They call this place Statue Junction owing to a statue placed on the opposite side of the road. I haven't paid attention to the statue yet. It must be of someone politically important. I chose to be back on the road and drive.

Up ahead a car has rammed into the traffic signal post on the sidewalk. As I pass it I give it a nonchalant look. The crash is bad. But it doesn’t make much difference to me now. I realize that the probability of finding someone still stuck in it is very less. I don't think anyone would be out cold for such a long time. They would have woken up and done something to get out of the mess. I will become excited if a see an open door on a crashed car. It would mean the person had endured the crash and had not disappeared like the rest of his companions. The chance of the person closing the door behind while leaving is very high provided he hasn’t had a serious injury. It is a reflexive action we have been doing from the time we have been traveling in four-wheelers. It is like how my hands go automatically to the seat belt as I get into my car. If it is a serious injury then the priority will be to get out of the vehicle at all costs and seek help, not close the door.

I see a couple of bikes lying on the edge of the road as I move ahead. Another one has climbed the divider and lies on top of it, dangling onto the other side.

The stretch of road from Statue to East fort is where people come to meet their shopping needs. The well-known brands have their outlets in the building complexes that populate the two sides of the road. They start as soon as you leave the premises of the Secretariat. I feel this is in stark contrast to how it is in other places. I have seen in other states that government offices will be cluttered together in an area. If a building comes up, it would be a government building. Here in Trivandrum, you can’t make where one starts and ends. It is a seamless transition, no matter how odd they look together.

There are plenty of smaller roads cutting off from the main road. They lead to clusters of other shops and businesses. One will surely come across whatever they have to purchase here. Although it is not organized like a mall or a supermarket, it has its own structure. I came to know about this when I was looking for some materials for my final year project. Although I didn’t get what I came for, I got to see a part of the city that remained oblivious to me. Even my hostel mates weren’t familiar with it. All were familiar with the Chalai market or the electronics market near it. It was recommended to me by my day scholar friend staying nearby. He knew the place and what it offered. I haven’t come here since that day. With the advent of online shopping and home delivery, the need to explore such nooks and corners of the city for something specific has diminished.

I am a person who likes to explore. I like to walk and explore places. I like to discover their stories and mysteries. Along the streets and lanes, buildings and sidewalks, squares and plazas, I get a feel of its history and heritage. Whenever I am in a new place, I might go for an early morning walk, or a stroll through the empty streets after dinner. Walking makes me become a local, become a part of the place. It is a great feeling. Although the pandemic has restricted this and given us a reason to explore them virtually, I will always prefer to do it physically. There is nothing more joyful than stumbling upon something on your walk, no matter how small it is.

To be honest I haven’t explored Trivandrum much. I came here to study and was engrossed in activities that saw me leave the college premises very less. If I left, then it would be to go home or for a movie or dinner. There was no need to go into the Chalai market and explore it. There was nothing in there that interested me.

Whenever we went to college fests, we took part in the treasure hunt. We loved it. The act of solving puzzles was big fun those days. The prize money was definitely a handsome attraction that pushed us to do our best. This was the kind of exploration I had done back then. There was a reason for it, to win.

To wander without a purpose can come across as unorthodox. At an age when you want to see results and are willing to immerse yourself in them, doing something for the fun of it without any expectations or results can be considered a waste of time. Currently, I have to wander and explore as much as I can in order to find my purpose in this weird situation.

I did this once when I was in Bombay. I wandered and explored the fort area of south Bombay at my own leisurely pace. I took the help of google maps to find my way through some of the lanes, so in a strict sense, it wasn’t wandering. But the place was new to me. It was fascinating and charming. I took random turns and ended up in plain normal lanes. But that didn’t deter me. I continued and found myself walking along beautiful paths and the occasional odd street. I was to meet my friend a couple of hours later. He was late for another hour. I didn’t mind it. I had been credited an extra hour to roam around the streets. I stopped at quaint shops to quench my thirst, bought the savory snacks being sold by the street hawkers to munch on, and clicked pictures of avenues that had marveled me with their great colonial architecture.

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I have explored Chalai market a couple of times. The most recent one was with Anna. We had to buy some stuff for our home. They were available online but the price seemed to be on the higher side. We knew we could get it at a better price in the market. So we drove there one evening after her college.

I loved the time we spent in the market. We couldn’t explore it as much as we wanted due to time constraints and the ongoing pandemic. We did walk a lot. I showed her some of the iconic shops along the route. They had reopened as the cases dropped. But we didn’t want to take any chance. We avoided crowded spots and shops. This pushed us to go deep into the market and explore its fringes. I am pretty sure we had just scratched the surface. The market is spread out. The lanes branching off from the main road are narrow and packed with shops of all kinds. Some of the lanes had shops dealing with similar products. This proved to be very useful while striking a bargain. Some lanes only dealt in wholesale. There was no point in visiting them.

We spent nearly two hours in it. Some shops took time because we had to be certain as to what we were buying. Some were discovered by accident and saw us shelling out our money to buy something that had caught our eyes. Some were tempting us, but we fought the urge. They weren’t a necessity. Some had things that we loved but kept aside owing to the price. The cheaper alternative was also available but it didn’t appeal to us. We decided to buy it when we had the money. It can wait.

We walked back to the parking lot with our hands full. A few days back we were reminded of this day and how jolly it was. Even though we walked a lot we were happy. I asked her if she wanted to do it again. She didn’t hesitate to say yes. We decided to do it this Saturday if the cases were under control. But the recent news regarding Covid wasn’t good. The third wave was upon us. Restrictions might come into place. We don't know how this wave would turn out. The second wave was devastating. We prayed it to be an okay one. The shopping can wait.

I only have a few minutes of drive to the railway station. The bus stand is right next to it. This is a huge boon for travelers. They will find almost all the buses plying throughout the city and the long-distance ones in the bus stand.

I speed up my ride. The road is almost empty, except for the vehicles that have crashed here and there. As I look around my surroundings, I see a movement from the corner of my eyes on a bylane on my left. I brake hard and come to a screeching halt. The sound produced was a relatively new one. As it faded away, the silence felt magnanimous. I turn my scooter quickly and drive to the bylane.

It was a fleeting movement, a quick one. I can’t say what it was. But I did see it. The lane went downhill after a while. It was flanked by shops, all closed. A few meters ahead on the right side an old apartment stood. It was three floors tall. There was hardly any frontage to the property. The gate was closed. I decided to have a look at it.

I opened the gate and took the flight of stairs. Each floor had two apartments on either end of the staircase, just like ours. All of them had their curtains draped. The topmost one had its windows open. I rang the calling bell of each house as I climbed the floors. They all chimed differently.

On the top floor, the staircase continued onto the terrace. I took it. I opened the door and stepped into the terrace. I could see the immediate surroundings from up here. I decided to stay here for a while and look out for whatever made the movement. As I was climbing up, I started to doubt what I had seen. It wasn’t a cat or a dog. It had height. Like a man. Or a boy. Definitely not an animal.

I walked along the boundary facing the lane. There was a very old house a few meters ahead on the other side of the road. It was in a dilapidated condition. The house stood in a wide area. The garden was unattended. A couple of mango trees in it were huge and tall. A lone coconut tree took it to the skies. The windows were all closed, the garage door was locked shut. There was no sign of any vehicle in it. It seemed spooky. I observed the property for a while. A few crows sat on the mango trees and cawed occasionally. Apart from that, I saw no movement or sound.

I trace the remaining length of the boundary. Behind the apartment, there is a warehouse kind of building. A small lane leads to it alongside the boundary wall of the apartment. The shutters are down. A couple of carriage vans remain parked in the small space in front of the building. No movement there.

The main road has an air of emptiness and silence. The people who stay in this apartment can never even think of such a day in their lifetime. They are used to the camaraderie and chaos along the road and its surroundings. For them, silence would be alien. I don't know if I can live like that. I would always prefer a place away from the sounds of everyday life. This is one of the main reasons I love our home. We are in the city and yet not a part of it.

I climb down the stairs after closing the door behind me. I wonder what I saw as I jump the stairs two at a time. Did my brain play a trick on me? Have I been thinking so much of finding someone that my brain went a bit haywire and threw a gimmick? I exit the apartment.

I am thinking if I should go ahead. Whatever I saw was at this distance from the main road. There was no point in going downhill. Also, there was nothing there. I traced the road as far as I can from the terrace. Apart from a few stray dogs, nothing moved on it.

I could see a part of the old house from where I stand. On any other day, I would have taken some time to appreciate it. Currently, I am not in that mood. I am a little agitated at myself. A flutter of hope had come inside me when I felt that movement. It seems it was just an illusion. Sigh.

I look at my watch. It is four pm. The day is slowly coming to an end. There is so much to do. I get on my scooter and head back to the main road. I need to hasten up things.