Aadi's Circumstance - 3
[Next station is... Hera Station. Doors will open to your right. Please mind the gap.]
[Next stati-]
As the station was nearing, Aadi weaved through the crowd and made his way towards the door. He almost tripped and fell face-first, but managed to balance himself by catching the handrail on the side of the seats. He felt a little uncomfortable with the number of people getting ready to get out with him, not because he was a shy kid, but because most of them were wearing very outlandish and expensive clothes.
'Should I have dressed up a bit? I can feel the stares on my plain kurta. But then again, who has the time to go back home and change?'
Aadi got off the metro once the doors opened and looked around the station. There was a crowd rushing out of the metro, and another crowd doing the opposite. He was pushed around here and there until he managed to regain his balance in a small corner of the station.
'Weard, there should not be this big of a crowd at this time...'
Hira Station, in particular, usually stays moderately crowded with mostly corporate sla-, I mean employees coming to go to their office shifts. From the metro station, within a 10-minute drive, one would enter Holsa Street, where most of the expensive bars and restaurants are located. On the opposite side of the metro, most tech parks and office spaces were located. Although most of the corporate parks and office spaces may not be as populated as other tech park districts, Hera Metro Station received a decent amount of ridership from office workers as well as restaurant customers.
But for some reason, the metro as well as the station was more crowded than usual. It seemed like a crowd usually seen during the Holi or Diwali seasons, when everyone wants to set work aside and just enjoy themselves.
He immediately took out his phone and started texting in his group chat.
[Me: Anyone in the metro station?]
[sastaSalman: You have already reached?]
[chotaTinda: I have reached, but I don't think meeting at the station will be possible.]
[chotaTinda: Come out from exit C and let's regroup in the CCD nearby. We can go from there.]
[Me: Sounds like a plan]
[sastaSalman: cool]
Putting away his phone in his jeans pocket, Aadi looked at the singular mass of humans shifting and morphing as many people tried to make their way out of the station. He sighed and started weaving through the crowd again to reach the exit.
'Where is exit C? I can't even see because this walking tower is standing right in front of him.'
Even though he could not see the directions, he noticed a few posters and banners put up on the side of the walls and the upper beam right above the escalators. Aadi looked at the posters for a little while, the line stopped in front of him, and he had a look of understanding.
A new Indie singer was performing a the nearby mall alongside other smaller artists. That explained the extravagant dressing sense of people getting off alongside him.
'Esha would have loved to come here if her parents were not so strict about her curfew... Maybe even Ishika.'
After experiencing various ways of being squeezed, pushed, and shoved around, Aadi was finally out of the station. He looked around, but he couldn't find the CCD he was looking for. He went towards the left and then right, but didn't find any cafe that remotely resembled a CCD. After some searching, he tried asking around, but most people seemed focused on going to the concert venue. Finally, he found someone who was distributing posters and asked him for directions. The poster guy seemed to belong to a very posh business based on his attire.
"Hi, I am looking for the Cafe Coff-"
"Hi, would you like to come to our newly opened club? We have an opening offer for the first 100 customers. You can have 2 drinks of your choice with unlimited refills and also higher priority on songs. If your bill comes over 6000rs, then you get to access our VIP services that include a private ro-"
"Where can I find the nearest CCD?"
"Oh, then you need to go back inside the station and make your way to exit C."
"This is not exit C?"
"It's exit A."
*Haaaaah*
"If you want to avoid the crowd, then you can take the small street over there. Turn right, then 2nd left, pass a few cardboard boxes, and then take a right. You will see a few scrap shops pass by, and then you will exit on the opposite road to exit C. There is a foot bridge a few steps away where you can cross the road and reach your destination."
"..."
"If you have time, would you like to visit our bar and kitchen? We do serve unlimited coffee to new customers at this time of the day as well."
The poster boy shoved a poster to his face while having a very business-like smile plastered on his face. Anyone could see that he was just doing the grunt work for the business. Aadi accepted the poster, folded it into a small card, and kept it in the front pocket of his kurta.
"Thank you for the directions."
Aadi left the poster boy and started going towards the narrow street.
"I hope to see you in our establishment soon!"
Aadi turned around and waved at the energetic shout. Looking at the energetic wave of the poster boy, he turned back and entered the street.
-----
Aadi had been walking for a solid 10 mins, but he couldn't find the exit. He sometimes turned right to find a string of clothes hanging on either side of the wall, or sometimes turned left to see a line of small shops selling second-hand clothes and jewelry. Aadi checked his watch to see that it was going to be 7:30 pm soon. His friends had planned to have dinner together and then move to a nearby club to enjoy the night. But, by the looks of things, he might be late to meet with his friends.
'Where is Google Maps when I need it? Common internet gods, please help!'
Aadi stretched his arms forward, sometimes taking a few more turns just to get one to two bars of signal for a few seconds, and then losing it. In the process, he also learned about the hidden shops here selling really good quality apparel for both men and women. He was honestly surprised that he did not know about a place like this.
'May if I had asked Ishika about such a place, she would know...? But then again, I only see her wearing branded clothes.'
*Ring Rinnnng Ring Riiinnng*
His phone starts ringing all of a sudden.
"Hello, yes bhai! I am just ab-"
[It's been more than 15 mins. Where are you, man?]
"I just got lost in this small galli, trying to get to exit C."
[Where did a galli come from? Is there some kind of secret tunnel running inside the metro station?]
"Aree no. I came out of exit A by mistake. I got the directions for a shortcut from a pos-"
At that moment, Aadi saw a pile of cardboard boxes and remembered the last set of instructions that the poster boy had given him.
[Hello? HELLO?]
"Ah, yes, I will be right there in 5 mins."
Cutting the call, Aadi took a right turn, and sure enough, he saw a few scrap shops to the side and an exit to the main road.
Aadi quickly ran over to the exit and saw his friends waiting on the opposite side of the main road. A small, rounded guy, who was looking around with his phone to his ears, soon spotted Aadi and waved his hands as if signaling to come over.
Aadi looked side to side and spotted the foot bridge a few steps away. He soon made his way towards the other side and met his friends in front of the coffee shop.
"Hey guys! Sorry for being late. There was too much traffic in the metro station."
"Yeah, so much traffic that you had to take a different route, na?"
"Yeah, haha..."
Aadi awkwardly stretched his head and started diverting their attention.
"Oh, I also got to know about this new bar and kitchen that opened up nearby. Shall we go and check it out? Apparently, they have everything there, and you can get more offers if we become one of their first 100 customers."
"Where is this place?"
"Let me check..."
Aadi took out the poster stuffed in his pocket and checked the location. He entered it into his google map to see how far it is from them.
"It says it's 20 mins far..."
"What about the bar restaurant we have already booked?"
"Does it serve unlimited drinks?"
"I thought you didn't drink much."
"They did say something about giving unlimited coffee too... So I guess any kind of beverage will have unlimited refills."
"Hmmm...."
"We can go to the one you selected another time, but this offer is only for their new customers."
Someone from the side also chimed in, saying:
"Yeah, we can't miss out on free drinks."
"Are you of legal age, Navneet?"
"Aree no worries, Tada!!! I have fake IDs for just this reason."
"One day you are going to get all of us in trouble."
"Chill yarr. We are here to party. Let's leave all the future problems for our future selves!!!"
Aadi gave an eye roll to his friend, but internally, he did want to try getting drunk once.
'How bad can it be?'
After getting everyone on the same page, everyone headed to the new location after getting in their cabs.