Vrushti - F.P.G. - Chapter 7

Baani was highly elated as they were entering the room marked 208. Vrushti watched along as a wireframe of Baani's face appeared on the door display and provided access to the room while sliding the frosty glass door open.

"Any second thoughts, V?" asserted Baani with slightly twisted eyebrows.

"Of course not, its just the number which has got me fascinated", remarked Vrushti.

"208?" enquired Bee with a left-tilted head and narrowed eyes, while Anjali too looked over their shoulders perplexed.

Bringing an end to the duo's perplexity, Vrushti said "It's the eight, it looks like the symbol of infinity, consider it a divine sign, Bee. You're stuck with me for INFINITY", emphasising on the word 'infinity' in a spooky manner.

Indeed, the blue glowing 208 made the '8' look like the infinity symbol, especially since the text was vertically rotated on the door display.

Anjali admitted, "Well, that's a way to look at things, never saw an eight that way before", as they entered the room. 

"Welcome back, Baani. Nice to see you too, Anjali" beamed AiDen or simply the Artificial Intelligent Dwelling Environment Node.

"I see we've got a visitor," it said. "Are we having an extra tutoring session?"

"No Aiden, we're not having tuition going currently, this is Vrushti, please pair with her ECCo, she's going to be a new occupant here, Baani's room-mate" informed Anjali.

Anjali gestured towards Vrushti, who nodded in agreement to allow Aiden access to her ECCo. While Baani went about clearing a bed of some clutter lying on it.

"Initialising sync, please allow a few moments for the process to complete" robotically exclaimed Aiden.

While the sync proceeded, Bee was almost done picking up her things from the bed which Vrushti was expecting to get, while she gestured Vrushti to be seated. Vrushti and Anjali pulled the two chairs which were placed along with the coffee table which also served as a desk in the middle of the room.

Vrushti was looking around the room, it was a plain white-washed room with a white table in the center and white chairs with sky blue seat cushions. The large beds on either side looked antiquated but welcoming, polished dark brown wood contrasting against the white background and the light pastel-colored upholstery. The wooden floor seemed to complement its texture though. There was a hammock with a small cushion buried under a pile of disposable garments right beside the arched window. She could get used to this. The clock tower was partly visible from where she was seated, prompting her to walk towards the window to get a clear view. On the right side of the window, an idol of Lord Ganesha was placed on a pedestal. She did a customary Pranaam and bowed her head to pay respect to God. 

Anjali enquired "Are you religious, Vrushti?"

Continuing her gaze outside the window, she could see two boys walking towards the tower probably towards the parking lot. Vrushti shrugged her shoulders "I don't know" she said almost sighing. 

"I am not orthodox or fanatic about religion or being Hindu, but I take comfort in placing my faith in something unknown, a strong power looking out for us." she continued and turned her gaze back at Anjali, who knew well that it was a topic the world shuddered to talk about and maybe she should not prod more.

Sensing unease in Anjali, Vrushti said "Hey Di, I know not many get into such personal details but now that you are my sister, I am positive I can confide in such things with you. I think I never got very much inclined towards any religion because I didn't have much parental guidance towards spiritualism. Maybe you can guide me." she said followed by a wink. 

"Haha, never ask a scientist about religion, but for that, you already have Baani" expressed Anjali pointing her hand towards Bee who had just finished clearing off the clutter from the supposed bed for Vrushti and was just sitting on her bed folding the old bedspreads.  

"Oh yeah" chirped Baani "I am a proud religious Hindu" raising her head in a dramatic pride. 

"Proud and fringe fanatic?" added Anjali with a smirk.

"Nooo, not fanatic" revolted Bee, "Just proud of my culture and roots"

"Anyways, I should get going, time to get back to Baxi Sir's list of chores" cried Anjali nervously as she showed her tablet. "I'll leave you two to your newfound sorority," said she rushing out. 

As the frosted door slid shut, Baani took the place where Anjali was seated and left out a sigh signaling she was done clearing the room. 

Looking towards Vrushti, "Don't worry V, I am not a dharam-yoddha, I just love our culture, that doesn't mean I hate others or will impose my thoughts."

"It's quite obvious you're not too comfortable about religion" straightening up "so, are you okay with sleeping this side?" as she pointed towards the bed on the left side of the room which she had cleared and set up, "of course, I am more than happy to share everything with you, just that I am now habituated to my bed this side hence I placed bappa here too." as she turned towards the idol of Lord Ganesha and made the gesture of reverence by touching her fingers on the forehead and lips. 

"Of course, I will be more than comfortable this side." as she got up the chair and sat on the bed, and indeed she was glad since she could see the clock tower clearly from here. It would be nice to wake up every morning and seeing the tower. Incidentally, it was a better view of Lord Ganesha too from here. 

Most of the remaining day was spent chit-chatting, while Bee helped V with all the unpacking. During the conversations over lunch, it came to her knowledge that Baani was an orphan too and had been brought up by The Sangathan who was sponsoring her education and pretty much the reason why she was a vegetarian and Dharmic. Vrushti told Baani being veg herself too she could not come to acquire the idea of having the bug and printed meat diet anyways, even though it was hypo-hydrous and required barely any water. A quick call from Anjali early evening to check if she had settled in and few calls from Naleen to check her comfort level stopped just before she hit the bed and wished him goodnight. 

It's always nice to have people caring about you, she had it all, a friend, a philosopher and a guide too. A long day swiftly ended with sleep arriving instantly, she was going to meet Dr. Baxi the next morning. 

(To be Continued)