Can Grape Juice Curdle?

 

People who are very close to me know that I don’t like to roam around after 6.00 PM. Yes, things are different when there are close friends or family with me and they offer me to drop back home safely.

Few days back, I had been to my cousin’s house, which is very close to my place of stay. Had been there in the evening as late as 5.30 PM (P.S. Late as per my book of rules), as that’s when the couple becomes free from their job who are currently working from home. While we were having our chit chats, she was very curious to know why was I so adamant about my 6.00 PM rule. I smiled away as I too forgot the actual reason behind that. But she was not in a mood to leave that. She asked me whether I had any such bitter experiences from the past that I hold on to it so tightly. And then I had to travel back. Its then I realised how such incidents create a huge impact in our daily lives.

The incident goes like this. It was around 15 years back. A room-mate of mine had a reliance connection. She got a call from customer service centre informing her about some issue with ID verification that, she was asked to submit the necessary documents within 10 days to avoid disconnection. In the preceding week, we got holiday in the middle of the weak that none of us were able to go to our respective homes and so decided to stay back at the PG itself. And hence, we chose the same day to go to the nearest Reliance office which was at Muvattupuzha. We were the only ones who had nothing to do at PG, rest all had some assignments, meetings etc. Muvattupuzha was around 15 kms from our college/PG.

After breakfast, we decided to leave and we reached the Reliance office around 10.30 AM. She just had to submit the documents which were duly verified by the officer over the counter and the work for which had come, got finished in just 5 minutes of time for which we had to walk 25 minutes & travel half an hour by bus. It was scorching heat outside as well. We then decided to have some juice from nearby café and then return back to our PG. Those days I was crazy about grape juice and so my friend also decided to order the same. We both drank it within no time and left the café and boarded the bus back to Kothamangalam. We got the seats & were busy talking to each other. When bus reached the bus stand and when we were about to debark, I felt heaviness in my head. Thinking it would be the effect of outside temperature, I chose not to discuss it with her. But within few seconds of walking away from bus stand, she told her head is heavy. I told I too felt the same. So, without any delay, we caught an auto and we hurried ourselves to reach back our PG safely. Normally, we opt for an auto ride only when there is heavy luggage or else if we are in a hurry to reach our hostel. Our PG was just 15 minutes’ walk from the bus stand.

On reaching back our hostel, we both drank quite some good amount of water and slept until 3 or 4 in the evening without bothering to have our lunch. And once we got up, we started to analyse what exactly happened to us. That’s when we arrived at a conclusion that, something was mixed in the grape juice to take advantage of 2 young college girls. It was our parents’ prayers that kept us safe. But since then, I have been following a set of unwritten rules like               1) To reach home/hostel or any other safe place before 6.00 PM                     2) Not to travel alone after 6.00 PM                  3) Not to drink Grape juice when alone.

Some people might find this funny & illogical. But it brings shivers even after these many years by the mere thought of what would have happened that day which would have changed both of our lives badly forever.