Page 199 - Musings 2020

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The Escape Room

Srujana Niranjan 2017A7PS0013P

The sun was out and glaring. The vast blue sky, sparsely populated with white clouds
provided a bright and cheerful atmosphere. The Shenoy family was out to have some fun in
an amusement park. Summer vacations had just begun. The whole place was filled with
people. Some at the cafe having food, some waiting in line to attend certain events, kids
running around all over the place and adults, deeply involved in the conversation. A man
dressed up in a goofy, clown suit was giving out free balloons for the kids.

“Mamma, I want a balloon too! Let’s go get it!” shouted Nirmala, as she dragged her mother,
Mrs. Shenoy towards the clown. The funnyman gave her a yellow colored balloon. Nirmala
was extremely happy and she was having a great time! Suchith, a young boy, who was in his
second year of engineering had accompanied his cousin sister Nirmala, to the amusement
park. The family had only been visiting places which were good entertainment for children
since morning.

Now, Suchith wanted to go to a really interesting event. “I’m getting bored! Can we please go
to this Escape Room event?” he asked, as he pointed to the location of it on a map provided
by the park’s volunteers. Mr. Shenoy agreed. He too wanted something to give that necessary
thrill!

Nirmala’s grandpa was the fifth member who had joined in on the Shenoy family’s trip.
Grandpa was only watching the youngsters enjoy, in the park, as he felt a little left out and
thought that he didn’t fit into the place. The family decided to attend the event Suchith
suggested and started to make its way towards the Escape Room.

When everyone finally made it to the location, much to their dismay, there was a huge queue.
The family decided to wait in line as it was one of the main attractions of the park. What
could they possibly do? After all, it was summer vacation and everybody would be out
spending time with their friends and families. They waited, nonetheless, for nearly 50
minutes and were finally able to enter. A volunteer started to read out the instructions.
Suchith paid keen attention to the details. Nirmala was a little scared as she didn’t have much
idea about this. Mr. and Mrs. Shenoy were excited and Grandpa was still a little reluctant.

Now they were set to go! The room’s door opened and the Shenoys had 30 minutes to escape
the room. They had to solve 3 Riddles and were given their first clue. The final objective was
to find a key, using which they could make their way back outside through the same door
from which they had entered. Mr. Shenoy asked Suchith to read out the first clue.

‘Melodies make the moon glow, play the piece and you’ll know.’

Everyone began to wonder what it meant. Mrs. Shenoy looked around the room. It was a
fairly small, approximately 30 x 30 ft. room with random objects placed here and there. As
she was glancing over the objects around her, she noticed a medium-sized piano placed at the
corner of the room. It immediately struck her mind. She walked over to the piano and picked

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