The Journey of Change :)

This is an excerpt [the first chapter] of the story that we are writing together. The story is about five girls who go around India in search of fun and adventure, but return to discover something new in themselves after the tour. This is a combined effort and we hope it will be finished anytime before 2011. We have decided to call the book 'The Journey of Change'. :)

Not one passenger could pass by without throwing a look at that compartment which was filled with excitement, joy and laughter, in the midst of the drab looking compartments of the train. They passed with a smile, as they faintly recollected their own memories of teenage as they saw these five very lively girls. Through every station they passed, it was fun and frolic all the way. It was hard for any one of them to contemplate at that time how they had felt just a fortnight ago…

Bustling through school corridors, drowned in a load of books and catching each others’ eyes for just a nervous smile and a tense gesture, inquiring as to whether the other person has studied well or not. It had been like this for 6 whole months, ever since the revisions for the board exams started. And all of this finally culminated with the end of the 3 hours language paper, the last exam they would ever write that academic year. You can imagine the amount of pent-up emotions in their hearts as they stepped out, into the sun, freed at last, from the chain of exams that had bound them to the grindstone for almost half a year.

No wonder Tina, Geeta, Anju, Mahi and Vaishu wanted to celebrate. They wanted a break, a break from work, from exams, from everything and wanted to enter the world of fun and adventure. It was with this mindset that they decided to go on a tour together, to places near and far away, where one could definitely look for some change from the dull, monotonous life of their town.

Now it happened that Mahi’s father owned a travel agency. The girls chose the locations – Kodaikanal, Alleppey, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Delhi, Agra and Kulu Manali. These were the places they selected, but little did they know that these places had much more in store for them, than what they expected. These places had their own stories to tell, histories to reveal and their own lessons to teach.
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