CHAPTER 9

"Rhea, please stop yawning! It's not helping any of us!" said Sanjana in a very tired voice. "I'm sorry but getting up at 5:45 a.m. just so that I can reach the beach, of all the places, by 7:30 a.m. is just not my thing!" I said just a few seconds before I yawned again. At 7 a.m., I found myself standing on the beach trying desperately to stay awake. It should have been an easy task, considering the fact that it was a terribly hot morning. Sanjana had settled down on the pavement, her legs crossed while Nika stared out groggily at the blue expanse of sea ahead.

"I can't take this anymore!" said Tia as she pulled herself up. "I'm going for a walk. Does anyone want to join me?" "Oh yes!" said Sanjana, jumping up, albeit still quite disoriented. She tottered for a moment or two and then regained her balance. The two of them slowly made their way towards the water.

Nika and I stared at their retreating figures. "How long are we supposed to stay here again?" I asked. Nika, her palm on her cheek, turned to em awkwardly and said, "About 3 or 4 hours?" I sighed as I tried to push my hair out of my face. "You know," said Nika, "this would actually be romantic if either you were a guy or I was a guy.." I turned to her, a skeptical look on my face and said, "How nice of you to make this a lot more awkward for the both of us now! No really..."

Nika grinned her usual way and turned to look at the sea. I followed suit only to see Tia and Sanjana msking their way back towards us. "You know what happened?" asked Sanjana, her trademark grin in place. "What happened?" asked a visibly excited Nika. It was just very like her - mundane things and celebrity gossip make her look like she's had a few shots of vodka.
"Well, we reached the water and we were talking and suddenly," she went on, " these two girls from evening college (I think..) with cameras ask us to pose for their photos!" "Oh well, that's nice!" I said. "But that's not the entire story!" said Tia, her eyes gleaming, "So these girls ask us to face the water and - get this - hold hands!" "So Tia and I are standing there and giggling away to glory," continued Sanjana, "while these two are standing behind us, clicking and laughing their heads off as well!" "We looked so gay!" said Tia, putting her hands to her head, "People must have thought we were a gay couple or something!" "Oh thank God! Zaara's coming! I don't think I could have taken any more of this!" I grinned at their indignant faces.

"Well, fine, Rhea! Atleast we're interesting people with interesting stories to tell, right Sanjana?" Sanjana nodded fervently in reply. "Hey, what about me?" asked Nika, "I didn't scoff at you guys..." "Oh yeah! And Nika too!" said Tia, with mock anger. "Hey!" said Zaara as she reached us. "Guess what?" said Tia in her 'happy' voice, "Two girls made us pose for their photos and made us look like a gay couple!" "Uh-huh?" said Zaara, confusion evident on her face, "I'm so proud of the two of you?" "Bah!" said Sanjana, "another disbeliever! I'm hurt!" "Yeah Zaara! How could you do that?" asked Nika, her head bobbing furiously, "that's equal to saying that you don't support the gay community!"

"Well in that case," said Zaara, "I'm so proud of you! You finally came out of the closet! Better, Nika?" "Yeah, whatever man! I'm bored now.." Nika smiled again. "Hey look they're handing out posters!" I said, as a group of girls started handing out rolls of chart in front of us. "Oh, we're finally starting!" said Tia, as she tried pinning on a red ribbon that she had been handed. Zaara sighed and said, "On the bright side, we'll back home two hours from now."

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10:30 a.m. - We found ourselves still standing on the beach, sad faces in a row. We were holding up a poster each, dismally staring into the distance. At about 9, just as was expected, a rather strong downpour of rain hit us and we crouched under our umbrellas, which didn't really help us much. A few moments after the rain stopped, truckloads of men wearing yellow shirts started arriving at the beach to listen to some politician's rant. It was almost ironic considering that we were fighting against sexual harrassment after it started taking place right there. "So this is the thanks we get for fighting against sexual harrassment? A bunch of lecherous dodos ogling at us? That's too ironic for anyone's standards!" said Sanjana, her jaw looking a lot sharper than usual. "Well, it's over, man! Let's just go home now - I'm exhausted!" said Nika. Tia nodded in agreement and we made our way to the refreshment stands to find Cara.