Lost in the City

Vivaan landed with a thud just as the radio announcer was warning about the impending heatwave the town was supposed to experience that day. He tried to tune it out wondering if the heatwave here would be as serious as the one going on in his timeline. It was all his parents ever talked about other than the time machine, of course. It was his mother’s biggest invention, just a tiny band on your wrist and it could take you around the world, anywhere, anytime. They discussed its inner working in such complicated words that even after looking them up he came up with even more complicated explanations. But he knew that it worked and how to start it and that it would get him back to the present moment before sundown. They were still working on the more minute details and fixing some bugs. Though they thought they were being discreet, he understood more than they realized. Hence, the first opportunity he got he tried it on and now he was here.  

But where was he? He tried to get an idea of his surroundings. He was in a room. Everything was pink, too pink. He looked around some more to find out exactly where he had landed. He had no idea how the time machine actually worked or where it would take him. He was taking a very big risk and if his mother found out, it would be disastrous to say the least. He tried not to think about the consequences just yet, he was already feeling nauseous. His father used to say that he was just like his mother in that sense as they were both go getters with a ‘devil may care attitude’. He did not understand fully as in who the ‘devil’ was here, him or his mother or his father or somebody else altogether. 

He tried to bring his thoughts back to the present moment. He looked around the room and there were some pictures on the shelf, in all of them was a girl his own age, playing with a dog or eating a cake, posing with balloons, who looked oddly familiar. With a jolt he realized, he was in his mother’s bedroom as they had the picture with the dog in their house right now, where his mother was making him pancakes. The very thought made his stomach grumble. He had visited his grandparents last summer and then this room had looked very different so he must have gone back in time as in none of the pictures did his mother look any older than himself. The thought made him so happy.   

He suddenly heard someone outside the door. As he ran and hid under the bed, the door flung open and in came the same girl who was in the picture, his mother, wearing a frilly dress, huffing, and puffing. Muttering to herself, "So what if daddy won’t take me to buy that pretty doll, I can get it myself. I'm almost 8 years old now." She sounded quite proud of the last part. Then she picked up her pink piggy bank and, careful not to make any noise, broke it and stuffed all the money in her tiny pink sling bag and sneaked out the door. Her mother seemed to be in the kitchen and her father was nowhere to be seen. He wanted to meet his grandmother; he still remembered her warm hugs. They had lost her a few years ago. The boy stood on the precipice, wondering which way to go and decided to follow her mother. Seeing an opportunity, he slipped out the door.  

Ahead of him, the girl was tiptoeing out of a seemingly empty drawing room. He followed her out of the main door and onto the pavement, where the girl, his mother, was walking confidently towards the main road. Then she took a turn and then a couple more turns, and she was standing outside a toy shop. She stopped in front of it and was looking at the display window in horror, where there was an empty space. It looked like she was wondering whether to go inside or not. She went as far as opening the door of the shop and then ran back. She had decided to go back home as she started going back from where she had just come. The boy again started following her. The girl went as far as the intersection and then stopped, looking baffled and scared and that is when she started crying in earnest.  

The boy, now panicked, ran up to comfort her. He said, 'Hey Naina, Are you okay? What happened?' The girl looked at him, alarmed and asked him, in between tears, 'Who are you and how do you know my name?" He did not know what to say but knew that he could not possibly tell the truth. So, instead, he said, “I am Vivaan. I am your new neighbor. We just moved here. I have seen you around, but we have not met yet.” She did not look so convinced but before she could ask any more questions about him, he asked her, "What are you doing here?" And that brought some fresh tears to her eyes. She said, "I came to buy a doll for myself, all on my own, but now the doll is gone. It is already sold." "How do you know that?" asked the boy. "There is an empty space on the shelf where the doll used to be. And now I don't even know the way back" said Naina sadly. But then her eyes shone, and she said, “But you're my neighbor, so you must know the way, right?" Vivaan panicked but recovered quickly and reminded her of being new in the city and offered her a day of adventure in the city as they were both lost anyway. Naina gave it some thought but then agreed hesitatingly and he realized his father was probably right about them being the same.  

Their first mission was to find the highest point in the city to get a bird's-eye view of the city. They climbed the steep staircase of an old clock tower, their laughter echoing as they reached the top. From there, they marveled at the breathtaking view of the city spread out before them. They were all sweaty and red faced but they couldn’t care less. Next, they ventured to the city's bustling market. With just a few rupees saved up from Naina’s piggybank, they scoured the stalls for the tastiest treats they could afford. They savored mouthfuls of sweet cotton candy and shared a bag of buttery popcorn, giggling all the while.  

It was exceptionally hot but still not as hot as it was during his time, maybe global warming was a real thing after all. When they sat down to have their lunch, a plate of 'aloo tikki chaat' from the local vendor, spending the last of coins from Naina’s pink sling bag, they talked about all the things they could think about. Vivaan told Naina all about his life, which he described as life in his previous city. He told her his city had all these big buildings and something called the internet, which he could not explain how it worked, but made everything go around from lights in his room to the mobile phones and the laptops his parents worked on and the trains on the subway. She was absolutely floored by the idea of cartoons all day on the television and over hundreds of channels for the same. She, in turn, told him about the games she played in her school and all the friends she had. She had only one cartoon channel on her television and that meant she went out to play in the park each evening. The list of games and their individual rules were just as hard for Vivaan to comprehend as the internet was for Naina. They had a landline phone in their home which was attached to the wall, and she definitely could not keep it in her pocket. She admired his band, and he promised to get her one the next time they met. 

Their adventure continued post lunch, as they explored hidden alleys filled with colorful street art, played hopscotch with chalk-drawn squares on the sidewalk, and even made new friends at the local park. They traded stories and secrets as they navigated the city's streets, their bond growing stronger with each passing hour. No amount of heat in the world could deter them from discovering the wonders around them. As the day progressed, they met a street magician who performed mind-boggling tricks, a friendly stray cat who became their temporary companion, and a wise old gardener who taught them about the beauty of nature. Each encounter enriched their adventure and deepened their friendship. As the sun began to dip below the horizon, Vivaan and Naina sat on a park bench, tired but content, watching the stars emerge in the darkening sky.  

Vivaan had arranged for a rickshaw puller to take Naina home and said she could pay him when she got home. He said he would follow her on another rickshaw, and they would meet at home. She protested vigorously but he knew he had to be fast as he had only a few moments left here. He held her hand and willed her to agree. Just then Naina turned to Vivaan, a warm smile on her face. "Vivaan, today was the best day ever. I wish we could stay here forever. I’m so glad I met you. Our adventure today was amazing, and it's just the beginning of many more to come." But it was time for him to go back as one day was all he had to travel in the time machine, and he was happy that he got to spend this day with his mom, in her childhood. That is when he knew instinctively that that is why his mother named him Vivaan after that special friend whom she met when she got lost in the city during a heatwave.