Chapter 1
Once upon a time ... The beginning ...
Umm ...When did it started .. for me it was since forever .. as far as i remember i know him since forever ... but to be precise he was there in my play school a sincere quiet boy very obedient child a sort of introvert , unlike now days .. and i was a complete opposite, already having a bunch of friends in my circle on the very first day of play school ... soon within a year we both got admitted in the same school but different sections ...
We never had any interaction until one day his family shifted in our neighborhood , by that time we have reached our 1st standard ... It was one hot summer afternoon and my cousins were here for holidays , every summer we used to go Jaipur but this time as my father did not got leave so it happened vice versa...
We all were playing cricket on the street kirti , umesh bhaiya , dollydi were in the batting team me sukku and jwala in the bowling team and bunty the umpire...
It was the last ball , I bowled and umesh bhaiya took a shot and the ball was up in the sky high high high low low almost reaching the boundary near sukku and catch out ... "Aaahhh " we hear a scream and a boy was standing holding his head with the scattered bread and broken eggs on the ground which we understood he brought just then from the store...
All of them ran away except me and i was still standing there wondering what to do , when a lady came out from the house listening to the scream ... "Jojo kya hua ... Chilla kyu rahe ho ?? Ohh ye sab kaise hua ??" She questioned after looking at the mess... he stared in my direction scaring me more about getting a scolding from that lady and i was about to blurt apologies when he spoke " mom mera pair slip hogaya isliye ye gir gaya ... Sorry " , " koi baat nahi jojo chalo aapko to nahi lagi naa .. ye sab hum abhi saaf kardete h " she said and she went inside , he too followed her but not before another stare and then throwing the ball in my direction ...
As a kid i was happy as well as relieved of not getting caught and even without the loss of the precious ball ...
We were officially introduced by our parents that evening in their house warming party and from the next day he was a part of our cricket team and our gang ...
Days passed by and we became best friends from friends ...
Present
I was still rooted to the spot when he embraced me into a warm hug ... " Nishu i missed you soo much ... " He mumbled breaking apart ... " Kyaa yaar tu khush nahi hui mujhe dekh k ... " sensing me lost He pouted... And it was then i realized he is actually back ... " Tu ... Tu wapis kab aya ?? And muje bataya kyu nahi ... Aur yaha kya kar raha h ... Aur Teri training ?? " i had numerous questions
" arre arre ruk jaa meri shatabdi train sab bataunga pehle chal mere saath ... " He said and chuckled ... And started pulling me through my wrist ...
"Kabir kaha leja raha h mujhe, mujhe office jana h , I'm getting late .." i said
"Aaj no office ... Aaj mere saath chalegi .. off lele office se " he demanded ...
How much i wanted to follow all his orders and give into his demands but as the time has passed i have learned to control and surpress my feelings ...from a heavy heart i said " kabir mera office jana important h .. i have a meeting today i can't bunk ... " And he started making faces ... " Jaruri h ?? Bolde ur not well ... Pehle bhi to yahi karti thi " He frowned ... " Possible hota to kardeti naa ... Ab hum bechare logo ko to office jana hi padhta h na ,Vo kya h na I'm not the future ceo of the AR industry " i teased him to lighten the mood and we both laughed ... As this was our inside joke ... He was the only heir of the company but choose a different path to follow his dreams ...
"Chal koi nahi but i can always drop you to your office ... and make sure you have no plans tomorrow kal mai kuch nahi sununga aur vaise bhi kal to Saturday h office ka bahana bhi nhi chalega" he said pulling me again to the car ...
Today Kabir returned after three months , he went to Mumbai for his training program in a famous dance academy . He had a dream to open a world best dance academy that trains aspiring students who are not able to afford costly training programs ... And i know one day he'll be successful because of his undying passion for dance ... Vasu aunty his mom always supported him but Arjun uncle his dad always wanted him to join the business only i know how much we had to convince uncle .. uff it was a tough job , that day i understood why is he so stubborn ...hehe ... Like father like son ...
The journey was a silent one , an exception with us ... There had been no such situations when we two sat so quiet but I don't know what to speak ... And to whom should i speak because the kabir who returned is not the same who went 3 months back ... I have questions to myself whom am I supposed to call my best friend the one who went away that day , or the one who returned ... ?
The trail of thought broke with a jerk ... And a laugh that erupted due to my shocked expressions ... " Tu abhi bhi bilkul waise hi h na nishu ... Bilkul nahi badli " he said looking towards me ...
" Haan shayad badal jana chahiye tha ... To shayad dard thoda kam hota ... " Unknowingly i murmured ,
"Kya ? Kuch kaha tune ?" He asked and i nodded in a no with a smile realising the blunder ...
"Kya?? ab kya ghoor rahi h jana nahi h ?? Ab late nahi horaha tujhe? " He asked as we reached the destination ..
Bidding him bye i deboarded and was about to enter the office premises when he shouted from behind ...
" Don't forget the Saturday ... " His wide contagious smile was threatening me of the insecurities that are stored within me ...
I know this Saturday will be the happiest day for him and a dreadful one for me ... Because i know what's awaiting me this Saturday ... It's the same day 8 years ago that took away my most precious possession ... Or was it ever mine ??
I reached home only to be welcomed by an overjoyed family , i guess he visited home too ... Anyhow i was too exhausted both mentally and physically to pay any heed and went to my room to freshen up and rest ... I told my family not to disturb me as I'm tired and already had dinner and luckily they all agreed without any arguments ..
Sleep was far away from me today so i carried the book to the window hoping that it will help the strom within me calm down...
But i was wrong ... How ironic i relied on another fantasy to make me forget mine , whereas it just pumped the fuel more as i drifted back to those days again ...
At times it feels so strange that how a single day , a single hour , a minute or even a second changes everything makes your life upside down nothing remains same like before ... But in my case it was a message , just a message that changed everything, a message from the one which used to brighten my day but that night it broke me apart ...
To be continued ...
Edited by poornima_15 - 7 years ago
Cricket
Chakravarti Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan
Mangal Lakshmi
