Periods, Pyaar And Patriarchy

Chapter Fifteen

She's here!

Finally, after month after another of running around, staying up late- she's exhausted. Tired, red, and puffy eyes from a night's loss of sleep. The flight had been delayed and what was usually a two- and half-hour journey had taken a whopping eight hours- with a break in between. Riddhi had managed to sneak in some shut-eye time at the airport where the plane had halted. Her luggage hadn't been with her and all she had with herself was her phone and a flimsy side bag.

The bag bulged uncomfortably, most of it because of the umbrella she'd hastily shoved in during the last minute. Why she felt the need to carry an umbrella on a plane, she couldn't explain it. The security personnel had looked at her strangely and Riddhi had smiled weakly. She had no plans of hijacking airplanes using the rain gear; but how could the guard know that?

But she had managed the journey somehow. She'd been so hungry when the airplane had halted that she'd practically dived into the first Krispy Kreme outlet that she saw. Her stomach had rumbled and grumbled all the way on the plane and her connecting flight was still five hours away! There was no way Riddhi could last that long without fainting of hunger and traveling alone, she wasn't very keen on taking the risk.

She was very aware of the effects munching on such sugar-laden icing would have on her body. But when she looked at the donut, yellow and thick icing promising to taste of mango, there wasn't much Riddhi could do to oppose. Her eyes had skipped over the glazed donuts that she normally went for, her heart settled on the yellow goodie with sprinkles on it.

While she waited for the worker to heat it up, Riddhi swore she could smell the vanilla filling leaking from each edge of the donut. It felt like a psychedelic experience; hunger and donuts having strange effects on her mind. Maddening, strange-shaped, and colored donuts. Was God a Krispy Kreme worker? If it was so, then the whole world made sense!

But before she could have a full-blown metaphysical journey right in the middle of the airport in front of a nondescript Krispy Kreme outlet, the worker handed her donut to her. And when the first bite was chewed on and swallowed, it hit her belly bringing her back to reality. After her seventh bite, she was slightly sick of the sugar. And by the ninth one, she was wondering why on Earth she had selected this excessively sweet item.

The sugar penetrated the minute gaps between her teeth and had reached the gum. Next, bite and she'll have the hairs on her body standing up because of how hauntingly sweet it was. This was a sugar rush headed straight to hell and paired with the smoldering hot coffee; she didn't fall asleep on the flight. The caffeine kept her jittery and the uncomfortable sensation of her burnt tongue had her asking the air hostess for water multiple times. By the time she landed at her destination, she was wondering if she had diabetes.

The number of times she'd run to the washroom sure made her feel that way!

But now with her feet firmly planted on the gleaming floor of the airport, she's here. Away from hunger hallucinations and caffeine jitters; with only her puffy, sleep-deprived eyes to tell the story. Waiting for her baggage she looks at the moving conveyor belt. The endless, grey monotony moving on and on. She wonders how everything at home is. She'd given her mother a call right when she'd reached the airport, by now her father should be outside waiting to drive her back home.

She wonders how Shweta is; she hadn't been in contact with her lately. This was mostly her fault- it was difficult to stay in touch when you had so many impending exams. And between studying and blowing steam off with her new friends at college, Shweta had slipped from her list of priorities. So far down, that she hadn't almost realized until she had checked the last conversation they had. A badly misspelled answer from her side had been all that Shweta had received. Riddhi bit her tongue, she had been barely available lately. But she had so much of her own life happening and unfolding that it was difficult to be there for Shweta at times.