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| Lisbon, Portugal |
At Chennai Station, Ragini soon found her cousin Asha. Asha has not changed much, that's what Ragini felt. Asha gave her a hug and led Ragini out of the station to the parking lot. Asha had always been such a role model in their family. She owned a car and knew how to drive. Ragini didn't know many women in Mumbai who drove cars. In Mumbai, those days, very few people owned private cars.
Asha's home was very big vs Ragini's own apartment that she shared with her parents. At home, she met Asha's two little boys who were playing with the maid. Ragini had already met Asha's older son who was a 5 year old intelligent boy named Rohan. The younger child Rahul was a two-year old toddler. Ragini soon found herself very busy getting to know the family and their home and found that the initial days just flew by. After about four days, she finally remembered that she had told her internet pals that she would reach out to them. Since she was in Asha's house, she missed her own computer. She remembered that she had their telephone numbers and asked her cousin if she could make some local phone calls using the landline.
Asha was so cool. She didn't pry into Ragini's business and was usually very busy anyway. She had a home to manage and her two little kids and her husband to look after. Ragini first called Rama. It was funny to hear this girl's voice on the line. She had a heavy South Indian accent and seemed quite friendly. She asked Ragini to meet at the beach that evening. They planned a meeting spot and an exact time and also discussed how they would recognize each other. After all, they hadn't seen each other before.
Ragini asked her cousin Asha if she would like to join her at the beach in the evening. Asha declined but gave Ragini general instructions on how to get there. Now very excited, Ragini wished the afternoon away. After reassuring Asha that she had the home telephone number and would call her if any problem arose, Ragini left the residence at 4.30pm. Rama preferred to meet up before it turned dark and the sun would set around 6.30pm that evening. Ragini knew that the beach was only 20 minutes away from Asha's house. She consulted the hand-drawn map that Asha had given her that indicated the turns she would need to take to reach the beach.
She noticed how different the roads in Chennai were than in Mumbai. She kept a look out for stray dogs and potholes and generally was wary till she reached the beach. The meeting was at this ice cream joint called 'Joy's'. Ragini saw Rama at the door. She recognized the girl with the single braid of long thick hair wearing a red maxi. They smiled at each other. As she reached Rama, she saw that Rama looked towards the road and waved at someone on a bike. It turned out that Rama's brother was not very confident that she was going to meet a girl. He waved a bye and rode away.
Rama and Ragini spent the next hour discussing their chats, the thrills of the internet and what they had discovered till now about it and the other people they were chatting with. Rama was also chatting with girls and boys. But, it was a first for Rama too to actually meet someone she had chatted with. Ragini asked Rama if she would join her if she planned some meetup with Kishore. Rama said she was unsure her brother would allow that but suggested that Ragini come and meet with her family the next time they met. Maybe then they would be okay with that sort of thing, she said. They ordered sandwich ice cream and a slice of pineapple cake and enjoyed being in the cooler air-conditioned environment of the ice cream parlour.
Ragini had a good feeling about Rama because she felt very comfortable around her. They said their goodbyes as the sun started setting and each headed back home. As she entered the apartment gate, Ragini noticed Rohan watching her from the 1st floor window. When she entered the house he ran towards her. She had been missed.
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