Take Me Away

Chapter 20

The medication helped in making Heer feel marginally better. She bundled herself with her newly-borrowed sweatshirt and all the warm clothes she could find and rolled into the car. She stuffed her ears with her earphones and brought out her essential jazz playlist. Before she knew it, she was fast asleep. This medication made her really groggy.

They were headed to Kaza next. And despite having one of the most stunning sceneries outside, Heer slept through it all. At one point, they reached something out of a storybook. The sky was bluer than blue and the clouds were draped all over like fluffy cotton candy. The river was flowing and the bank had stone formations all over. If that weren't enough, the mountains framed the river. The more you took in of this view, the more you felt overwhelmed. Rina woke Heer just so that she wouldn't miss it. The scenery was like her own cup of tea. It kept her up the whole of the way till the evening when they reached the next hotel.

One of the most monumental things Heer got to do was visit the highest post office in the world. She had only read about it in her research. It felt like one of those things you can read about but not actually ever see. And yet here she was looking at an incredible post office at 14, 567 feet. She blinked and took it all in.

She looked down at her post cards and smiled. She had one for her mother, Mr. Nair and one addressed to Rina, thanking her for bringing her here.

There were a few people who were actually climbing the tiny ladder and sitting on top of the post office to get a picture. Ishaan was kind enough to get pictures for each of them. But that also meant he was the last one to send his post cards. He had to go rushing in just when Rina threatened that they would leave him behind and go eat Maggi.

While Tabo will always remain her favourite, the Kaza hotel was one of the most beautiful ones she had ever seen. Heer always paid special attention to various aesthetics of hotels and this one scored very high in the looks department. It was built around a square garden patch and had a lovely white table and swing set in the middle. It also had a mountain view with clouds swirling right around it. Sigh. The beauty of each place was just breath-taking.

But the activities of the long day knocked Heer out in the evening. Rina and Ishaan left her to sleep in the room and set out in search of local street food. But not before Rina warned Heer, "You stay here, okay? If you need anything, you call. I'm keeping your phone right here. And I put our numbers in. Why you don't have our numbers, I don't know. But now you do. Please take care. Okay?"

Heer frowned and said, "Rina, I can take care of myself. Would you please relax? It's just a cold! Now go and enjoy yourself."

She slept peacefully for the next half hour. But that was all it was. The half hour was up and so was Heer. She tried for another ten minutes but sleep evaded her. And her nose was getting stuffy, lying down. So she got up. She opened the door to head to the restaurant part of the hotel. She sat down and spotted a waiter who made his way towards her. He had a nice smile. She smiled back and asked him, "Hello! Could you get me your best cup of tea?"

He nodded and said, "Of course."

She then asked, "Um...where is the market around here? Is it far?"

"No, no just down the road. When you hit the café, you'll see it."

Her eyes widened, "Ooo a café?"

He smiled and nodded, "Yes. They serve great tea too. Lots of yum food as well. You should visit."

Heer smiled and thanked him. She grabbed her jacket and phone from her room and stepped out in search of this café. It didn't take her long to find it. It was by far the cutest café she had ever seen. It had everything she could ever want in a café. Brightly painted walls, cozy seating, books, good food, tea, cake and a dog. The owner of the café was a very sweet woman. She also ran another restaurant that served a fusion of local and popular cuisine and asked Heer to visit there too. Heer happily nodded and then spotted another window full of lovely local merchandise. She was clearly going to be here for a while.