FRIENDS

“CRRACK!!”

Mani had just shattered the soda bottle that Arjun had given him.
He spoke in a dejected but angry tone:
“THIS IS NOTHING. Arjun SHATTERED MY TRUST. I had believed him-BLINDLY at that. Of all the people, HOW could ARJUN??How could he call me "CHEATER"!!!
Oh, am sorry. You can’t reply …. It is unimaginable. Why does he do like THIS??
After all, I didn’t do anything but to get him OUT. You were there. You saw it all. Tell me. Was I wrong??

Sorry again. You can’t talk. And neither can I talk with ARJUN anymore. How… ”


[
If you are deeply engrossed in the monologue, I am sorry to disturb. I would not have disturbed you except for the selfish reason that I want to tell you what happened before all this.

Mani and Arjun were close friends. ” Closer than kapil dev and sunil gavasker” as Arjun always said.
They were playing cricket. Mani had batted first and scored 20 runs. Arjun had been clean bowled in the third ball itself-at 3runs.
This had led Arjun, who been scolded by his mom that morning for spilling milk, to call Mani a CHEATER.

Mani had thought Arjun would never do like that to him. {Mani and Arjun had eaten stolen mangoes together so many times. Arjun had even gifted mani a SODA BOTTLE for their friendship. In return mani had given him three mangoes and a piece of rare yellow glass to look through.}

And so we found mani breaking the bottle and then talking wid his “special friend”. It was a smooth and translucent stone that raghu uncle had given him. The stone was MANI’s companion all the time-all the time when Arjun was not there. And now was no different. Now back to the story.
]


The stone just lay in his palm. Mani put it back in his pocket. He remembered those mangoes that he had eaten with Arjun. He wanted to cry. But he wouldn’t. He felt all the trees were his enemies. He started running. Running away-Away from the trees-…


Those tiny pair of feet of the 12year old boy couldn’t carry him very fast through the cobbled path-the path that led away from the small hillock.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** 20 years later *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

The feet that were running through the same path(towards the hillock) were no small. They had become bigger and stronger. But the path was still cobbled. Nevertheless Mani kept running. He was 32 years old now.
“I’m not very early. Arjun will come soon,” thought he.
They had agreed to meet at this day and at this hour after 15 years. “Fifteen years had passed since we went off to different places for higher studies. Atlast I meet him today. Hope he would come on tim….”

“CRRACK”
Mani had stumbled and fell. His glasses had cracked. But he was still able to see properly. He started looking for the thing that had tripped him. He saw it. It was a corked glass bottle that lay half buried in the mud.
“Wow. . .but the no white flag. Still this is it. I remember it. Ah…..”


[
Interference is my nature.Interruption is my pastime. This time it is to explain a few things that will help you to understand the story better.

This is what had happened on the day 20years back-the day when Mani and Arjun broke up:

Arjun came to MANI’s house the next day in the morning. He had a small bag in his hand. He asked Mani to come with him. Initially Mani was skeptical. But he decided to go with him.

Arjun took him to their usual meeting place – a small hillock where no one but the trees and birds lived.
Not a word had passed between them.
Mani was staring up at the cool blue sky.

Arjun made a small sound. Mani looked at him

Arjun said “sorry”

Mani replied:”what?”

Arjun:”I am SAAARIIIII”

They stared at each other for a whole minute before bursting into peals of laughter.

Then, taking a bottle and a sheet of paper from his bag, Arjun said:”lets sign this”

Mani saw what was written on the paper. Then both of them happily signed the paper .Then Arjun put the paper in the bottle, corked it and stuck a small white flag on the cork. Then they left to bathe and eat.

Back to the story
]




Now Mani was staring at the bottle. The paper was very old. He took out the paper and stared at it:


TREATY OF ETERNAL FRIENDSHIP (ratified on 23rd December this year)

This is to confirm that we (K.Mani and S.Arjun) are CLOSE friends. Close means verrry verrry close, Closer than kapil dev and sunil gavasker. WE are closest and bestest. WE also agree for the following terms and conditions:

1.I will never call my friend any bad names.Not even CHEATER.
2.If I get a mango, I will share it with nobody but my close friend.
3.If my close friend is not talk with anybody, I will also not talking
4.While playing kiriket, both of us are in INDIA team. So both of us always winnings only.
5.We wanted 5 points for the treaty. So the fifth point is ‘.’

MANI(sign here)

Arjun(sign here)


He gently touched the place where he had signed. Then slowly moved his hand down to the place where Arjun had signed-and felt something-somebody.

It was Arjun’s hand-ARJUN had arrived!!!

He hurriedly got up from his crouched position and hugged him.

Arjun said ”sorry”

Mani:”what?”

Arjun:”I am SAARIIII……for being late”

They stared at each other for a whole minute before laughing out loud.
The two friends slowly walked up the small hillock and sat there, staring at the setting sun, discussing their lives….their unhappy moments……their wonderful times…..including today’s!!!!