Ayush woke up to the sound of his phone buzzing incessantly. Groaning, he fumbled for his phone on the nightstand, squinting at the bright screen. It was a call from Prakash "Dude, have you heard the news? An Asteroid is going to hit Kota in five days!"
Ayush rubbed his eyes, trying to shake off the sleepiness. An asteroid? That was unexpected. He quickly typed a reply, "What? Is it for real?"
Prakash's response was almost immediate. "Yeah, man. It's all over the news. They say it's going to be a big one."
Ayush sat up, his mind racing. An asteroid hitting Kota? Now that is a scary thought. He switched on the news on his mobile and confirmed the news. The reporter was saying it was going to be a close call, but the asteroid is expected to miss the city by a few miles. But the government ordered a city-wide evacuation as a precaution and no one was allowed to stay in the city after 3 days till the time the asteroid safely passes over the city.
As the news was playing in the background Ayush started to freshen up for the cram school. While bathing Ayush once again felt the bitter taste of water on his tongue and decided against complaining about it to the warden as he will most likely get out of the town soon due to the asteroid.
As he was bathing Prakash came back from his morning walk and also got prepared for the cram school. As they are on their way to the cram school, Ayush suddenly feels some strange smell. This time it is much stronger than before and this time he was not inside his room so the almirah cannot be the source of the smell.
The sun was still fresh, the birds were chirping and with cold air still blowing despite it being 9 am the weather seemed to be very happy, almost jovial. But despite this, Ayush was unable to enjoy it due to the feeling of strange but bad smell that he was currently feeling. He did not know the source of the smell and even verified it with Prakash who somehow seemed to not find any kind of bad smell and is pleasantly enjoying the good atmosphere.
How can he enjoy himself despite knowing we need to evacuate as soon as we can is even beyond Ayush. The reason they were going to the coaching center despite the news about the asteroid and the need for evacuation was because they were instructed to come there as the coaching center will arrange the evacuation of all its students. As Kota was a city whose entire economy depends upon the students, it made sense to do so as if anything happened to the students due to the negligence of the institute it could blow out of proportion.
With those random thoughts, both people enter the classroom and sat. After some time the teacher came inside the classroom.
The classroom was filled with students. With groups of students nervously and anxiously discussing the news among themselves. Some were trying to say the asteroid was some sort of conspiracy while some were wondering how they were going to get out of the city provided that the time for evacuation was very little.
After some time the teacher entered the class after which the students focused on what announcement the teacher is going to make. They already know that their evacuation to the nearest big city was going to be done by the academy and after that, they were free to go to their respective homes.
The teacher went to the teacher's desk and made the announcement.
"As all of you may know that an asteroid is predicted to hit kota city in about 5 days. It has a probability of about 70% entering the atmosphere and hitting the city. So the government has instructed a full evacuation of the city and its near surrounding suburbs."
"The Alan Institute has decided to help the government in the evacuation by evacuating all the students studying in our institution in a timely and disciplined fashion. For this, you all are instructed to come to the institute building in which you are studying from where you will be picked up by a bus and will be sent to the nearest safe city from where you are free to go to wherever you want to go."
"As far as your studies are concerned, it will continue as usual with the only difference being that it will be done online and all the study materials will be provided to you at the address that you will submit on an online form that will be later provided to you after 1 or 2 weeks."
"With that, I will ask you to go and readily pack your necessary things as there is only enough space for so much luggage. And also in case someone has any other arrangement to get out of here, he can contact any of the helpdesk numbers provided to you or register himself as such on our website or app. Also, be on time as the bus will not wait for you. Also if you require additional information or any help you can contact the helpdesk."
With this the teacher went out of the class and the class went into a uproar. With some claiming that the entire asteroid bullshit was just a government conspiracy and some discussing how heroically they will make sure that everyone gets to their home safely.
"It really is such a chore to now pack all of our stuff. I mean we just came here 1 month ago," said Prakash.
"I guess. But not like we have any choice in the matter", I replied dejectedly. We had just come here 1 month ago and as per the routine, we were supposed to study here for at least 2 years in preparation for the JEE exams. So baring the longer holidays we were supposed to be here for the entirety of time and do the preparation for the exam.
With this, I along with Prakash decided to go home and pack our stuff.