I get back on my scooter and drive away. The road narrowed a bit as it reached Pallimukku junction. I take the free left onto the main road. Within half a minute I would reach her friend's home. Having taken the turn onto the main road I saw a car blocking my side of the road. I stopped right in front of it. The railing for the pavement was damaged along with the left side of the car. It must have hit the railing and swerved, finally coming to a stop in a position squarely blocking the road. There is a small gap between the car and the divider. I carefully take this and continue. As always there was no one to be found inside. I didn’t put in much effort to get out and check the car. I had a glance as I navigated my way around it.

I cross Central Mall and reach Pattoor Junction. I visited the mall once with my friends. We had gone in to watch a movie in the multiplex after attending one of our close friend's reception. The movie wasn’t that great. At that time, the mall was just coming up. Most of the shops inside it were to be let out.

After moving to Trivandrum, we mostly went to the Mall of Travancore. It was fully functional and had a great multiplex. All the movies would run there without fail. It was our destination for a theatre experience. Every time I came back from my work, we would go to a couple of movies. Initially, this wasn’t possible due to the shutting of theatres because of the pandemic. Just before the second wave, theatres were opened. We went with her colleagues and watched a great movie. Within a week, they had to close it down again due to the second wave.

I was away at work when it hit us. Since I was working in a remote area, the wave didn’t have much effect on us. It did prove to be deadly as a whole in the country. I remember her coming back from Covid night duty at the ICU during the peak of the wave and opening up about how she felt about the ongoing situation. She was agitated and visibly disturbed. The second wave was affecting much more people within the forty age range. It was proving to be fatal. There was a thirty-five-year-old IT professional with two kids. She was showing signs of recovery when her oxygen levels dipped in the middle of the night. She was given immediate medical care but it didn’t help. She succumbed to it. She was distraught at thinking of how the family would go through the loss. People who had started a family were being admitted. They were mostly healthy individuals. The virus didn’t spare them. News throughout the country was grave. There was a lack of preparedness for the second wave. This brought about a very ugly situation in the months it ravaged us.

Things cooled off after the second wave. The situation was becoming better day by day. Vaccination was in full drive. I got my second dose in September. By then life was returning to a new normal. Initially, the night curbs were still in place. Soon they were discarded. Cases were saturated at a certain level in the state and the country. People were getting used to wearing a mask. It had surely become a part of their lifestyle. Having a mask on meant that you could now do anything that you wanted to. The country's economy was badly hurt in the first wave and the month-long lockdowns that followed it. It couldn’t afford to go for a complete lockdown. If the caseloads increased, night curfew or Sunday curfew would be brought into effect. My wife used to laugh at this decision. It didn’t make sense at all. But some sort of a restriction had to be brought in places that saw an increase in cases. Maybe it was implemented to send a message that it would be better to stay indoors and look after each other's safety.

The third wave is upon us. I was expecting it a bit sooner. Its delay even led me to think if this pandemic was over. I was wrong. As the new year dawned upon us the virus hit us in a mutated form. Two variants of it were already floating around. It was the Delta variant that was spreading like wildfire. Following New Year, the cases started to spike almost in an exponential way in the state. I always tell my wife that we can’t say what will happen in a week's time. Planning was unpredictable. A sudden surge in cases can see your city or locality being closed out. It is a time to take things one day at a time. Until the pandemic becomes a flu-like seasonal disease, things are going to be muddy.

I take the right turn from the junction following which I take a sharp right turn onto a by-lane. A couple of meters in, I reached her friend's home. I park in front of the gate and enter it. The house has a grilled sit-out in front of it. The entrance is from here. I ring the calling bell. It chimes. I hear no sounds from inside. I wait for a while without any response. I ring the bell once again. No response. I take a peep through the grill. The door that leads into the house is closed.

Her husband's bike and car are on the curb. I call out her name loudly. After a few repetitions, I call out her friend's name followed by her husbands. I get no response from anyone. The house is silent. I can’t make out if there is anyone inside at all. They have another entry from the adjacent side. I walk towards it through a small garden. I tug at the door. It is obviously locked.

I have come here a couple of times. It was with this friend of hers that we had board game-fuelled night-outs. We used to hang out in the large hall on the second floor. Her friend would bake something for us. Once she had made her signature chocolate brownies. They were utterly delicious. I became an immediate fan of it. She also stocks up on food for the night. This includes dessert jars, snacks, and a whole lot of other stuff. We usually order our food for the night. On all these occasions I have told them to not consider myself in their headcount while ordering food. I eat less. She says I eat like a parrot, picking up from the plate one morsel at a time. I am definitely not that. I eat what I want to.

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They have two boys. Both are fun to hang out with. The older one is six years old while the younger one is three. The kid in me comes alive whenever I am in their midst. The older one impressed me the second time I visited them. On my first visit, we became friends. He was curious to know what my work was. I told him what I did. He listened intently and then got back to playing with his younger brother. The next time when I came, he described to me my job in the most accurate way anyone could. I know people of my age who still can’t understand what it is that I do. Here is a kid that knows it and can convey it in the best manner. I was thoroughly impressed and moved by this.

The younger one is more mischievous. But we got along well. One night, before we began our monopoly rally, we sat together with his building block toy set. I made a couple of long boxes with them and gave them to him. He was instantly surprised by the new creation I came up with. He started playing with it. When one of the blocks fell down and he wasn’t able to fix it back, he would come to me. I improvised a couple of times. I joined the two long boxes, making it into an extra long box kind of a thing that had flexibility in the middle. I dragged it to the floor. It became a train for him. He was happy and gave me an awesome smile. He got busy with it. Because of its flexibility, it broke off soon enough. When he came to me I showed him how to fix it. He learned it in a jiffy. The next time when it broke, he fixed it. When it was ready he looked back at me and gave me another big smile. I still remember that wide smile of his.

On another day when her husband was taking time to come back, we recruited the elder one to play with us. He was the fourth player for our monopoly game. Boy, what luck he had. He was raking in money and buying properties at a very fast pace. This was mainly due to the number of doubles he was getting on his dice throws. There were moments when he would be asked to pick a person from which to make money. The three of us would do our best to convince him to take it from someone else. He chose to take it from his mother. She let out a sigh of disbelief. We laughed at it. He actually came forward with the reason for his decision. She was having the most money at that point of the game and so it made sense to take it from her. This astounded the three of us. To have a clear view of things at such an early age was incredible. It also showcased his innocence. We applauded him for this and continued with the game. Her friend had somehow managed to tell her husband to get some chocolates for him on his way back. He gave it to him on his arrival and told him why he deserved it. The joy on his face on getting a reward was something to be seen. He shared the chocolate with all of us. The younger one too got chocolates but he wanted some from his brothers too. He did give him some. But that wasn’t enough. Soon they broke into a fight regarding this. The elder one succumbed to it and went off crying. It took some time to pacify him. He then came to us and joined his father as a team in the game. They won it easily.

We slept in the guest room whenever we stayed over. It was very much like the sleepovers one has in their childhood. There would be food, games, conversations, and laughter. You would hit the bed late into the night when you were completely exhausted and done. Once she had to attend an online class the next morning. We set up a small table and chair for her in one of the rooms near the corridor that led to the entrance to the hall where we hung out. One side of it had the grill structure replicated faithfully from below. It also extended to the corridor. The whole grill area was covered with curtains. I wanted to push aside the curtains and have a look inside. Again this would be futile if the door leading inside was closed. It must be. It was closed at night. Still, I wanted to check out the minutest possibility.

I got back to the front of the house and decided to climb on the boundary wall that separated the property from the road. It was a thin wall. I had to be cautious. The wall was more than six feet away from the ledge. I can't jump on it. It was far enough and at an increased height from the wall. I looked around for a stick. I didn’t find any in front of the house. I decided to look around the premises for something of use. As I walk towards the backyard, I pass a room and the kitchen. The kitchen window is open. I look into it. It is clean. The dishes are done. There is no sign of any cooking process happening. I walk further into their backyard. I found a long stick with a knife attached to its end. I remove the knife and take the stick along.

Using the support of a sturdy plant, I climb up the boundary wall. I look around to see if anyone was watching. I know this is silly of me but it is a force of habit. Normally whenever you are climbing or jumping a wall, it means you are doing something that you are not supposed to do. It makes you cautious and looks out for anyone who has witnessed you in the act. Hence the reflex.

I take the stick and poke it into the opening of the grill. The curtain follows it. I am not able to push it aside. I try sticking it higher and pushing it sideways. The curtain did move for a tiny bit after which it doesn't budge. I tried it several times. There is no progress. I pull out the stick and push it into the middle portion to its full length. The curtain followed it. I could see a bit of the flooring. I leaned in a bit with the plant as support and push more. At the same time, I try to get a peek inside. I saw the wooden frame of the door. It was closed. I call out her name a couple of times. Getting no response I pull out the stick and throw it down. I jump into the road. There is no one here.