Hey my dear friends, hope you all doing gud....Wel me too like u all a hardcore Sayank fan, n dats why dis tym thought of a Sayank OS! This one I dedicate completely to two hard core Sayankians Sara (Chillup) n Rachna (sharma.nat). Hey guys hope both of you like it...n please if it turned out to be a boring one, please do bear wid me😃
Any ways I shud stop my bak bak here...Wel buddies this OS is based on an unusual yet special bonding between Samrat n Mayank....Hope you all gud folks like it....😃
There was a framed photograph on the table beside Samrat Shergll's bed. It had been there the first night he and Mayank Sharma spent at National Defence Academy, the last, and every night in between. It had a carefully polished bronze frame, which Samrat was adamant about keeping absolutely clean. A glass plate in front of the photo, by contrast, forever had Samrat's fingerprints smudging it.
Mayank could always remember watching as Samrat stared into the photo, even as a first year, and carefully allowed the pads of his fingers to graze the photo. For months Mayank had assumed the photograph was of Samrat's family; that the wistful look in his eye was merely homesickness. It wasn't until December, when Mayank carefully set the B'day gift of chocolate frogs on his roommate's bedside table that the curiosity tugged at him and he took a look.
A small crowd of children sat in the picture, all of them looking to be three or four years old. Samrat was easy enough to find, but once Mayank located the curly, black hair he hesitated. The child in the picture was smiling, laughing with his other friends, looking animated and popular. As much as the photo seemed different than his roommate, Mayank knew it had to be him. The resemblance was too shocking for it to be otherwise.
Mayank's eyes trailed to the other children staring at each cataloguing every detail. They were unfamiliar, all of them. And he finally gave in and looked at the neatly written caption Samrat had carefully placed under the picture.
Benjamin Swamy, Uday Singh Rathore, Ranvijay Verma, Samrat Shergill, Dia Deshmukh: Spring, 1989
He couldn't just ask who they were, where they were now. Samrat would wonder why he was so interested, and he wasn't sure he had an answer that could stand up to Samrat's critiquing. So he wrote down the names on a scrap of parchment and looked them up.
Benjamin Swamy. Born October 3, 1987. Died November 17, 1990. Rival Airforce raid at school.
Uday Singh Rathore. Born March 9, 1986. Died November 17, 1990.Rival Airforce raid at school.
Ranvijay Verma. Born July 22, 1986. Died November 17, 1990. Rival Airforce raid at school.
Dia Deshmukh. Born September 1, 1987. Died November 17, 1990. Rival Airforce raid at school.
And the next time Mayank saw Samrat staring at the photograph, he knew the wistfulness was the pain of losing too many friends too soon. Mayank hadn't known many people during the war, he didn't remember too much, a couple of people moving away to somewhere safer, but no deaths that he remembered.
What it must have been like, Mayank wondered, to see your circle of friends slowly disintegrate. He wondered if Samrat's first thought had been that his friend, Benjamin, was mad at them and was sulkily refusing to play with them anymore. He wondered how long it took Samrat, way too smart for his own good Samrat, to realize that there was more to the story than his friends not coming to play anymore. After Ranvijay? After Uday? After Dia? Wondered when he realized none of his friends would ever come back to play with him. Wondered if a young Samrat would have cheerfully followed them in death if it meant not losing his playmates. Wondered if Samrat blamed himself for them leaving him behind.
After that incident, Samrat forced himself to join the NDA, though he never liked the thud n the bang of rifle, the buzzing of fighters which killed his childhood along with his childhood pals....
He distanced himself from the feeling of being with friends, he promsied himself, never in his life he will be involved with any one...his only aim to destroy those who destroyed his youth n made him choose that he hated the most!
Samrat had barely spoken a word to him the rest of the day and Mayank wasn't sure why he was angry. When they returned to the dorms after classes, he apologized anyway, blunt and awkward because he still wasn't sure what he was apologizing for. He had been honest earlier; it was his roommate who he felt to be his best friend. He was, after all, the one who listened to him every time and helped him with his homework. And it's not like it would kill Samrat to lose his snobby reputation and make some friends, anyway.
As soon as the thought registered his gaze snapped over to the photo and he quickly wrenched them away, hoping Samrat hadn't noticed. Samrat, unusually shrewd as he was, saw Mayank's eyes flicker toward the bedside photo and gave a sad smile. He took the picture into his hands and gave Mayank a look. Somehow Mayank knew that Samrat was aware of his snooping; that Samrat was well aware of how much Mayank knew.
"They were my best friends, you know." Samrat said, his voice rather distant. "And they just'disappeared. One by one. 'No, Dia won't be coming back, I'm sure she did promise to play dragons and unicorns with you, but she won't be here'." Samrat snorted and shook his head. "'No, Ranvijay won't be coming back, not for a long while.' 'No, Uday won't be back'yes, like Dia and Ranvijay.' 'Samrat, about Benjamin''"
"Samrat'" Mayank tried
"My best friends" Samrat said, with quietly. "Slowly disappearing until I was alone. I had friends once, Mayank and look what happened to them. Don't try to take their place, Mayank, please don't."
Mayank looked through Samrat's glasses to the hazel eyes that now gleamed with tears. He didn't want to forget, Mayank realized, he didn't want to move on.
Didn't want to endanger Mayank with his friendship. As if that had been what was causing the problem all the while.
The desperation in Samrat's tone was something Mayank couldn't quite understand; could never sympathize with. Or, perhaps he could. Samrat had lost friend after best friend during the war; it seemed now that Mayank was losing his. And he knew that he too would never fully let go.
"I won't." Mayank said solemnly. There was nothing else he could have said.
Samrat looked at him intently, as if to judge his honesty. Mayank had never lied to Samrat, and never would. Samrat seemed to realize this and nodded before silently gathering his things to go to the library.
From that day on, Mayank never called Samrat his best friend. If asked, Mayank would reply teasingly that Chacko was his best friend, to the general laughter of the inquirer. Mayank spent most of his time with the rest of the team, or planning strategy. Samrat had, in effect, asked him for space, and Mayank was determined to give it to him, so he focused his life around practicing rifle, the one area he was sure Samrat would have avoided anyway.
But each of Samrat's accomplishments was fondly logged away in a small corner of Mayank's heart, where Mayank could show his admiration and pride for Samrat without Samrat's unease. And no one in the crowd was more exuberant about Mayank's victories than Samrat.
No one else knew that it was Samrat, not Mayank, who had designed the play that helped Airforce wing defeat Naval wing in the match for the NDA Cup. No one else knew it was a discussion with Mayank that had inspired Samrat's potions essay that earned a grudging ten points for Airforce from Navy. They complimented each other; but they did so quietly.
Mayank never said a word when Samrat started dating Gunjan Raisingh,the daughter of the General who annoys Mayank to death, but bore a striking resemblance to Dia. Never asked Samrat for more information about these people than Samrat was willing to give. He knew when to push and when to force his curiosity to take a backseat. Samrat had always seemed grateful for that.
And their departure from NDA hadn't changed anything dramatically. Samrat had notified Mayank of his new job within seconds of getting the news himself. When Mayank was signed to Indian Airforce, Samrat found out before Mayank's own mother.
And the photograph of Samrat and Mayank, from the beginning of fifth year with them proudly wearing their respective Uniforms with respective badges, was carefully captioned and placed with greatest care into a silver frame and sat to this day on the corner of Samrat's desk. Its perfect replica on a crowded shelf with Mayank's awards.
Samrat was, without doubt, Mayank's best friend, and Mayank was Samrat's.
But they'd never say so.
Hey friendssss thats all I can write....Sayank share a beautiful bonding which cant be penned so easily.....I dont know how it has come out!!!😊 But I hope you people liked it!!! Do comment guys....n please press the like button!!!!!😃
love ya all
urs'
Aditi
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Cricket
