Only a year ago, life seemed so complete and heavenly to him. A best friend Arjun, but no less than a brother. Thus he was absolutely elated when he found that Arjun is joining ETF, one of the premiere security forces of the country as second-in-command, chiefed by him. He was looking forward to work with him. They got acquainted in the academy where they were undergoing training for IPS. Arjun Rawte was a free spirited guy, an ebullient soul, who always believed in the presence of sun behind the clouds. Sameer, on the other hand was a serious boy , broken and fighting with the bitter memories of a deprived life.
His parents were divorced in his childhood, thus he was torn between them, till both of them shrugged him off and left him to the mercy of boarding school. He was too young to understand the complications of life and its relations and more over the complex psychologies of human mind. His mind only registered that his parents don't love him anymore, the reason he is incapable of understanding, instead of realising that his parents don't love each other any more. He failed to understand what went wrong on his part that he reached such a cross road in his life.
Sam's mom: Sameer, itne bade ho gaye, phir bhi apne school bag arrange nehi kar sakte??? U r in class 6 damn it. Jab main nehi rahungi toh kis se karwaoge??? Apne dad se toh bilkul bhi ye ummeed maat rakhna.
Sam: Mom, ap kaha chale jaoge??? Ap dusre ghar kyun jaoge??? Hamare saath kyun nehi rahoge??? Pls bolo na pls pls pls...
Sam's mom: Oh! Shut up Sameer. Tum chup ke apne parents ki baate sunte ho??? Shame on u. Aur janne ka agar itna hi shaukh hai toh jaa ke apne dad se kyun nehi poochte???
He tried to reason it out with his parents but always got a scolding or even slaps in return. After sometime they turned a deaf ear to his rantings. Back at home he was left in the hand of servents and nannys by his workaholic parents. Unable to find any answers, he spent nights with haunting dreams that his parents are leaving him, during the days when his parents were fighting for separation and then sleepless nights, when his parents were finally separated. He became a brooding kid with no body to give a ear to his plight and agony. With these, other negativities also creeped inside his heart and brain and occupied a permanent place. He became an irritated soul, cranky and difficult to handle. Confusions and anger became his best friends. He was the son of Anirudh Rathod and Nandini Rathod, but one morning he became the son of Anirudh Rathod only. It became unacceptable to a child who is yet to understand the depth of the signatures that the divorce papers of his parents bore. He couldn't find any justification as to why their big family portrait still hung in the wall but his mother and her belongings couldn't be traced anywhere in their house.
Life according to him was a punishment which fate had bestowed upon him for no fault of his. As if destiny was conspiring against him to keep him away from all joy and merriments. Though he craved for love and for someone whom he can call as his own, still his insecured heart pushed away anyone who try to come near him. He felt claustrophobic in the world full of life. In his growing years, at first he used to get hell irritated to the sympathetic approach of the world towards him but after sometime he used to feel a strange sense of satisfaction clouding his mind thinking that he is actually punishing his parents by choosing a life which is far away from being called as normal, he drew an unknown pleasure by tolerating the taunts of his friends so as to prove his parents guilty of not providing their only child a proper life.
If only he knew, how wrong, how damn wrong he was. His parents completed their duty towards him by paying his college fees and sending a happy birthday message once in a year to add to his sorrows. As it dawned upon him, that his parents are far from being guilty, they don't even care how, in what condition he lived and enjoying their shares of life with respective partners, he was shattered.
It was at this point of life, that he came across a certain Arjun Rawte. If Arjun was sun spreading energy and warmth to everyone around, living life to the fullest, Sam was the like the moon carrying an enigmatic aura around him, reliable, dependable but extremely calm. Sam couldn't stand Arjun even for a moment during the early academy days but what attracted him towards Arjun is his strong ideals, helpful and selfless nature, which he rarely came across in this selfish world. Arjun's eyes reflected purity, honesty and bravado which is also quite unlikely now a days. On the other hand, Arjun was so happy and contented in his life that he thought it was his duty to help other people get rid of their sorrows. Now, in the police academy, with little scope of tricks and enjoyment , Sam was a lucrative prey in Arjun's eyes for his forceful public service that is helping. Arjun more or less knew all his academy friends in and out but Sam seemed a tough nut to crack. After spending some months he only got to know Sam's basic details. What increased his curiosity regarding Sam, was that, his scanner eyes could easily distinguish the underlying pain and lonliness in Sam's eyes which he skillfully tried to hide under the facade of calmness and introvert nature. So he tried all his tactics to rile Sam up.
Arjun: Hey Sam Kya kar raha hai akele baithe baithe. See humlog sab bahar new year celebrate kar rahe hai. Tu bhi aaja.
Sam: Kitni baar bola hai mujhe irritate maat karo. Aur mera naam Sameer hai, Sam nehi. Ek baar me samajh me nehi aata kya???
Arjun: Arey hyper maat ho re. Tu hamesha naak pe itna gussa leke ghumega toh woh ek din tera saath chod dega. Accha ek baat bata, tu din bhar room ke andar bore nehi hota kya???
Sam: Tumse matlab?? Tum kya expect karte ho, tumhare saath baithke konsi trainer ki kaise band bajani hai woh plan karu???
Arjun: Chod bhai. Tu chahega phir bhi tujhse nehi hoga. Itna toh main tujhe samajh hi gaya.
Sam: Accha hai pura nehi samjha warna yeh 1000 watt ki Colgate smile ko alvida kehna padta. Had koi itni khushnaseeb nehi hota ki jindegi ki rangeen roop ko dekhe.
Arjun: Woh hi toh mujhe samajh na hai, ki konsi baat tujhe itna pareshan karta hai??? Kya hai tere past me??
Sam: Kyun, apni behen ki shadi karwana hai mujhse ya tumhara roz ka khana hazam nehi hoga???
Arjun: He he he, arey nehi nehi meri behen abhi bohot choti hai.
Sam uttered whatever came to his mind, without even thinking that Arjun may have a sister. Thus he started stammering.
Sam: sorry... woh...actually... mujhe pata nehi tha... ki tumhara... behen ...bhi hai ...toh.. galti se...
Arjun didn't let him complete. He spoke up...
Arjun: He he he... pata hai ..pata hai. Na hi tujhe kisike bareme kuch pata aur na hi kisiko tere bareme. Lekin yaad rakhna ye Arjun hamesha tere saath hai. Jindegi ka kya bharosa?? Ho sakta hai ek din tujhe mera hi jaroorat pade.
Back in present, Sam is jerked back to reality. True, if he is missing someone very badly tonight, it's none other than Arjun. He needs his bestie, his guide badly today, his lighthouse Arjun, who only can save him from getting lost in the vast ocean of anguish.
Sam was lost, too lost in his world that he didn't see the bright light of the truck, approaching speedily towards him from the opposite direction, neither did its loud honks reached his ears. Atlast last when he noticed, in a haste to avoid it, he steered his car directly into the huge trunk of a tree. The eerie silence of the midnight was broken by a loud bang as the car crashed to it. The headlights of the car blew out, not before illuminating the surroundings for the last time. Sameer was thrown out of the car due to the impact of collision and he rolled for some distance away on the ground before finally settling at a place, not far away. He lay there among millions of glass pieces speckled with his blood, his heart ironically, bore a strange resemblance with the bloodied fragments of glass scattered all over. Flashes of his life, his dear ones, his Addu came before his eyes before he finally succumbed to the unconscious state.
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