Malik invites the narrator to spend their monthly leave at Malik's unfinished home in Tirur, Kerala. They take a train and bus to get there. On the way, they witness a confrontation on the bus between the conductor and a passenger. They also see the place where Malik once saw a dead body. They arrive at Malik's home after passing through fields and walking down rural roads. Later, they take a scooter into town to recharge the television. On their way back, they witness a car accident but thankfully no one is seriously injured. The narrator reflects on road safety issues in India.

2. THE ESCAPE
travelogue
MANE OMSY
(edited version)
October 2017
GRAFFITI WORDS

3. Prologue
‘When are you going home man?’ I asked.
Malik was reading Chetan Bhagat’s Half Girl friend and seemed like I
disturbed him. He looked angry. A sudden face change, he smiled like a
clown and said: ‘I’m taking you to my home tomorrow noon, will you
come? We can rock the holiday there’
I was confused because I have just called my uncle that I’ll be going this
vacation to my grandma’s house. He is silly but rude at some times.
Perhaps, I can handle the situation even if he scolds me. I thought for a
while and nodded.
‘We can go through Cali’ I said.
‘What did you mean by that?’ he stared at me.
‘I mean Cali-cut. I don’t wanna cut the Cali any way’ I said and grabbed
his phone to call my dad.
‘Its balance is empty. Ha ha’ he laughed out loud and pointed his
annoying finger at me. I looked at him for a while with a furious face and
threw the phone at him.
‘Oh my God, you just threw my iPhone on me?’
‘That’s barely even a Motorola, you freak’ with the funny face he
continued to his book.
It was a beautiful day outside wise. Birds chirped, coconut trees freshen
up under the rain fallen constantly the last night. And mostly, the
sunshine in the plain blue sky was bountiful.
*****

4. First of All
‘Are you ready?’
‘Wait a minute’
‘Come on. There’s no time to waste’
‘You go down stairs. I’ll be there in five minutes’
‘Oh! Now its five minutes’ Malik said exhausted.
We’ve planned to enjoy this monthly leave in my buddy’s house.
Malik, his parents are abroad, in UAE, and he lives alone in his house at
Tirur. His house construction is still going on but we could manage
living there however. I grabbed my wallet and backpack, wore it back on
my shoulders and shrugged, then ran down the stairs of the three
floored hostel building to reach him. He was waiting so patiently
walking here and there in front of the main entrance like a beast waiting
for a man up a tree.
‘Sorry, I’m late’ I apologized.
‘It’s been ten minutes. You’re a careless creature’ he cursed me several
times in a funny way as we both walked to the National Highway road.
He was dressed up well in a white Kurta, blue jeans and red sneakers, his
specs large enough for his nose to bear. An Auto-rickshaw slowed down
beside us and we got on it and it took us to the bus station. The Auto-
rickshaws, why couldn’t the government change these kinds of vehicles
as taxis to car or something? Isn’t this a developing country? I think Mr.
Modi have not thought about it yet. We got on a bus to Calicut. This
wasn’t strange but the girls at the bus stations seemed like swarms of
butterflies. I took the window seat to watch them. Malik went out to buy
some snacks and soft drinks leaving his 64GB Apple iPod with me. I

5. took out my ear phone and drilled it in to my ears playing Chris Brown
Yeah 3x. Move your body out on the floor, put your troubles aside and start
leaving…. There were pink, blue, black and more than a dozen of school
uniforms waiting for their buses. As a habit, it is always like this, when I
travel somewhere, I hear music and a journey and without music, it will
be like a sandwich without sausages. I’d either take a nap or watch
outside for pretty girls and stuff. Malik came back with the food and the
bus began moving. He bought a Pepsi and a honey snack, unexpectedly a
news paper too. There were many people on the bus, but as Chris started
singing, I ignored them. I gazed out side and looked for a bunch of lil
mamas.
*****

6. Cali’ Bus Station
You never miss a good thing until it’s gone, I want it all, and I want it all
back…. I woke up from the sleep still the music was playing and Chris
wasn’t tired. I stopped the music player and saw so many buses and taxis
rushing here and there. It was the bus station and we waited for the bus
to stop breathing its diesel. Chris was not tired even after his Las Vegas
prison for 108 days. No matter how super stars get in to trouble and
they are very close to it. They are crazy at moments.
Our Pepsi was empty and Malik threw it on the way. ‘You’ve been
cheating people for months, I know much about you’, an adult voice
clashed my thoughts. I turned back to see what’s happening. A crowd
gathered outside the back door. Is there something going on in here?
‘Huh, don’t teach me my work. I know it well’, the bus conductor argued
back.
He wore Khaki uniform and simple specs. The shouter was a medium
young looking man with thick mustache and shaved chin. He looked like
a high school teacher. There were some people behind him as
supporters. They all agreed with the teacher because I think he was
really good at cheating students and passengers.
‘Give me the change or this bus will not move forward. You must keep
the changes with you, you are responsible for that.’ The man advised the
conductor but it doesn’t seem quite tasty for the Khaki.
‘I know how to maintain my career, I don’t need to keep changes for
fools like you’ the conductor with his rude voice interrupted back.
‘Watch your words, if you want to go home well’ another man behind
him threatened.

7. ‘Let him the cash or the change, there are many passengers in this bus,
please do not make a mess’ another man pleaded. The conductor, for a
while, took a deep breath giving the money back to the high school
teacher kinda guy.
‘Why this man is crying for a single 10 bucks note? He could have asked
me, poor beggar’ the plead person was astonished realizing it was just
ten bucks.
We got out from the bus and waved for an Auto-rickshaw to the Rail
way station. The dusts on the way scared me of cold. I was starving for
food, the Pepsi didn’t reach anywhere in my stomach. It just vanished as
soon as I drank it.
‘I’m hungry. Let’s eat something from here.’ I said and Malik look
straight through my eyes and my retina to my brain. Seemed like he
understood I was taking advantage of him.
‘We can have, but not expensive. Promise?’
‘Promise’
We went to a cool bar and ordered for two chocolate milk shakes. I
showed an I’ll-be-right-back gesture and went to a mobile shop to
recharge my cell phone and top-up internet. We had our drinks and
walked back to the station, booked our tickets and sat on a bench beside
a TV. A train suddenly showed up at a far distant as I could see the
mirage as if the engine is being liquefied under the hot sun.
‘Which train is ours?’ I asked.
‘This is Janashadapdi Express, we’re not on this one, any way let’s get
inside’

8. We got on in the chair car which already was vacant. Stink inside the
compartment felt like hell with buffalo shits. ‘What if the T. T. R. comes’
I asked.
‘We should pay fine until we get cotton threads from our pockets. Don’t
worry, hope he won’t come. I usually get on here. Its vacant and nobody
cares.’ He said and threw his bag to a corner seat. I slowly hurried to a
window seat and anchored, took my headsets and drilled them inside
again.
*****

9. Tirur
After half an hour, the train reached Tirur Station and we got out,
walked straight to the bus station. It was so close to the rail way. On the
way, there were many street dogs messing around the rails. The
cleanliness of Indian railway could be seen accurately from these kinds
of places. Malik showed me a place under a constructional building and
said: ‘This is where I saw a dead man firstly in my whole life.’
‘What happened to him?’ I asked.
‘Don’t know, but might be a suicide attempt or else the police won’t be
looking up wards. He was semi-naked’ He shrugged and adjusted his
backpack on his shoulders. I looked keenly at the place as if like an
investigator.
‘Why don’t you ask the cops? It could be an accident, he could’ve also
slipped or pushed by someone else’ I doubted.
‘I was in a hurry; I just stayed for a while and walked away’.
‘You must be scared and ran away’ I mocked him.
‘I bet you. I wasn’t scared. A little shocked, that’s all’
We dropped the suicide issue there and passed through a tiny tunnel to a
street of whole sale market, leading to the bus station. The tunnel was
completely gummed with hundreds of movie posters. Semi-naked girls
projecting their body parts could probably be the main reason for
women raping and kidnapping. Why don’t these feminists realize this
fact? They should’ve advised them girls firstly for their safety and
security.
‘Hey, you said Malappuram has the best roads and what we got here?’ I
asked him as we reached the bus station. The whole pits and holes in the

10. tarred road inside the station is the evidence of Kerala’s weakness in
progress. At the first sight, one may say they were swimming pools made
exclusively for street dogs and animals. The ‘rain-water-collectors’ are
rare in Malappuram though.
‘You didn’t see the actual Malappuram cities, this just accidentally
stopped working since the rain’. Even though I agreed it, he kept arguing
as we got on a bus. A dozen fairies were standing near the bus. I didn’t
see the steps but kept looking on to the beautiful eyes of a sweet
Cinderella. Suddenly, Malik pulled me in to the bus.
*****
The fresh air of the nature and the smell of moisture blew through my
head. It cheered me up. It rained a while ago and now it’s cold outside.
The greenery made me proud of the Malabar’s care for natural
vegetation. I really loved to stay out, lay on the grass for hours inhaling
and smelling it deeply through my lungs to the nerves. It had actually
caught my mind and it froze me a bit. Rain drops started dripping on my
face, flowing down to my lips, then dripped down on my pants. I slowly
shut the windows.
The sun started giving up when I opened it. I heard the calls from
several mosques we passed. As the bus moved faster the breeze became
colder. I made some new lines for a poem and quoted it in my cell
phone. Soon, we reached our destination and it fell dark outside. There
was only a single grocery which lit the lamp and we could see the street
lights are rare in this little village. Kanmana, the name felt similar to
banana. Calmly, we walked towards his house. It is a little far away from
our point, almost 2 kilo meters. There was a small field to pass through
and a place historically under the hands of a Jenmi (a land lord in ancient

11. Kerala), now captured by the people. The poor people actually strike
against the Jenmi and then, fortunately, he had to give up.
The field was so beautiful. The vast green farm field represented
the true greenery of Kerala. The breeze took my soul with it. I captured
some pictures and selfies of me and Malik in front of it. There were
many cows roaming around the fields and cranes flying away since it
was evening. The nightingales and the sparrows began chirping as the
sky turned orange. It seemed they were praying to God, and when will
man study from nature?
The orange-turned-black sky frightened me when he told there
used to be snakes on the way and instead of walking gently, we went on
smoothly. ‘Anes... What? Are you afraid of snakes? I just fooled you nah?’
he said and laughed when I used an F-word and moved on to him for a
punch. We were up to reach his house, a two floored paint-less house
under construction. He grabbed my back pack and said as we reached
the front gate: ‘Go upstairs and get changed. We’ve to go to the market
and recharge the TV connection.’ Then, giving me the 1st
floor keys, he
went to the kitchen and made some tea. My bladder was jammed and I
hurried to the toilet and took a pee. I saw no big deal with his toilet or
room, but amazed seeing the worms and fungus playing inside a bucket
half filled with water. I went closer, leaned the bucket and splashed out
the complete worms in to the dungeon. He kept all our belongings aside
a computer desk and cleaned the room. The blanket became a fire
extinguisher as he threw it down. The dust flew in the air freely and
filled the room like a micro oven being damaged. I covered my nose
against diseases. A television was on the top of another desk with a
chorus of speakers and a DVD player.
‘Hey bro, is the HBO channel working?’ I asked with great enthusiasm.

12. ‘Wait until we recharge it’ he calmed me down.
‘I got an Activa scooter from the neighborhood; we can go to the market
now. Have a bath quickly.’ He continued as I returned to the bathroom. I
could hear my deodorant sprayed all over the blanket.
‘Don’t empty that. Stop it’ I shouted from the bathroom.
*****
It was 9 pm. I could hear crickets creek their tails each other and the
frogs croak in the dark. I wore a Shorts and a T-shirt with Bob Marley
on my stomach. Malik was in his same old jeans and a new jersey. I took
my wallet and jumped behind him on the bike. It started smoothly and
then there goes as a wild hyena. We forgot to take an Umbrella and the
way was still wet, the clouds were thick so as it will rain sooner. I hope it
would not rain midst our way. The headlight shed over the road made
with pebbles and machine stones. My sneakers were white and I afraid it
could be black while returning. The Activa drove us crazy with gutters
and sudden brakes. It hurt my buttocks.
We reached the town as it started raining and quickly we got in to
a restaurant. The Airtel office was near it and we went in. We saw no
officers but then a lady in a yellow salwar kameez came and smiled at us.
We recharged our Airtel dish and went to the restaurant, bought
porottas, beef curry and a dozen Maggie noodles. The ugly atmosphere
and the stink around the streets made me feel vomit. The street dogs
wandered all over the city like they owned it.
We were driving back through the NH road racing a Swift to over
take it. All of a sudden, the swift hit a Wagon R not much forcefully but
in a speed of 40km/h. Malik suddenly braked down and parked aside.
We hoped no one could get hurt, it was in the middle of the night and we

13. could see no helpers or vehicles passing us. Rain returned as well,
worsening the situation and we popped out of the bike hurrying to the
cars. There were two children and a lady at the back seat of the Swift and
two adults at the front. And the Wagon R consisted of a single old man.
None of them were hurt, though it hit hardly so anyone a mile away
could hear it. I’ve been an eye-witness for the second road accident in
my whole life. Firstly, it was at the Sheikh Zayed road in Dubai. I saw a
man hit roughly by a Nissan Patrol and it took him over it into the back,
his head hit the rubberized road but it didn’t feel to him as soft. He was
yelling for water and no one could help him because an accident in UAE
cannot be controlled by the people. The police came suddenly after he
lay down there unconscious. And after it, a mobile ICU came crying out
the siren. Actually he was a pedestrian trying to cross the 4 lane road.
His head was completely washed with blood, the road partially blood-
pooled. The driver was still in a great shock and he jumped out of his
vehicle. When he saw the man lying down bones cracked, he hanged his
head in worry and covered his face with his hands. He was starting to
cry. His heart beat would be faster than the vehicles around. The next
day, I saw the news paper that the person was dead. After then, a walking
bridge was made for the pedestrians there. It is the nature of the
governments that development will be done after an incident. I imagined
Kerala with rarely constructed pedestrian walk way! At least they could
build good roads.
Both drivers got out slowly from their cars and shouted at each
other. We were looking for injured people inside, no one. Malik went
close to them and spoke friendly. The problem resolved after a ten
minutes debate. The old man did no mistakes; the other driver was in a
conversation and suddenly forgot he was driving. He gave him a
compensation and they both left. The sides of the bumper were damaged

14. on both vehicles. I looked at Malik as a lawyer standing in front of me
wet in the rain.
‘What the hell did you do?’ I was amazed.
‘This is Me. Sometimes….’ He praised himself.
‘Don’t feel that proud for yourself, let’s return. This is a bad night for us.
You are completely wet and I could see that figure on your pants’ I
intruded him. I realized his body was shivering with cold. We returned
as fast as we could. I blamed him for wasting time for them.
*****
‘How was yesterday night?’ he said sipping a noodle from the bowl. We
were watching Asianet Plus movies; I hated most Malayalam movies
anyway.
‘Terrible’ I snatched away the remote controller from him and tuned the
channel to Star Movies. Brad Pitt was kissing Angelina Jolie. Yuk! I tuned
again to HBO. The Zoo Keeper movie calmed us down with its
comedies. I didn’t like to stay long staring at the television without any
enjoyment. I turned to Malik; he was licking the bowl; I gave mine.
‘What?’ he asked; mouthful of Maggie.
‘Come on, clean this one too’
‘clean it yourself’ He continued to lick it clean.
‘It’s so boring, I want a change to this holiday’ I said and stood up
walking downstairs to make coffee.
‘Want some?’ I asked as I came back with a large jar and two cups.
He nodded.

15. ‘Hey, there’s a match tomorrow morning at 9. Let’s go there’ he said.
‘What match?’
‘Cricket’
‘Nah! I don’t like cricket’
‘Any way come with me, we can have some fun. OK? Tomorrow 9am’
It was midnight and we felt so tired, Malik yawned for a while and
jumped to the bed; slept. I looked at the clock, 12am sharp. The movie
wasn’t over yet, I watched and fell asleep.
*****

16. Caught!
We drove through the drive way to the stadium. The way was so clear
and clean. Sugar cane drinks were sold under a huge tree. There were
three people waiting for their drink and a dog sniffing around to fill its
belly. The road was little jammed because officers and shop keepers were
in a hurry to their works. We didn’t have helmets nor did Malik had his
license. Always in alert of the cops and he didn’t have the courage to
speed up in front of them. We drove by a roundabout near a fountain
and, unfortunately, met with a bunch of cops; beside them, a control
room. One of them signaled us to stop, we braked down. Malik’s hands
were shivering, well concerned about the license and helmets. I was
unable to count my heart beats.
I pushed Malik’s elbows saying ‘Go, Go. Don’t stop’.
‘They will chase us, calm down. It could be more dangerous.’ He
consoled me.
I knew he was totally afraid. A cop arrived and looked at us in a
suspicious way. He took some cards from his pocket; actually they were
some photos of some bullshits. He asked showing us a photo.
‘Do you know this person?’ It showed a dark brown complexion, average
25, grown up man with round face and curvy hair, with a French beard.
Seemed like a burglar.
‘Do you know or not?’ he raised his voice, now to me.
‘No, No we don’t.’ I stammered.
‘Come with me. You guys have something in it’. This was really my fault.
I don’t have to stammer or look on that dark devil. Now we have been
suspects of an unknown crime.

17. ‘We are sorry, Sir. We came here to see a match.’ Malik said as if he had
done something strange. I felt the stadium better than the police station.
His words were of no values. A constable took care of our Activa and we
got in back of the control room. Many ladies and fairies were watching
these two unknown suspicious persons being taken in custody by some
genius cops.
‘The fuck you planned all these shits are ruined and I lost my peaceful
movie watching and there no body’s gonna hurt us like this bullshit.’ I
murmured angrily; grunted, actually.
‘Calm down. Nothing’s gonna happen to us. It’s just a suspicion. We
didn’t do anything wrong.’ He consoled me.
We were just about to reach the station; I heard them talk. ‘It’s so strange
and shameful to send children to such kind of business.’ The cop next to
the driver said.
‘What will we do with these fellows?’ the driver asked.
‘Let the S. I. talk to them’. A ‘talk’, used by cops usually meant the
physical talk. They rarely investigate politely. But why are the students
sent to what business? The Bolero stopped near the entrance of the
Tirur police station and we got outside. There was a beautiful garden
with lilies and roses. Daffodils at a corner with several shapes and sizes
seemed like a botanical garden. Such beautiful garden should be
everywhere in the cities and towns. The sky was clear and the sun shone
bright. Two armed cops stood at the door face to face and didn’t smile. A
lady constable walked out of the station. Everyone seemed so busy in
their works.
S. I. Mani, a board beside a room said. The cops sent us in.

18. ‘We doubt these fellows are a part of the college drug business’ A cop
said.
What the fuck am I hearing? I was totally relieved, at the same time,
confused what to say.
Mani stood up from his cushioned chair and sat on his desk keeping his
both palms on his right knee. He was bald and looked sort of angry type
with shaved chin. He almost came near me and I saw his golden ring in
his hand as he held it to scratch his chin. ‘Hmm’ he buzzed and went
back to his chair. He took some files and stood up to leave.
‘What’s happening, Sir?’ Malik embarrassed.
‘Wait here till I come back’ He patted my shoulders and went outside the
cabin. The garden from the S. I.’s was very clear from here. There were a
pile of files on the table. And Gandhi was smiling at us on the wall
instantly. He could be mocking us seeing our terrible situation. I prayed
to God for a while. We talked each other for a while and decided
something.
*****

19. The Escape
Five or six cops were having tea when we stepped out of S. I. Mani’s
cabin. A young looking lady and an officer were chatting outside the
station; I could see them quarrel on something. They hardly talked loud;
it maybe couple fights. I adjusted my collar and we both walked swiftly
outside the building; heart beating faster. The officer who took our
vehicle was standing beside a cabinet. His lips were dark; a professional
chain smoker. I thought of asking him the keys, but Malik forced me out.
The cursing couples glared at us. I smiled at the officer.
‘What did the inspector told you’ he asked with a rough voice.
‘Nothing, he just went outside leaving us. And we…. Thought about a
walk through this beautiful garden’ I said much consciously.
‘Ha… this garden is made by guys like you’ he said and laughed. ‘Hmm…
you can go’
‘Thank you, Sir’ Malik said.
‘Why the fuck did you thank him, that idiot. He doesn’t support us. He
doesn’t deserve it.’ I said as we walked pass the daffodils. The police
station is about 50 square yards, and the garden will probably be around
its quarter. As we walked back, we noticed our bike parked and the key
was on it. The officer must have forgotten to take it. We suddenly rushed
to it. I looked the surroundings, the couples were gone, and no sign of
police men watching us; the control room was not there.
‘Let’s go, hurry up’ Malik said and started the engine.
‘Why? What if they track us?’ I asked embarrassed.
‘They didn’t even ask our address yet’ He said turning the Activa around
and I jumped back of it and he put his full force on the accelerator

20. through the gate. No one could have known our escape. But, soon as we
got out, an officer asked us the license.
‘I’m sorry, Sir. We are just coming from the station. Mani sir caught us
and gave final warning just now’ Malik said. He gave a sudden symbol
for us to leave.
No matter how frightened I was, but it was the greatest elope I have ever
done in my life. I had eloped once before. That was when I was a little
naughty and childish. It was an evening when my little sister started
annoying me so badly. So, I threw a pipe at her feet. We were outside the
front yard. She started to cry loudly. It was about to be sunset. Our
mother came out of the kitchen yelling at me. ‘Satan’ that’s the more
often word she used at me and everyone. I felt so left alone. I rose angry
and cursed at my sister and left the house. Then I went straight to the
bus stand and asked a neighbor who was in a tea shop for a twenty
rupees. I got on a bus to Thamarassery towards my uncle’s home. My
father was abroad. So, I didn’t have to buy his discounted beatings. Later
that night, I heard from my aunt that my mother was crying after I left.
She couldn’t find me. She told her I was there. I felt so sorry. That was
another run off in my life. Two days later they came to take me home.
******
The atmosphere was cold, but hardly noon. We thought of a drink, and
quickly bought some food and drinks to home. We didn’t talk too much
in that ride.
‘Where were you both?’ Harris asked Malik as we reached home. Harris
is his uncle, mom’s younger brother. He is well-known in Tirur.
Everybody, including cops and thieves know him. He was a both white
complexion and rural type of guy. He has a big brother too, Yasir. He is
kind of a stout but a genius man.

21. ‘We just went out for a ride and were caught by the police.’ Malik said
honestly.
‘What the…?’ he searched for a better bad word and said politely ‘hell
happened to you guys?’ He kept walking us to the upstairs as we
explained what happened.
‘Okay, so here are two criminals!’ He smirked and lay on the bed.
‘What the? You gotta save us from this bullshit’ Malik nagged, but
friendly.
‘I’ll handle this; you guys don’t get out of here until you go back to your
hostel. Understood… huh??’ He ordered us like a captain.
‘Deal’, we agreed.
It felt like a nightmare, and we were inside for a couple of days until it
was the time to set out back. I received a face book message:
Hi, are you there? fine? Know me?
I found myself shocked; can’t recognize the profile.
‘Do you get this number?’ I asked Malik as Harris stepped out of the
room.
+91 9946 43 83 20
I’ve searched the sender’s mobile number, never seemed known to us.
‘No! Who is it?’ Malik confused.
‘I don’t know’ I replied. ‘Could it be someone who watched us getting of
the station? Oh, shit…..’ ‘Bullshit’ I paused as I realized it was a girl. He
looked at it ‘Angela, born 1997’.

22. I decided to text her back, but Malik said: ‘Please no. It could be a fake
ID. Let’s leave it there. We… are… now… worried about this fucking
police shit and don’t need any women chattering. Ok?’ He was truly
shocked by this incident itself. I didn’t reply her. I don’t know where she
is now, though I didn’t miss her.
*****
Back
Two days have passed and there were no signs of cops searching for us. I
predicted that the cops might have forgotten about us. In a case of
reveling, we have to, now, get back to our hostel.
We were ready to set out. Harris was waiting us outside with his Renault
Duster. He bought it two years ago. It was red in color and had an extra
bumper in front of it. Malik locked the front door of the house and came
through the kitchen locking its grills too. The surrounding was very wet
due to rain. Water clotted at places helping mosquitoes to grow; a good
natural conservation though.
It was raining slowly and made its stage to a harder level. I watched the
surroundings and as we were in the back seat, we ducked whenever we
saw a cop until we made it to the Railway Station. The rain helped us to
fade away from them as it covered the glasses. We shook our hands and I
thanked Harris for the help he did to us. We returned back to our hostel
and after that day, we heard that the actual suspects of the drug case
were caught and put to trial. I imagined; if we were still there until the
real convicts fly away, we would’ve been infamous. This is the fault of
our society. Catch the convict or convict the witness.
******
THE END