Oranges

Shyamlal & Kanaka were travelling through the vast featureless-ness of central india.

The clock on the dashboard of the car said 11:26 . Shyamlal was driving with a furious speed to reach the next pit stop; before they could continue their journey to reach their ancestral home in Agra.

Shaymlal was annoyed after two hours of high beam lights shining in his eyes from the on-coming cars as well from cars behind him in the rear view mirrors. High beams should be banned. 

But now there was no such disturbance.

There was no car for miles in both directions. The road was flat & straight and the vast desolation on either side of the road sent a chill down Shyamlal’s spine. There were sparse babul trees lining the road but not much else.

It was getting cold. It was getting windy and the scrawny trees were swaying in the moonlight. Shyamlal wondered if Kanaka was also feeling the same unease which made her so quite.

She was never this quiet.

Maybe it was the landscape which was making her morose or maybe it was her impending marriage to a distant and unattractive relative in Agra which was doing the trick.In any other scenario Shyamlal would have been thankful for the silence; but on this road, on this windy starless night; on this expanse of nothingness and darkness he wanted the chattering.

But Shyamlal wouldn’t admit to something so simple. As far as he was concerned his sister was dumb who didnt listen to his advice and should not resist getting a good deal in marriage. 

What else was there for girls like her to do? It’s not like she is some MBA with a high flying job offer. She had recently graduated from Kirori-mal college with a measly 45%. Who was going to give her a job? Of all things she had graduated in Botany. He had asked her to do accounts but she wanted to study trees.

It was literally the stupidest major you could select if you were not in research. His sister was dumb and it was best if she got married to that pimpled fool Hitesh and they both continued their witless existence out of his hair.

“I know what you are thinking”, Kanaka said in a humourless drone voice

“You think ‘i am doing the right thing for my sister’, but you are an idiot”

Her voice sliced through the silence of the night, the you are an idiot part was nothing new. They always called each other that. It carried no meaning other than the comfort of familiarity.

“Look who’s talking” Shyam Lal said in a voice devoid of any warmth.

He hated his sister. She considered herself some new age free spirit artist after wasting his hard-earned money on doing a botany major of all; meanwhile he was stuck on a job where he couldn't progress because he lacked a college degree.

He should have put that money on himself, instead of wasting it on her.

Whatever was good and familiar in his heart for her was smothered by the sticky prickly resentment which covered everything.

“its the truth, you don't know what's good for you” He said for the lack of something better to say.

He looked out an saw the trees had possibly blotted out the sky. The moon was no longer shining and stars were hidden by a dense layer of clouds and the tall trees were swaying in the mighty wind. And there was no light anywhere other than what his headlights.

He was a very fearless kind of a guy and would never hesitate in any situation but the mere thought of stopping here gave him an ungodly terror. Something nasty burdened his heart. It felt strange as if the air was thick with something nasty.

Shaymlal couldn’t help but feeling that they had passed through a portal somewhere and were now in an alternative world where everything was weird. The darkness was overpowering. There was nothing for miles and there was nothing above or below other than the road illuminated by his car's sad headlight. If not for that they might as well be in space. 

He looked at her. Her feet were on the dashboard and she was chewing gum incessantly. But a slight change in her demeanor was apparent. She was not so relaxed now. Even she felt it. 

He looked ahead and there was nothing, but any moment something might emerge from the swirling dust on the road and eat them alive. How long they were stuck like this there was no telling. The only thing that told the passage of time was his increasing dread and Kanaka’s decreasing nonchalance.