A friend indeed!

Laksh and Tejas walked quietly down the hall. "Where are we going?"

"To eat of course. What was the last thing that you ate?" he looked around as he said.

"My lunch," he smiled as he replied thinking that he had made a very clever joke. But Laksh nodded as if they were having a serious conversation. His head moved and stopped at the sight of each of those plants.

It felt as if Laksh was suddenly too aware of his surrounding. He looked around, his eyes ready to catch the slightest abnormality. But as soon as they reached the food mess, he regained his former composure.

"Need to be careful in the hallway," he said with a nervous smile and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Ok, but why?"

"All those potted plants are actually prototypes and they are sent here to be tested out. I'm not really sure what they do," he leaned closer and whispered in Tejas' ear, "but I have this weird feeling that they are there to keep an eye on us."

Tejas wiped off the spit that Laksh had splattered on his face. He smiled and nodded not knowing how to reply to that. His stomach growled very loudly again so Laksh sped to where they could wash their hands first.

The aroma of spices mingled with the smell of freshly cooked rice and hot rotis. The hunger pangs in Tej's stomach grew louder as if it would swallow the entire room if he waited any longer. Laksh's stomach too joined in giving those threats very soon.

They stood in the queue when suddenly Tejas said, "I'm craving chicken today. Do they have options for non vegetarians?"

"Of course they do. But," he stopped clicking his tongue.

"But what?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all," they shifted to another longer queue.

As they sat down to eat, Laksh placed a small earthen container containing something that looked like a reddish yellow curd.

"What's this?"

"Sweetened curd. It used to be your favorite." He said with a reminiscing smile on his face.

Tejas scooped it with a wooden spoon and he did that until the container looked so clean as if it never contained anything.

"You've still got the sweet tooth," Laksh was very glad as he said that. He placed his share of that curd in front of him.

Tejas smacked his lips and wiped his beard. "I'll save this for later," he took Laksh's container hungrily.

"I'd suggest that you eat this cold. It is tastier that way."

He didn't want to fill his stomach with just the curd. His steel plate was stacked with a pile of rice topped with a thick reddish brown chicken gravy and small meaty pieces of chicken.

As he took large helpings of rice with his hand, he said with a smile, "I like the taste. It isn't very bad."

"The food here never is. But after a few days, the taste stops to amaze you." Laksh too hastily chewed the roti and dal and he tore the remaining roti into small pieces.

Laksh's eyes fell on Tejas' thin bony wrist. His gaze shifted to his sunken face and the way his uniform hung loosely on his body.

"Did they used to starve you there?" he spoke very softly bending his head towards him.

"As far as I remember, no!"

Laksh smacked his head lightly. "I tend to keep forgetting," he hit his head again.

"But I think I was well looked after," Tejas added. "I was always surrounded by people who cared about me. That shouldn't have been very bad."

He was suddenly reminded of something. "What kind of a person was I?"

Laksh cleared his throat. "You were excellent in academics. A goody two shoes. Had a few awesome friends. Loved your parents the most," he stopped to look at his reaction.

"I see," he rested his head on the table. "Did people like me? Did I perhaps have a girlfriend?"

Laksh choked on his food. "Not that I knew of," he coughed as he said that and gulped down some water.

"Did you have a girlfriend?"

He choked on his food again. "No, no, absolutely not. Why are you asking me that?"

"Just curious. And also, I was told that many people found me very attractive," he said shoving the food into his mouth.

When Laksh saw how disappointed Tejas looked, he said, "Now that I remember, I think you are right. Many people did find you attractive. But the thing is, the Tejas I knew didn't really talk to me about such things."

"You're all lying to make me feel better, aren't you?" he looked into his eyes.

"That was half true though," he grinned guiltily.

At the same moment, Laksh's device received a reminder. "You have an alarm set up for 04:00. To get your rest, consider retiring to bed early."

"We've got to finish our food fast," he quickened his pace.

"But it's not even 20:00 yet," Tejas checked with the huge clock set opposite to him. Nonetheless he too hastened to finish the food.