E: Escapades of the Jackdaws

I was toying with the idea of using E to write an excuse of a post. It has been a long and tiring day and the motivation to go on is low. And then I figured it is a good time to get started again on the runaway series.

Over the next few days, the girls got back most of their freedom. Maybe it was the inclusion of Andy into the picture, but Aunty V seemed to be more forgiving and friendly even. She let them have some fun on their own, continuing to happily cook their meals for them. The girls spent the next few days just whiling away their time in Aunty V's house. Vee and Mee were allowed to go out and meet some of their old friends. All the time, they were wondering what would happen of them in  the next few days to come. But that did not stop them from having the time of their lives. Eventually they ran out of almost all their money and were wondering what to do next. After much deliberation, it was decided that Soo and Shee had to go back home now. But they didn't have money to buy their fare and they didn't think asking Aunty V or the winker was an option. Their parents would be worried silly if they did not go home in time and add more complications to the already complex situation.

Shee had an uncle and aunt who lived in Bangalore. Lets call them Kaka and Kaki. They had two children who lived with them. Shee made a call to her dad telling him that she was in need of some money and her dad immediately asked her to go and see Kaka. And so the girls decided to go pay them a visit.

Now Kaka was this huge man who always thought for a while before he said anything and probably thought a lot more before he did anything and especially when that something was for someone else. Kaki was way shrewder and wasn't too fond of Shee. Kaka and Kaki however, doted on Mee. In their eyes, Mee was a star pupil who would rub off her habits and maybe her distinction on their children. The girls met Kaka at his office and he drove them to his home to a hot meal cooked by Kaki. After lunch, came the uncomfortable questions about what they were all doing in Bangalore and the like. The girls thought it was best to fib their way out of this one and they did just that. At the end of the day, they walked out of there with slightly heavier pockets that would take Shee and Soo back home.
The girls stayed up all night making promises to stay in touch and help each other in whatever way they could.

The following night, with heavy hearts Shee and Soo took the train back home. Vee and Mee went to see them off at the railway station. After saying tearful goodbyes, Vee and Mee walked back to the auto stand wondering what they ought to do next. The relatives would be here soon and they had a lot of explaining to do.

Hello, Andy!

I had told myself that I would finish the runaway series during this blogathon but I just haven’t been able to get to it. But, now’s a good time as any to start, no?

If you haven’t read the earlier posts, you can see them here.

The next morning, the girls woke up only by 11am. Aunty V had decided that they’d had too much excitement and had been kind enough to let them sleep late.  When they woke up, they saw that there was a visitor in the house. The girls quickly freshened up and went outside to meet the visitor, fearing for the worst.  Vee shrieked in delight as she saw the tall young man who was sitting on the couch and ran up to him and gave him a bearhug as he stood up and smiled. Seeing this, the others relaxed and assumed that this was not somebody to worry about. Vee introduced the visitor, Andy to her friends. He was one of her elder brother’s friends whom she had known for the longest time. He considered Vee as his kid sister and loved her like one.

After tucking into a hearty breakfast, the girls filled Andy in on all the details of the last couple of days.

“Wow!, you girls are having some fun, aren’t you?! You should write a book with all these stories”, he said.

Although he chided the girls for running away from home, he quietly acknowledged to Vee that he could see where all this was coming from. He knew Vee was a wild child right from childhood and was only mildly surprised that she had managed to find friends who were like her and were loyal enough to follow her on a mission like this. Aunty V asked Andy about what they should do next.

The girls cheered when Andy said, “I think the girls have been through a lot in the last couple of days. How about I take them out for a fun day? We can worry about what to do next later.”

Aunty V refused to let the girls out of the house. She told Andy that she didn’t trust them enough to let them go. But Andy assured her that he would take care of them and would take the responsibility. He promised to bring them back safely. The girls were super excited at the prospect of having a fun day with Andy and gently coaxed Aunty V to let them go. They promised her that there would be no more runaway episodes. After a lot of coaxing, aunty V finally relented and even returned some of their money (which she had confiscated, when they arrived) to have some fun. Vee gave her aunt a hug and then they set off with Andy.

Andy was a tall, dark and handsome young man who was funny and charming. He was one of those people who had dimples when they smiled. Although all the girls were fond of him, Shee had the biggest crush on him. Although she will deny it to this day, she was mesmerised by him. The girls had a lot of fun on that day. Andy took the girls out to watch a nice movie and they all went and had paranthas at a nice place. They enjoyed themselves and laughed so much that they forgot why they had actually come to Bangalore and the bigger problem that they were in. Later, when Andy dropped them off, a teary eyed Vee gave Andy a hug and he told her not to worry and that things would be ok. Today had been a good day. For now, all was good.

Is that enough excitement for you?

This is seventh in the series of the"Escapades of the Jackdaws". If you've missed the earlier story, you can read it here.

"Did you think we'd end up like this on our runaway night?", asked Vee.

"I'm not sure I was expecting anything. I don't think I thought so far ahead. " quipped a sleepy Mee.

"What are you thinking, Shee?"

No answer.

"Soo?"

No answer again.

"Soo, Are you asleep?", Vee nudged her.

"Vee...Hmmmmm.. let me sleep, pleaaaase!" squealed a tired Soo.

Vee and Mee giggled. They always teased Soo and Shee. But tired as they were, they soon drifted off to sleep.

After a while, Soo felt a hand on her neck. "Vee..please leave me alone. I really wanna sleep", she said. The hand was still on her neck. She held on to the hand tightly as it moved towards her chain. Then she opened her eyes and looked at Vee. She then realised that Vee was fast asleep and her hands were by her side. It was then that it struck Soo that the hand did not belong to Vee. A terrified Soo shrieked as loud as her lungs would allow her. The hand, by then retracted to where it had come from. From the window!

The girls had been careless enough to leave the window open. Some intruder had noticed this and had looked to see if he could see anything on the window sill. Not finding anything, he had noticed the gold chain on Soo's neck and that it was within reach. He had then reached inside to tug at the chain when Soo woke up.

Soo screamed and ran to Aunty and Uncle V's room. With a shaky voice and six words, she explained the situation to them. "Aunty, thief, window, hand, my neck". Uncle V was too stunned to move. Aunty V immediately picked up a cricket bat that was lying there and opened the door. She turned on the lights around the house and walked out. "Who's there?", she asked. By then the other girls woke up and ran out too. They all walked out and looked around the house but couldn't see anybody around. When it was clear that the intruder had run off and that no one was around, Uncle V walked out and yelled "Who's there? Come out, you coward! If I get my hands on you, I will beat you black and blue". The girls rolled their eyes at him.

Finding no one there, they all walked inside the house and assembled in the living room. Aunty V pacified a shaken Soo and gave her a glass of water. She reprimanded the girls that they had left the windows open. They discussed what had happened. Soo told them that she had thought it was Vee. Uncle V made fun of Soo and said that she had run to their room in three long steps, one out the girls' room, one in the corridor and one into their room. "Good that you have long legs!",  he teased. After all the excitement had died down, the girls returned to their room. They immediately closed the windows and made sure that they would remain closed for the rest of their stay there.

Too tired from the tiring day but still high-strung from all the adrenaline, they decided they had had enough excitement to last them for a long time. They lay down on the bed for a long time without talking and eventually fell asleep waiting for dawn to wake them up and praying for no more excitement for that night!

On the run again?!

I realised that I haven’t still finished the “escapade” series. Recently I was reading this blog where the blogger started a very interesting story and had me hooked for sometime. But she didn’t finish the story and I got mad at her. And then I realised that was exactly what I had done too. So, I decided to come straight back to my blog to finish the story or at least continue it. My apologies to anyone who was waiting for the next in the series.

So here goes. This is the sixth in the series of "The Escapades of the Jackdaws".  In case, you haven't read the story so far, click here.

After Aunty V made them breakfast, she sat them all down and started talking to them. She asked them why they had all run away from home. She patiently heard their entire story and their reasoning. Although she was sympathetic, she didn’t once say what they had done was right. In fact after speaking to her, the Jackdaws almost felt sorry for what they had done. Well, almost! Once they finished, they went right back into rebellion mode. A decent lunch and a nap later, they were all bored. Suddenly, it seemed to them that all their initial excitement had fizzled out. All they had to do now was to sit and wait for Vee's parents to show up.

In the evening, Vee mentioned to aunty V that they would like to go out for a walk. Aunty V would hear none of it. She said that she wasn't stupid enough to let the girls run wild in the city. After much coaxing and cajoling, she finally agreed but only if Uncle V would accompany them. Being a softie, Uncle V agreed to go along. They finally got dressed and went out for a walk. Uncle V was very proud of the locality that he lived in. He walked along with them pointing to them and showing them houses of celebrities and even an ex-prime minister of the country. He was so vain he even told them, "Do you know the ex-prime minister and I share the same dhobi?!" The girls were quite amused by the man and kept egging him on for entertainment. Completely oblivious to the fact that he was being made fun of, Uncle V enthusiastically went on and on. Finally, he ran into a pretty neighbour and stopped to say hello. The girls quietly gave him the slip and walked on. 

Once he was out of sight, Vee suggested that they run away again. Mee said that they shouldn't do something rash and stupid. She reasoned that one, they didn't have much money left and two, they had no where to go. So she suggested that they should stay on with Aunty and Uncle V for a while longer until they could figure something out. They argued for a while but finally Mee's reasoning won and they decided to head back home but not before they had devoured a few plates of pani puri and other street food with some of the money hidden in Mee's pocket.

When the girls reached Uncle V's home, they found Aunty V giving he winker an earful for letting them out of his sight. She was mad at the girls for having run off too. She promised them she wouldn't let them go out anywhere again! The girls feigned their apologies and went to their room. Aunty V had assigned them a room with a huge king size bed and they would all have to live there together for the next few days. There was a huge window on one of the sides of the bed that overlooked the street. It was a good place to watch all the happenings on the lane. Later, they cozied up on the bed. Mee slept on one end with Shee and Vee in the middle and Soo next to the window. They talked for a few minutes after turning out the lights but exhaustion hit them after an eventful day and they were all fast asleep in no time. Little did they know that neither their day nor their excitement had ended yet.

T is for Trapped!

Ok, I know I'm giving away a lot with the title, but you'll know what happened once you read this anyway. This is part 5 of the escapade series. You can find the rest of the series here.


The girls woke up and realised that they were on the train and would reach Bangalore soon. They freshened up and got ready to get down . They considered alighting at the Cantonment station, (which is a stop before the main Bangalore city station), just in case somebody was there looking for Vee. But they soon decided not to, as it was difficult to get to where they wanted to go, to Mee's friend's place. They alighted at the Bangalore city station and soon made their way to the cloak room. On their way, Mee tried calling her friend, but did not get an answer. Not sure where to go, they thought they would figure it out slowly. In their naiveté, they thought that they were now safe as they were out of their town. Little did they know that the people who had met Soo and Mee had alerted relatives in Bangalore and they were looking for the girls at the Bangalore city train station.

As they were walking to the cloak room, Vee saw a familiar face. For a moment, she forgot that she was supposed to hide. Before anybody realized what was happening, she went straight to this person and shook hands with him. Only then, did Vee realize what a blunder she had just committed. This man, Uncle V, had a sheet of paper in his hands. Slowly he looked at each of the girls and read,

'Tall and fair...You must be Soo' he winked,

'Tomboyish with short hair....you must be Mee', he winked again,

'Short and pretty, you must be Shee', he identified each one of the girls.

'Hello, girls', he said with an evil grin. 'I'm sorry but you have no choice, please come with me now!', he said as he winked again.

The girls realised that they had no choice but to follow the man. If this was anybody else, this scene would have been grave. But because it was Uncle V,  it was hilarious. The girls didn't know whether to laugh at him or to take him seriously. With great difficulty, they kept straight faces.

If you thought Uncle Chot was a character, Uncle V a.k.a the winker was totally something else. Each of his sentences were punctuated with winks and his mannerisms were extremely funny. He would chew tobacco as he spoke and spit every now and then. He would scratch himself randomly and his movements were vey jerky. He was a meek man and was terribly scared of his wife. His wife, Aunty V, was another character. She was huge and towered over her husband. She was loud, spoke her mind and never forgot to tell the winker how useless he was. In another time, the girls might have actually liked her but for now, she was the enemy.

The winker immediately made some calls to say that the girls had been located and that he was now bringing them home with him. Although, there was a situation now. He had come to the station alone on his scooter and obviously he could not take all the girls with him. Instead he stopped an auto-rickshaw (a three-wheeled vehicle, in India), made the girls sit inside and then told the driver to follow him. He now sat on his scooter and merrily rode away, convinced that the auto would follow him. In the auto, the girls guffawed away. They couldn't believe how stupid the winker was. All they had to do was bribe the auto driver and tell him to take a different route and they were pretty sure he would do it. But since they had no place to stay yet and they were hungry and tired, they decided to go with him. They figured that with someone this stupid, they could give him the slip anytime they chose to.

In about half an hour, they reached the winker's home. It was a nice little house with a big garden. Aunty V waited for them near the door. She gave Vee a hug once she saw her and nodded at the rest of them. Aunty V, was way smarter than her husband. Once the girls were inside, she made them put all their money on the table. This was her way of making sure the girls wouldn't escape again. Mee however was smarter. She always kept most of her money in a secret pocket. She made a show of emptying all her pockets while still leaving some money behind. Aunty V took all this money and hid it away. She then made breakfast for the girls and locked them up in the guest room. She told them that more people would come to meet them soon. Vee thought her parents would come and get her but it turned out that her parents were now actually in Hyderabad and doing something important. This meant that Vee would not get to see her parents anytime soon.

.....to be continued.

R is for Runaway Train

This is one of my most favourite songs but no, this post is not about that. This is the part 4 of the escapade series. You can find the earlier posts here.

With help from some others, the girls had found that Uncle Chot had actually put people all around town to keep an eye for Vee or any suspicious activities from her friends. They had to now tread with extreme caution. On the day before, they all prepped for D day carefully, packed their clothes and went to bed. The next day, the train was to reach their town at 7:55 PM and would leave from the station in 5 minutes at 8 PM.

Their plan was simple. Soo and Mee would get to the railway station first, look around for any dangers and then call the other two. When the coast was clear, Shee and Vee would come to the station and board the train, just in time before the train left. Also, Vee would cover her face with a scarf and make sure she would not be spotted before or after she boarded the train.

When D day dawned, their stomachs were in knots. They were nervous but extremely excited too.
They were determined to pull this through. In their young heads, they had to do this to make sure their friend was safe and happy. The previous night, Vee and Shee had made sure they had disconnected the phone at Shee's house so that Uncle Chot could not contact Shee's parents, at least immediately after they left. Mee and Soo had given specific instructions (with substantial bribery, of course) to their friends in their neighbours' houses not to call their parents if someone called asking for them. They had tried as much as possible to avoid getting into any trouble with their parents but they were sure they eventually would, and were ready to face the consequences. But for now, they had to be focussed on the task at hand.

At around 6 PM, they all bid farewell to their families and met up at Shee's place. They reviewed their plan one last time and then Soo and Mee set off. They were travelling with as little luggage as they could manage but girls being girls, they still had a lot. Soo and Mee went to the railway station at 7PM and true to suspicion, they found some of Vee's relatives at the platform where the train was supposed to come. They stayed out of sight and hoped Shee and Vee would be careful too.

At 7:45 PM, the train was announced. Mee and Soo went to the platform and still tried to stay out of sight. At one point, Vee's relatives actually saw Mee and recognised her. Now that there was no escape, Mee casually went up to them and said hello. She told them that her relatives were arriving from Mumbai and she was here to receive them. And then she asked them what they were doing here. They just mumbled something and then quickly left. And then the train arrived at the station. It was always a rush to board that train because the train stopped at this station only for a few minutes and a lot of people were waiting to board. Amidst that crowd, Soo and Mee were trying to get into the train as discretely as they could. They pushed their way in within a few moments. They found that the general compartment of the train was super crowded but they found a couple of seats and plonked themselves there. But now they were terribly anxious that Shee and Vee had not reached yet. In a few minutes, the train would leave and if they didn't turn up, Soo and Mee would be in Bangalore without anything to do. The four of them had not even discussed such a possibility.

These were the days before they had cell phones, so there was no way in which they could contact them. Soo and Mee panicked and found themselves looking out frantically for their friends. Then the train hooted, which was a sign that it would leave in the next minute or so. Their hearts were beating so hard, they thought they would explode. It looked like their friends wouldn't make it on time. But just when the train was about to move, they saw Vee and Shee running towards the train. Vee looked hilarious with a pair of dark sunglasses and a scarf around her face.They quickly boarded the train and all of them collectively burst out laughing. The train now started moving and slowly picked up speed. Soon, it was out of  the station and chugging away. The girls heaved a sigh of relief. They had made it to the train and they were actually on their way to Bangalore.

On the train, they realised the general compartment was crazily crowded. Thankfully, Shaan had booked them on the ladies compartment. They couldn't have imagined travelling otherwise. But still, some rogue ladies had put all their luggage on the seats and hence there wasn't enough room for everyone. Now that the girls were out of their town, they did not have to hide or shy away. They were ready to take on anything and anybody. High on adrenaline, they started to pick a fight with anyone who'd mess with them. So also, the rogue ladies, who quickly put their stuff down and allowed the girls to sit down.

Now they were thinking about where they'd go once they reached Bangalore. Mee had a close friend there, who she was in touch with. She thought her friend would definitely help them out. She had assumed that they could go to her house and probably stay there. Mee had tried calling her place a few times but had not been able  to reach her in the last couple of days. Mee thought that once they reached Bangalore, they could probably just show up at her friend's place. But they did not want to alarm Mee's friend or her parents, turning up with luggage and all. They finally decided that they would drop of their luggage at the cloak room and then go to Mee's friend's place after they reached Bangalore.

The train ride was fun and almost uneventful if you discount the little spats they had with the ladies around and the squabbles they had amongst themselves. But they had made a lot of noise, playing anthakshari, singing songs, giggling away and generally being themselves. They even could sleep a little that night in all kinds of wierd positions (there was no place to lie down!) and on each other's shoulders. When they woke up in the morning, the train was slowly edging towards Bangalore and they would be there soon. But little did they know of the surprise that waited for them. Nobody was prepared for what would meet them when they reached Bangalore!

....to be continued.

O is for Operation Runaway

This is the third in the series of the 'Escapades of the Jackdaws'. You can find the earlier parts here and here.

Part One of their plan was now successful. They had decided to go to take Vee to Bangalore. The girls now had to start thinking about putting the part two of their plan in action.

Uncle Chot was an influential man. The girls were sure that he would have planted people in the bus station and in the railway station to look for Vee. They had to make sure they could get her out without getting caught. From their town, they could either take the bus or train to Bangalore. Although quite a few buses went to Bangalore, the girls decided to take the one train that actually travelled from Mumbai to Bangalore but passed by their town and stopped there for exactly 3-5 minutes. Travelling by bus would mean standing at the bus station for long periods of time before the bus left, meaning there was a greater possibility that they would be discovered. Also, the bus could actually be stopped anywhere.They decided that  there were lesser chances of getting caught on the train as long as they managed to board the train on time.

The girls now had to figure out:
1) how to get enough money for their tickets and stay in Bangalore?
2) what to tell their parents and whether to tell them or not?

To arrange for the money, they began to collect all they could from the money they had saved up. When they checked, they realised that they were short. By a lot! They started to collect all their old text books to sell. They even got the reluctant Mee to sell her older text books in the little second hand book store in the market. Even after all this, they had enough money only to buy one train ticket. They decided they needed to tell their parents something and get more money and at the same time, get permission to leave town, at least till they were found out!

Shee went and told her parents that Vee's brother was getting married in Bangalore. Vee went personally to Shee's parents to invite Shee. She told the trusting Shee's parents that she would love for Shee  to come to her brother's wedding in Bangalore and they agreed. So, they now had money for Shee's ticket and a little more for her expenses. They made Soo tell her parents the same lie, and they agreed too! With that, they had money for Soo's tickets.

The problem with saying the same lie at Mee's place was that Mee's parents knew that Vee's brother was only a year older and hence could not be married so early. So, Mee told her parents that Vee's aunt was getting married. But it was a long process of crying and coaxing before Mee's dad agreed but he also agreed to send Mee off only for a couple of days. Now they had money for all their tickets and sightly a little more money to manage expenses for a couple of days or so. for more money, they badgered one of Soo's ardent admirers Shaan (a friend too!) to loan them some money. He was nice enough to loan them some money and also asked them to be careful.

Now, about buying the train tickets. If they were to reserve train tickets, they would have to give their names and this in turn meant that the names could be seen by anyone prior to them boarding the train. To solve this, they decided to get unreserved tickets i.e. tickets to the general compartment, which meant no dedicated seats. They thought this would be only a slight inconvenience. And because anyone of them would be easily spotted at the train station, they got Shaan to queue and buy the tickets for the four of them for the next day.

Now they had train tickets, money and were in high spirits. They just had to manage to get out of town unnoticed!
.....to be continued.

J is for Jackdaws

For all of you who've been asking for the next part of the Escapade series, I'm sorry for taking so long but thank you for waiting. And trust me, the story will be worth the wait! If you haven't read the first part of the story, you can find it here.

So, there they were, all four of them, wondering what to do next. Now, the reality of the situation hit them. Tomorrow morning, they knew Uncle Chot would realize that Vee was missing and would immediately call their homes to find out what he could. They had to do something. They also had to make sure that none of their families found out, or they would all be in a lot of trouble.

"Let her stay here and we'll keep her hidden", Shee said.

'But for how long?!, Your parents will eventually find out and then what?", retorted Mee.

Everyone came up with ideas, only to be shot down by someone else. Finally, one thing was for sure, they had to get Vee out of town and to Bangalore and they had to do it without getting caught! The reasons for choosing Bangalore were simple: Vee and Mee had actually grown up there and had a lot more friends there who could help (or so they thought). Also, Vee's parents lived there. Vee was sure they'd be very happy to see her and would eventually come around to see her side of the story. Methodical as ever, they decided they would break the plan into little bits and take it one step at a time.

Part one of the plan was to convince Chot that they had nothing to with Vee's disappearance and also to keep Vee underground, until they could take her out of town. Specific instructions were then given to Vee and Shee. Sure, they could have fun but Vee could not be seen or heard by anyone else. Shee could go out of her room but Vee had to stay inside at all times. They were also not to let anyone inside the room. Shee had to also make sure she would herself answer all the phone calls that were made to her house, so that nobody would get the least bit suspicious. Soo and Mee had no phones in their homes (yes, it was that long ago!). So people would always call their neighbours' places and ask for them. The neighbours were of course nice enough to oblige as long the calls were not routine or didn't end in long conversations. Soo and Mee had to look out for phone calls to their neighbour's houses and make sure their parents didn't answer them.

Once their plan was made, they all hugged good night and Soo and Mee went home for the night. Everyone spent the night tossing and turning, thinking of what the next morning would bring.

The next day morning, as expected, Chot called Mee's neighbour's place. As Vee's best friend, she was the first one Chot suspected. Promptly, Mee went and picked up the call. Chot told Mee that Vee's relatives had not found Vee on the bus she was supposed to be on. He asked her if Vee had said anything to her. Mee feigned shock and concern over her friend's disappearance. Chot asked if he could speak to her in person and asked Mee to come over to their house to have a chat. He also called Shee's place to ask if she knew anything. Shee also played her role well and said she'd come over with Mee to see if they could help.

Shee left Vee hiding in her room and with Mee, went to Aunty K's place. They had discussed in detail what they should or should not say. At all costs, they had to stick to their story. Aunty K and Chot were very nice at first and seemed concerned but more about the fact that they would be held responsible for Vee's disappearance, rather than be worried about her well-being. They asked Mee, when she spoke to her friend, the last time. Very innocently, Mee replied that Vee had said good bye a couple of days ago and had forbidden them from coming to the bus-station. She also told Chot that Vee was unhappy about being sent off. They told Chot that they were very worried about their friend and would help any way they could.

Chot, who was initially very quiet and mild, got very frustrated that he was getting no information out of the girls and turned hostile. The girls still stuck to their story. Finally Chot threatened Mee, "I am sure you know more than you admit but if anything should happen to Vee, I will come and catch your neck!". Forever the loyal friends, they refused to budge an inch and just stuck to their story. Finally, Aunty K told them to leave and to call them immediately if Vee were to contact them. They assured Aunty K that they would and left.

The girls heaved a sigh of relief and quickly rode back to Shee's place and related the morning's events to Vee and Soo. They described everything in great detail and had a good laugh about Chot's threats and how they had got the best of him. Part one of their plan one was a success! Now on to plan two: Buying train tickets to Bangalore.

...to be continued.

E is for Escapade

Would you believe me if I told you that I ran away from home when I was 15. I almost started to write out the whole story as it happened, when it occurred to me that I could make this more fun. I’ve made up some part of the story but most of it really happened. I will leave it to your imagination to figure what is fiction and what actually happened.

This story is about young girls from a small town in India. But our protagonists were anything but ‘small-town girls’. They were all of 15 years old. I spent a good deal of time thinking of a name for them; fearless (they were not!), fun adventurous (which they were) etc. but none of them did justice. In the end, I decided on ‘Jackdaws’. Like the birds,  they can easily be mistaken for normal crows but they are very different in being keenly inquisitive, high spirited and gregarious in nature. To be honest, the name is also inspired by Ken Follet’s book with the same name. In the book, the Jackdaws are an all female group of reniassance fighters. The girls I’m talking about had all the above characteristics and more. Let me first introduce you to the Jackdaws: I will just call them Soo, Shee, Vee and Mee.

Soo a.k.a the fearless one:

The most gutsy character of the group, she was almost fearless. She would stand up for her friends, whatever the cost. She was tall and pretty but on the flip side, a little daft as well.

Shee a.k.a the pretty one:

Very generous and kind hearted but because of which, she was super-gullible.

She was vain but also the prettiest of the lot. Born to a rich family, she had unlimited access to a lot of resources that the others didn’t.

Vee a.k.a the charming one:

Quite the charmer, she could talk her way through any situation. The story started thanks to her! Never one to follow rules, she was creative, fun-loving and a dreamer. She was the glue that held the pack together.

Mee a.k.a the smart one:

The most practical one in the group and the smart one as well. Always followed rules but the Jackdaws brought out the wild side of her. Extremely loyal and would always go the extra mile for friends.

The girls happened to meet in school. They got along like a house on fire and eventually got into a lot of trouble, both in and out of school. Soo and Shee grew up in the small town but Vee and Mee had both been brought up in the big city but had landed in the small town due to different circumstances. Now lets get to our story.

It all started when, due to family circumstances, Vee came to live with her aunt and uncle in the small town. Lets just call them the Evil Aunt K and Uncle Chot. Vee was very unhappy living with them. She hated the samll town and her aunt and uncle. She longed to go back to the city, to live with her parents again. Aunt K and Uncle Chot made life very difficult for Vee. But once she met the Jackdaws, life was bearable again. Aunt K and Uncle Chot did not approve of her friends and did all they could to stop her from seeing them often. Most of the adventures of the Jackdaws involved tricking and of course, making a fool of Aunt K and Uncle Chot.

One day, Uncle Chot told Vee that she to go to another city to visit her relatives. Vee suspected there was more to it than just ‘visiting’ although she did not know what. She suspected  that she was to be parceled off to another place but she didn’t want to leave her friends. When she voiced her dissent, he would have none of it. Her tickets had been booked and she would leave in the next two days. When Vee told the others, they were all heartbroken. She told them she didn’t want to go but she had no choice. They said their goodbyes and Vee told her friends not to come to the station to see her off, as Uncle Chot had warned her. He personally came to see her off to the bus stand, standing guard until the bus left.

Soo, Shee and Mee had decided they just had to say goodbye to their friend and see her one last time, no matter what. They stood hiding in the bus stand, and once the bus started, they started their bikes (I mean two-wheelers, not bicycles) and set off behind the bus. What followed was a very bollywood style bus-chase scene. Vee was so happy to see her friends but also sad that she was leaving them and waved goodbye. But the trio just kept following the bus. After about an hour, the bus stopped at the end of the town to pick up more passengers. The trio then went up to the bus and asked Vee to get off. Vee picked up her luggage and came down. By now, they were all in tears and in between hugs, they decided that Vee would just come back with them. And Vee did just that! And together, they just rode back to Shee’s place.

Shee’s home was a big place. She had a room to herself and could go in and out of the house without anyone finding out. So, quitely they all went there and plonked themselves on the giant bed in Shee’s room. Everyone was super happy and danced away for a while. Eventually, Soo and Mee had to go home. It was then that they began to realise the enormity of what they had just done. They had just helped their friend run away. The next morning, the relatives would call Uncle Chot and tell him that Vee was not on the bus. What now? Vee could hide here for a while but what after a few days. Uncle Chot would know they had smething to do with Vee’s disappearance and would come looking for her. They didn’t have a plan yet but they had to think of something. And fast!

To be continued.

Writing this post has inspired me to start a series called the ‘Escapades of the Jackdaws’. This is only part I of the story.