TOGETHER FOREVER

TOGETHER FOREVER

Aahan said, “Good bye, Jai. May you succeed in the mission. Thank you for the most wonderful friendship you have given me.”

Jai, meeting the tearful eyes of his friend, said, “Don’t be foolish. Don’t talk like this is our last talk. Good bye and best of luck. Lead your battalion bravely.”

Aahan asked, “Will we be together again?”

Jai replied, “Always.”

The two soldiers shook hands and Aahan pulled Jai into a warm hug.

****************

Thirty years before

Two little boys, Aahan and Jai, were sitting together in Jai’s garden. It was nearly evening time and they were feeling weary.

Suddenly Aahan asked Jai, with a curious expression on his face, “Will you always be with me?”

Jai slowly turned to look at Aahan and replied with firm determination, “Forever.”

The sun was setting.

****************

“Who did this!!?” the teacher looked livid and shouted at the children. “Who spilled so much water on my desk that all my documents are soaked? Tell me or your class will have to bear the strictest punishment.”

All the children shouted in unison, “Jai!”

Jai got up from his seat. His face was pale and scared but inside he was hurt by the betrayal of his classmates. He was thinking, couldn’t all of them keep quite? All of them enjoyed the prank but why pin all the punishment and scolding on me.

The teacher ordered him to leave the class. He bent his head and started to go out, ignoring the giggles and stares of his classmates. He opened the door and went outside. Suddenly he heard shouting inside the class and one moment later Aahan came out of the class and stood by his friend. Jai was surprised and asked him, “Why did you come outside?”

“The teacher sent me.”

“Why?”

“I told her it was my water bottle.”

“But it wasn’t, why did you say so?”

Aahan did not reply but met the eyes of his friend.

Jai asked, “Will we always be together?”

“Always.”

****************

“Whose cricket ball is this?” shouted Mr. Pandey. “How dare you break my window pane? Do you think money grows on trees? Tell me your parent’s phone number and I am going to have a talk with them.”

Aahan meekly replied, “I am so sorry, I didn’t do that deliberately.”

Mr. Pandey shouted, “So what, the loss is mine. I want your parents name and number now.”

Aahan bent his head and said, “My father’s name is Mr. Sharma and his phone no is 976846231.”

Mr. Pandey muttered, “Such good and respectable parents and the kid turned out like this, so bad.”

Jai suddenly came forward from the crowd of children gathered around and claimed, “Sir the ball is mine, please don’t scold Aahan. The folly is entirely mine.”

Aahan lifted his head and felt Jai’s warm hand clench his own.

****************

Jai looked down and swimming pool seemed very deep down. He was so scared that he did not hear someone climbing up to the diving board from the pool. He trembled and said to himself, “I can’t do this. This is too high and scary.”

All the kids in the swimming pool started jeering and called him chicken. But Jai was too scared to pay any attention to them.

He suddenly felt an arm on his shoulder and a whisper in his ear, “Let’s do this. We can do it together.”

Then with a deep breath, both Jai and Aahan jumped off the diving boards and into the pool.

****************

Jai was about to cry. He wailed, “Why did we separate from the group? Now we are lost in the middle of the thick forest and we don’t even know in which direction to go.”

Aahan and Jai looked around themselves and saw nothing but dense shrubs and bushes. There were harsh animal noises coming from the jungle’s depths. There were large cobwebs hanging between the branches of tall redwood trees.

Aahan was also scared out of his wits but tried to encourage Jai to regain confidence. The forest was so dark now that they could hardly see each other. Amongst the jungle noises they heard the gurgling of river water. They walked towards the sound and came to a big river.

Aahan exclaimed, “This River must lead somewhere. We must walk along its bank and certainly we will be alright.”

Saying this, he put an arm around Jai’s shoulder and led the path.

****************

“Who broke the test tubes in the chemistry lab? Tell me or the whole batch will be suspended. The college has only one lab and in that too you broke most of the test tubes. How dare you?” The short, bald principle looked ready to burst with fury.

 Aahan saw that no other option was left than to confess to the mistake. He stepped forward and said, “Sir I did this. Please don’t punish the whole batch.”

The principle called him to his office for a “short” lecture and Aahan was given the punishment of buying the test tubes he had broken.

Two hours later Aahan was walking in the marked looking for scientific goods shop. Finally he found one and walked up to the shopkeeper asked for the test tubes. The shop keeper looked surprised and said, “What a coincidence! Only one hour ago a student from your college took the same number of test tubes. Do all the students need so many test tubes for some kind of project?”

Aahan could not even think properly. He wanted to ask the shopkeeper who the student was but he felt he already knew the answer.

****************

There were total seven people in the small stuffy dark room. Two of the men were bound tightly and tied to a chair. The rest were standing and were holding guns and knives.

One man threatened the tied men, “How many soldier are at base 28? Tell me quickly or we have other ways of getting you to reveal the secrets.”

“You will never get a word out of me.”

“Me neither. Try your hardest on us.”

“Tell me quickly Colonel Jai or else I will shoot you and the Major within this second?”

Aahan asked, “Will we be together again?”

Jai replied, “Always.”

BANG! BANG!

And the smoke of the two shots filled the room.