LIFEART STUDIO

UMP BACK IN TIME to the moment at the end of Episode 1 - just before Nick got kicked out of the Ashram (Saturday afternoon).

Claudia is in the midst of a beautiful deep meditation session when she hears commotion sounds from the other side of the court. Some poor guy is being escorted out of the Ashram, clearly against his will, by 3 big monks. She suddenly realizes it's her dad, and rushes towards the gate but is too late and the gate is shut and locked. She’s not really sure what to make of this and how she’s supposed to react. Making the slightest of sounds will get her thrown out as well. 

The monks then open the gate again only to throw Nick’s belongings out to him. Claudia gets another quick look at her dad, sitting on the street’s floor looking puzzled. 

Leo steps near and whispers in her ear “don’t worry I’ll help you”. This comfortis Claudia momentarily, but soon after it is bedtime at the Ashram (at 7pm each evening) and Claudia’s mind is not easy all through the night.

Next morning (Sunday morning) Claudia, determined, heads over to the Ashram manager’s office (which we met earlier). Using a piece of paper and a pen, she asks him: “What happened to my dad?”, he hesitates, then rights back : “He talked, not allowed”. Claudia takes the paper back writing: “Did he leave me any message”, flips it over back to him. The manager is getting agitated. “No”, flips it back to her. Claudia won’t give up, “Are you sure??”, at that the manager stands and with polite hand gestures asks her to leave.

Claudia walks over to the court side where Yulia is hanging out silently with Leo. She puts a piece of paper in Leo’s hand. He reads it, and nods with agreement.

Next we see Claudia and Yulia as they are sneaking out of the Ashram at night (Sunday evening). Leo got out earlier and said he’ll be outside at this hour to pick them up. Yulia complains as they quietly sneak out that she can’t believe they're doing this. Chances are Nick is long gone - “when was he really there for you, that is worth us leaving this retreat which we’ve dreamed about since our freshman year?! And I don’t trust Leo either!”

Claudia takes it in but brushes it off. “Nick has changed over these past few weeks and I’m not going to leave him in the middle of Rishikesh all alone and without a cell phone. Leo has been nothing but nice to us ever since we met him, and he’s our only choice right now. End of discussion.”

The girls hop over the Ashram’s fence, and walk out the court onto the street where they meet Leo who picks them both up on his bike (as fashionable in India).

They then continue to search around town but can’t find Nick anywhere. Although it is late, Rishikesh is booming with visitors this time of year and streets are jam packed. Claudia starts to get nervous about the possibility of ever finding her father in this madness of a place. 

Leo is kind and caring, and suggests the three call it a night at his friend’s hotel nearby. 

Walking into the small hotel they bump into a few traveler friends that we’ve met before in Goa. The group exchange some hugs and sit down for a hang. We learn that some of the girls are going back to Goa the day after tomorrow.

Through the evening sexual tension seems to be building between Claudia and Leo and Yulia.

In that group setting, a young traveler who sits behind Leo (facing Claudia and Yulia who are sitting next to each other) seems to  be very interested in the girls and their flirting with Leo. When the two girls go to use the bathroom,  the girl snakes out following them.

Claudia and Yulia in the bathroom talking in excitement about Leo (Claudia more excited than Yulia). The girl from the lobby that followed them approaches the bathroom and almost opens the door to it when Leo puts his hand on her mouth from behind,  turning her over, and signaling “shhhhh” with his finger over his mouth. 

The girl, terrified, quickly walks away head down, and the two girls just come out and see Leo. 

Leo: ”I got us the room key girls, let’s go up”.

As they settle up in the room a beautiful sensual scene starts to happen between the three of them. All three start kissing, shirts come off, but at some point Yulia stops it and they all go to sleep. Claudia and Leo are clearly frustrated as their attraction has been building since that full moon party in Goa.

The next morning (Monday) the group continues their search through the crowded streets of Rishikesh but with no luck, and they are getting frustrated and worried. 

At one point a small monkey starts following them. Claudia is loving the cuteness. Leo warns her that sometimes things are not what they seem, the monkey only looks cute, but he's a master thief. Claudia gives Leo a speech about belief and trust. It’s all about how you approach life. Just then the monkey snathces Claudia’s hand bag and takes off. Leo shows some great athleticism jumping over fences and outsmarting the monkey who ends up letting go of the bag. They all laugh.

Sitting down for a lunch break at the banks of the Ganges river, Leo suggests that Nick might have continued towards the Himalayas, where they were planning to start the 2 day hike five days from now (Saturday). (Leo himself recommended that specific mountains trek to them back at the party in Goa some two weeks back). 

It's not entirely impossible that Nick decided to head up there early and wait for the girls to join him on site once they’re done with the retreat. Finding each other in crowded Rishikesh is close to impossible. Up in the mountains it is beautiful and calm, and meeting up there will be much easier. All of this is starting to make sense to the girls.

Leo points out that he can take Claudia up there if she’d like. He knows the area very well, there's a village nearby that he frequently visits, and he needs to go through there anyways by Thursday, so it's no hustle for him at all and he is happy to help out by leaving a couple of days early and dropping her off at the meeting point. Only problem is the ride up the mountains is winding and long, so they won’t be able to bring Yulia along on his bike. She’d have to stay and catch the local bus that goes up towards the trekking point. There’s one once every day early in the morning.

At first the girls dismiss the idea completely - separating is out of the question. But then it slowly starts growing on Claudia that wouldn't mind some alone quality time with Leo.

They then decide to give the search one more serious try by splitting up. Each of the three will search through a different part of town, and they’ll all meet back by the afternoon.

We follow each of the three in their search through the streets. Leo and Claudia - each walking through a different alley. Yulia passes by a loud religious ceremony taking place near the river, and it seems she is followed by a small group of local men. 

Very quickly Leo surprises Claudia and the two continue the search together. They are becoming more physical, and sneak in a first kiss on a corner of the busy bazaar. Claudia is blushed and happy, goes towards the river and Leo goes to get them fresh juice from the street corner: “will meet you down there in a minute”.

Back with Yulia as it starts getting dark. The three local men are still behind and by the time she notices, they cornered her in a small side street. Things are escalating fast, as the three start to hurrase her. Touching her inappropriately, mocking her in Hindu, getting more daring with each grab. Yulia, petrified, is unable to make a sound, and is no physical match to the three men. 

Claudia now arrives towards the same direction (she just left Leo) and sees the action. She runs towards them trying to help Yulia, but is no match to the 3 local men who are happy to get her into the mix as well.

Claudia manages to escape back out of the alley, panicking  - asking for help. But the street is crowded and noisy from the religious ceremony. Nobody stops to help. 

Just then Leo arrives - two cups of fresh juice in his hands. Claudia fills him in and he sprints down the alley, where things started getting ugly and closer to rape. Leo jumps the guys, and frantically beats them. 

Claudia runs to Yulia who is scared and shaken, hugging her, both crying, and pulls her away, while watching as Leo becomes violent, like a predator - beating the guys senseless. We’ve never seen Leo like that. The girls walk away and Leo joins them shortly after.

Back at the hotel  (Monday evening), Yulia and Claudia are very emotional and the two hug strongly and won’t stop crying. Claudia feels like she herself was sexually attacked, and is as shaken by this as Yulia is.

Sobbing, Yulia starts talking about going back to Goa. They’ve got a flight back home from there in a couple of weeks. She doesn't want to continue up to the Himalays. She wants to leave this place. She tries to convince Claudia to come with her. 

Claudia sympathises with Yulia completely, and doesn't want to leave her alone, but what about Nick? She can’t just leave now to Goa.

Yulia in tears, asking Claudia to please join her, skip the Trek, don’t go up the mountain, Nick is a grownup - he’ll manage, she has a really bad feeling about all this. Claudia is torn, but won’t leave her dad here all alone. Deep inside she also feels this will be her chance at romance with Leo, and Yulia will one day forgive her for this. 

With a heavy heart, they decide that Yulia will go back to Goa the next day with the group of hotel friends that we met the other night, and that Claudia will go up the mountains, looking for her dad. They will meet back in Goa in a week, to spend one more relaxing week there before flying back home together.

Very early next morning (Tuesday) frantic knock on the door wakes them all up. Leo gets an urgent tip that he better leave town ASAP. It turns up one of the locals he beat up yesterday is the son of an important and powerful guy.

Leo turns to the sleepy girls: “We gotta go!!”

The group rush out of the hotel. Claudia and Yulia say their loaded goodbyes, both feeling very uncomfortable about the situation.

Yulia heads off towards the local train station by foot, where she is set to meet with the friends who are on their way back to Goa too.

Claudia and Leo hop on the motorcycle, starting their trip towards the mountains. 

As they are approaching the main exit road out of Rishikesh, we are in the same place that we’ve been at the end of episode 2. We see the same scene but form a different angle - this time focusing on the motorbike. In the background we can see Nick and Shena rushing out of Shena’s hotel room after receiving a link to the footage. (story timeline is now back in sync)