Amritprastha-The land of Nagas

Chp 4

The wait was finally over. My feet touched the soft sand dunes of this mysterious island. The feeling was surreal. I had never felt like this before, I could sense that this place was waiting for my arrival. The dancing trees, the sweet chirping of the birds, the blooming flowers and the radiant sun.

I wondered how I stayed away from this place for a long time. ''Ahh , what a scenic view, very selfie worthy, is it for real'' ,said Somya as she looked spellbound. Sneha was speechless seeing the beauty of Amritprastha.

I was so immersed in admiring the beauty of Amritprastha that I didnt realize someone was calling my name, ''MEERA!MERRA!'', I turned to look who it was. To my surprise it was Ramu kaka waving towards me, signalling us to get in the car. It was the old vintage car which was my grandpas favourite, he would only allow Ramu kaka to drive it.

Without thinking much we all got in the car. ''OMG! Look at you, you have grown so much!'', Ramu kaka exclaimed. I just giggled as a response. 'How is grandpa and grandma?', I asked Ramu kaka. ''Well they are very eager to meet you, your grandma wanted to accompany me to escort you and your friends to the mansion but your grandpa didnt allow her'', Ramu kaka replied.

The car ride was silent as we were very tired, Sneha was busy complaining about the poor network and somya was sleeping peacefully resting her head on my left shoulder. I was gazing out of the window as faint memories were coming back in my mind of the childhood spent in Amritprastha.

Soon, we reached our mansion. The gates were wide open allowing the car to enter. Nothing much had changed since the last time I had been here that is 14 years ago.

I saw my grandma rushing out of the main door as soon as she saw that the car arrived. I quickly got out of the car along with Sneha and Somya. I hugged my grandma tightly and took her blessings. I introduced my friends to her and she was very happy to meet them.

''Grandpa is waiting for you inside'' , my grandma told me looking me into the eyes. ''Yes I will meet him'', I told my grandma. But let me first show you girls your rooms, grandma told us excitedly. ''Omg! your house is just like a palace!'', Somya whispered in my ears. I just smiled at her. ' How is Abhimanyu?', I asked my grandma . 'Must be good , he rarely visits us now' ,my grandma said.

Our rooms were on the 2nd floor. I had my personal room and Somya and Sneha decided to share one as they were not familiar with the place and didnt wanted to sleep alone despite the fact that many rooms were unoccupied. After settling in and arranging my stuff , I decided to meet my grandpa who spends most of his time in the library/study room working on his pearl exporting business.

On my way I was stressing out very much because I believed that he didnt like me. I knocked on the door waiting for a response, ''COME IN'', he said. I hesitantly opened the door and saw him smiling at me. I anxiously smiled back. 'Take a seat', he commanded. I nodded and took a seat in front of the desk.

'Its been a long time Meera, how are you?', he asked me with a faint smile on his face. 'I am fine', I said, still nervously fiddling my fingers. ''I missed you'', he confessed with sadness in his face. It caught me off-guard as I didnt expect him to say this. ''Even I missed you very much grandpa'', I replied.

After talking for few minutes I went back to my room and closed the door shut. Tears kept rolling down my cheek as I remembered his words he told when I was last time here. It hurts everytime that I remember the past memories. What did I even do to deserve this, I was just 10 years old back then.