The funeral was short and sweet. Even though the news of him committing suicide had spread throughout the sub-continent, he was still respected beyond a lot of people. Thousands turned up for his funeral as his body was lowered to the ground at exactly 5:05 pm, as the sun started setting beyond the horizon. A short eulogy was read by the General of Indian Army.
At last, it was time for Naina's speech. She got up grudgingly and trudged up the stairs. She looked radiant even though her cheeks were streamed with dried tears. There was a pin drop silence in the heavily filled graveyard as she activated the microphone.
'Captain Rajveer,' she started, ' was an extraordinary person. He was different. He was rude, he was arrogant and obnoxious and he was interfering, but even with all this, he made a charming personality. He always spoke the truth and never lost heart. He believed in people, to make them believe in themselves. He believed in small and little things, and he never losing hope. He said in more than one occasion that a man is always strong if he faces everything which comes his way. he was always strong. But then, he fell in love with me. The only slight hitch about his entirely perfect and strong life was that I fell in love with him too. We fell in love. And love made him weak. And for the first time in his life, he ran away for his fear of loving someone. He failed because I came into the picture, and because of me, he is dead today. Because he couldn't face losing me, he is dead today.' Her voice trembled before she steadied herself, ' But no matter what people say, for me he was always the one. He always believed in me, and even the warmth of his breath gave me strength to go on. And today, today I know that he will never give me encouragement again.. he will never come with open arms so that I can sob in his arms. After today, he will not be fighting a war on the front against another country, after today none of us will ever see him take of his cap and jump up in the air as a celebratory gesture. Because after today he is no more. And today, as a tribute to him, let us all make a silent oath that we will never be weak in life again. Captain Rajveer Singh Shekhawat wanted us to be strong. He would have wanted us to move on, and after today, we will all look back and thank Captain Rajveer for encouraging us to move on. He would've wanted it. And today, I just hope for the day when the new generation will grow up and say proudly, 'Our role model – Captain Rajveer.' He was all for the best. And he would've wanted me to say that believe in yourself, because however and wherever he is, he would've always believed in you.'
The speechless audience never even noticed that she had come and sat down, and that someone, Huda precisely, was climbing up the stairs, so engrossed they were in her simple words. Each of them silently vowed that they will, for this moment on, always believe in themselves, because once upon a time there lived a man who would always believe in them, and they were responsible for his 'happily ever after'
He got up and climbed up the stairs and faced the audience anticipating him. His eyes shone mournfully but there were no tears on him. It was as if he had cried enough to last him a lifetime.
His voice was shaking with some kind of unknown abstraction as he stated, ' I called him my brother.' This simple sentence seemed to have an effect which no one else had. It silently conveyed to everyone what Captain Rajveer was if someone completely unknown to him considered him a brother, and his simple ability to convey to everyone that he had accepted his former teacher as a brother gave him the upper hand, and no one, no matter what they said could lessen the effect of these five words.
Anupamaa
