughing. Hey dad, you know what happened the other day, we had gone to Gariahat...."

RANI cut her short; "I will leave this room now."

ANKHI continued to laugh and said; "Mom, please let me say, let me say, it's only the three of us here in the room. So Baba, we were buying a bag at a shop in Garihat. The shopkeeper asked 300 bucks, and I started my bargain from 30 bucks, the moment I said the price, Ma started laughing. Boom! The shopkeeper understood and stated that the price is fixed, it is not up for bargain, I was literally so furious but Ma kept on laughing and asked me from where did I learn to bargain?"

SOM said; "My experience with your Ma is much more pathetic. TRIDIB da's wife had passed away, I took your mother to go and visit him the next day. Suddenly TRIDIB da looked at me baffled and innocently said, 'SOM, see I have become a widower now.' I too felt like laughing, but somehow bit my tongue and managed to suppress it, but your Ma started to laugh right there, I tried to stop her in subtle ways but she was unstoppable. TRIDIB da got emotional and all teary eyed and said; 'SOM, I think your wife must have adored my wife, she might have got so sentimental that she couldn't figure out how to express her emotions and started laughing, see.' Fortunately, TRIDIB da is a good and innocent man, if she starts laughing like this randomly at any place, someday we might get beaten up.

ANKHI rolled up on the floor laughing, RANI laughed and said; "Trust me, the word 'widower' cracked me up so much, I could not suppress my laugh any longer.'

Just then the door bell rang, folding the newspaper, SOM said; "Hey see, I guess our lunch has arrived"

ANKHI opened the door and was taken aback. A young man was standing at the door with a dejected look on his face. ANKHI enquired; "Yeah say?"

The young man replied; "Hello! I am ORKO, does any one of you posses an extra shoe-string?"

SOM said; "Oh! You! Please come inside, please."

ANKHI stood aside the door, the boy quickly paced into the room, sat down on a chair and asked SOM; "do you have an extra of shoe-string?"

SOM replied; "No. We do not travel with shoe-laces, why are you asking that?"

The guy said with a dejected tone; "Oh! You don't have! I guess I am in so much trouble now."

Having said only this much, he got up and left the room without even looking at any one even for a second.

RANI started laughing once more, SOM said; "This boy definitely has two or more screws loose inside his head, I guess he is nuts."