A Small incident...
“I’ve been trying to get in touch with him since Tuesday. And no one seems to be responding to the call, where do you think he’ gone?” I asked my friend Arvind. It all seemed to have happened just yesterday. But a number of years have passed since I was in the 9th standard.
It was during one of the term exams that Saurabh was caught cheating. As a result his paper was cancelled. I knew his problem; he didn’t study well and gave all his time to cricket. I requested our subject teacher to re-consider Saurabhs’s case. Finally by the end of the day, Ms. Sodhi our history teacher agreed to let him re-appear for the test the next day.
He was broken; being a friend I accompanied him all the way to his colony gates. He was a happy kid, but it was just not his day. I used to call some of my friends in the evenings; he too was one of them. I tried calling him that day too, but nobody replied.
Saurabh didn’t come to the school the next day. I had to bear the brunt of having taken his side in front of Ms. Sodhi. She was angry at me and blamed me for taking his side. “See I told you, you dare not come to me again as an advocate of Saurabh, I know him very well, he must be playing cricket somewhere, while we wait for him to write the exam.” I had no argument, dejected; I walked back to my class. Throughout the day, I kept regretting to have requested for Saurabh, how dumb I was to request for people as useless as him. He, like me was regular, attended school, but skipped some classes occasionally.
I tried reaching him again, but to no avail, nobody replied. I kept calling him for the next 2 days. It was strange, I sensed some trouble. I asked for his flat number from our common friend Arvind. First I thought I would visit his flat, but then I thought I would rather keep calling him. Finally on the 4th day his brother picked up the call, I asked for Saurabh. He came on the phone.
Me: Hi Saurabh! Kaisa hai yaar? (How are you man?)
Saurabh: Hi Pukhraj, Can I talk to you later?
Me: Why Yaar? Come to the grounds. We’ll play some cricket.
Saurabh: Yaar, I really can’t talk to you now. Can we talk some other day?
Me: But what is it? Tell me Yaar? What is it that’s troubling you? Is Sodhi troubling you?
Saurabh: No yaar “(He said with slightly irritated tone)
Me: Acha, Can you come down? We can meet and talk at your colony gates?
Saurabh: Wait… I’ll come in 10 minutes.
I waited for him, I felt uncomfortable, and I had never felt like this before. May be because most of the times I waited for him to go to the grounds and play. There was something odd in his tone. Finally he showed up, he looked like as if he hadn’t slept for a long time. To sum up his condition in one word, I would say he looked hysterical. I said hi, to which he didn’t reply. He was trying to conceal something from me.
As we walked towards the park, I asked him several questions, he kept quiet throughout. Seated in the park, we looked up at the setting sun, finally he broke down and cried and said “My Father’s no more…He died of a heart attack day before yesterday.” Everything seemed to have stopped for that moment, the noise that came from the kids playing in the park faded. The moment froze, I had no words. I didn’t know what to say. I looked at his face and thought of the days ahead of him. He was still a kid just like me. Saurabh was a happy child, why him? I asked myself, the God. I walked back home and kept wondering about Saurabhs’s position.
The next day I informed my class teacher about it. And as friends, we all as a class decided to go to his place to comfort him, to show him that we were all there for him when he needed us the most. We all went to his place, sat there for a while, while we were told by his uncle how it all happened. A sudden chest pain as it happens in most cases. He was rushed to the hospital, but didn’t make it. After sitting there for a while we all decided to leave, Saurabh asked to stay for some time and started arranging for tea, we all politely said no to the tea, leaving that for some other day.
I still remember, I was the only one of the group who took some time leaving his place. I talked to Saurabh for a while and hugged him; I knew he needed that the most. I walked back home that day thinking about Saurabhs’s life from that point onwards.
Although we both got into different streams after our 10th standard, but for the two years, the 9th and the 10th standard, I helped him on academic as well as Personal fronts and continue to do so till date. Just one incident changed the way I looked at him, changed the way we took each other as.
It was during one of the term exams that Saurabh was caught cheating. As a result his paper was cancelled. I knew his problem; he didn’t study well and gave all his time to cricket. I requested our subject teacher to re-consider Saurabhs’s case. Finally by the end of the day, Ms. Sodhi our history teacher agreed to let him re-appear for the test the next day.
He was broken; being a friend I accompanied him all the way to his colony gates. He was a happy kid, but it was just not his day. I used to call some of my friends in the evenings; he too was one of them. I tried calling him that day too, but nobody replied.
Saurabh didn’t come to the school the next day. I had to bear the brunt of having taken his side in front of Ms. Sodhi. She was angry at me and blamed me for taking his side. “See I told you, you dare not come to me again as an advocate of Saurabh, I know him very well, he must be playing cricket somewhere, while we wait for him to write the exam.” I had no argument, dejected; I walked back to my class. Throughout the day, I kept regretting to have requested for Saurabh, how dumb I was to request for people as useless as him. He, like me was regular, attended school, but skipped some classes occasionally.
I tried reaching him again, but to no avail, nobody replied. I kept calling him for the next 2 days. It was strange, I sensed some trouble. I asked for his flat number from our common friend Arvind. First I thought I would visit his flat, but then I thought I would rather keep calling him. Finally on the 4th day his brother picked up the call, I asked for Saurabh. He came on the phone.
Me: Hi Saurabh! Kaisa hai yaar? (How are you man?)
Saurabh: Hi Pukhraj, Can I talk to you later?
Me: Why Yaar? Come to the grounds. We’ll play some cricket.
Saurabh: Yaar, I really can’t talk to you now. Can we talk some other day?
Me: But what is it? Tell me Yaar? What is it that’s troubling you? Is Sodhi troubling you?
Saurabh: No yaar “(He said with slightly irritated tone)
Me: Acha, Can you come down? We can meet and talk at your colony gates?
Saurabh: Wait… I’ll come in 10 minutes.
I waited for him, I felt uncomfortable, and I had never felt like this before. May be because most of the times I waited for him to go to the grounds and play. There was something odd in his tone. Finally he showed up, he looked like as if he hadn’t slept for a long time. To sum up his condition in one word, I would say he looked hysterical. I said hi, to which he didn’t reply. He was trying to conceal something from me.
As we walked towards the park, I asked him several questions, he kept quiet throughout. Seated in the park, we looked up at the setting sun, finally he broke down and cried and said “My Father’s no more…He died of a heart attack day before yesterday.” Everything seemed to have stopped for that moment, the noise that came from the kids playing in the park faded. The moment froze, I had no words. I didn’t know what to say. I looked at his face and thought of the days ahead of him. He was still a kid just like me. Saurabh was a happy child, why him? I asked myself, the God. I walked back home and kept wondering about Saurabhs’s position.
The next day I informed my class teacher about it. And as friends, we all as a class decided to go to his place to comfort him, to show him that we were all there for him when he needed us the most. We all went to his place, sat there for a while, while we were told by his uncle how it all happened. A sudden chest pain as it happens in most cases. He was rushed to the hospital, but didn’t make it. After sitting there for a while we all decided to leave, Saurabh asked to stay for some time and started arranging for tea, we all politely said no to the tea, leaving that for some other day.
I still remember, I was the only one of the group who took some time leaving his place. I talked to Saurabh for a while and hugged him; I knew he needed that the most. I walked back home that day thinking about Saurabhs’s life from that point onwards.
Although we both got into different streams after our 10th standard, but for the two years, the 9th and the 10th standard, I helped him on academic as well as Personal fronts and continue to do so till date. Just one incident changed the way I looked at him, changed the way we took each other as.
posted by pukhraj @ 10:17 PM
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