Page 22 - You Only Live Once [BooksLD]
P. 22
While she has all the reasons to believe what the local media reported,
years after Elisha disappeared, she has no idea that we’re discussing my
mother. I want to mention again that they never found her body but the onus
of changing the topic is totally on me now.
‘I’m not into drugs, thankfully!’ I laugh as I make an attempt to take her
attention away from Elisha.
‘You must have fans though?’
‘Yeah! You must also subscribe to my YouTube channel,’ I suggest to her.
She unlocks her smartphone in an instant and opens up the search panel
of YouTube . She gestures at me to browse for my channel.
AlaraOfficial, I type and hand the phone back to her. She immediately
taps on Subscribe. She then puts my latest song ‘Time’ on ‘listen offline’
download. ‘I’m going to listen to this,’ she smiles.
‘What do you do by the way?’ I ask her.
‘I work as a social media manager for a digital agency. I can skyrocket
your follower numbers overnight,’ she winks.
‘I want to get away from the glare of social media.’
‘Oh! Really?’
‘Yes, I want to take some time off and work on original compositions. I
write and sing my own songs, you know! Creativity is faced with a block
when the mind is not free. I want to be free.’
‘Your trip is more like soul searching, reflecting! Like one of those
Hollywood films. All I can say is that you won’t find a better place than
Goa. The sea and its vistas are so tranquil.’
‘Oh yes, they are! I have seen a lot of pictures online.’
‘Reality is far beyond the soulless photoshopped pictures. How can
people feed their soul by just stalking bloggers on Instagram? I believe
you’ve got to walk out, explore, and come back with your own story.’
‘I totally second that.’
The air-hostesses start with their demonstration process. As I look out of
the window, the jet turbines move in a gigantic circular motion. She plugs
in her earphones and tells me that she’s listening to my song ‘Time’.
I lay my back against the seat. Takeoffs don’t give me a nice feeling. It’s
like leaving the land and charting into the unknown. But isn’t only when