Like Marriage, Friendships (true ones atleast) are a constant challenge and need to be worked on everyday. Some days it gets easier and some days … well we just gotta be more … ahem….ahem… what’s the word…. Aaa… Tolerant.
Let me tell you a true story to better illustrate this point. Even though I am one of the characters in it, I shall, for the purpose of fairness, recount it in the third person.
The other character is my best friend of almost 2 ½ decades HRH Prabir SJB Rana.
OK here goes.
The Place : The huge school grounds in my Alma Mater, St. Joseph’s School. Darjeeling.
The Scene: The preliminary heats are being conducted for the school sports day.
The Year : 1984 (so they were both in Std IV)
-----*-----
Vish & Rana sat bored on the grass banks as they crushed and then mixed a packet of Wai Wai instant noodles. It was the last batch from the tucks they had got from home and the next batch was still a month away so they both shared a solitary packet and each warily measured the handful that the other was taking lest someone sneak out too much of the dry instant noodles.
The 800 meters heats were just beginning and a loud cheer went up from the boisterous crowd of boys assembled in groups of various sizes all along the grassy knolls surrounding the huge field.
“I don’t run as often as I used to do” said Rana as he tilted his head back and shoved a handful of wai wais into his mouth.
“I wasn’t aware you ran at all” replied Vish licking his fingers clean of the masala.
“Don’t you remember me in the marathon,” said Rana, almost choking on the dry noodles “I ran all the way to Lebong from school”
He was bewildered that his friend had forgotten this feat of his, even as he himself conveniently forgot to remember that he had been one of the last to finish the race and that too after taking a short cut.
“Anyway,” he added “if I can remember, you were on the back of a padre’s motorcycle with a sprained ankle as you crossed the line” he said emphasizing the word sprained.
The two little boys (little quite literally as not only were they in Std IV but also boarding school thin) sat munching their wai wai’s in silence as they both contemplated what had just been said. On any other day they would have probably laughed the whole matter off as they both accepted the fact that as talented as they were and as much tennis they played or as much as they swam, track & field was not really their area of expertise.
On this fateful day however, with the evening sun glinting off the fence in the distance something inside the little boys awoke and before the words could be taken back they were both standing in front of the Coach enlisting for the heats of the next event.
It happened to be the 2000 meters.
Two friends stood at the starting line suddenly turned into competitive beasts. As the gun went off so too did the motley crew of little pre adolescents. Each eager for a place in the evening sun.
The 2000 mtrs in this ground was usually about 8 circles of the huge field. Halfway into the first circle it was clear that the two little boys were being left way back. Still they huffed and puffed their way along the track trying, around the far corners, to cut a few meters as they ran outside the line of the inner track.
It was somewhere during the 3rd circle that they realized that there were some people behind them who were slowly beginning to catch up.
Filled with a sudden rush of adrenalin they increased what little they could of their speed but still the ones from the back began inching closer and closer as they finally overtook the two little boys.
It was only as they overtook, that the 2 boys realized that those were in fact the leaders of the race who were overtaking them by a full circle.
They were still last and second last.
Still they trudged on. Each willing the other to drop out but too proud to be the first to do so.
The boys on the banks sat like bored hyenas waiting to find a weak prey to pounce on and two crazy struggling boys was exactly what this boring evening required.
They began to cheer.
“Go Rana” screamed one side as the other side immediately overcome by the competitive streak usually present in school boys instinctively shouted “Go Vish Go”
Two friends were suddenly lifted and could almost see glory at the end of the line. The line was still almost 4 circles away but that did not deter the 2 fired up athletes.
They began to race each other.
However they had both long been fed on a diet of wai wai’s and stale biscuits and stolen sugar cubes (don’t ask) and were an equal match for each other.
Rana went ahead by a leg but a few paces later Vish was ahead again and so it went.
The rest of the spectators smelling blood cheered wildly from the side. Suddenly this routine prelims was beginning to look interesting. Hearing the cheers more and more boys from other areas in the school began filing towards the ground.
And then it happened.
Amidst all the noise and hoopla it wasn’t clear who began it but suddenly the two began to pull at each other. The more they pulled the more the crowd cheered. Even as they ran they now began to claw at each others shirts. Already exhausted after almost 4 rounds they two boys could not even hold on to each other’s shirts but still they ran on.
For the first time in the school’s illustrious 100 year history the race to be second last was suddenly worth it. Or so they thought.
Their latent friendship would still not allow them to physically punch at each other but they did everything else they could. They grabbed at each other’s hair, Rana tripped Vish but in the jumble he also fell.
Shirts in disarray, hair awry, scraped shins and bleeding knees they ran on and now even began to taunt each other.
And as suddenly as it had begun it all ended.
Did I mention here that both boys also suffered from a strange affliction that made them collapse in a fit of giggles at the most inopportune moments. Many years later when they would go to visit an aunt of Rana’s to offer condolences on her mother’s passing this fit would come again but that’s another story for another day.
Now on the field, bruised and bleeding they began to laugh uncontrollably. Their already slow progress became even slower and the fickle crowd began to jeer.
The Coach, Mr. Wangden Lama (a stern a man as any) was watching all the while from the sidelines and he now decided that enough was enough and marched in and dragged the struggling little boys off the field.
The two never raced again.
Many times in the years that followed they would hark back to that day and every time, without fail, it would bring a smile and always those memories ended in a hearty chuckle.
By the way they still haven’t decided who was in the ‘lead’ when they were unceremoniously yanked out.
Sometimes even adversities can be an excuse to smile.
Time indeed heals everything.
Happy Friendship Day!
The 800 meters heats were just beginning and a loud cheer went up from the boisterous crowd of boys assembled in groups of various sizes all along the grassy knolls surrounding the huge field.
“I don’t run as often as I used to do” said Rana as he tilted his head back and shoved a handful of wai wais into his mouth.
“I wasn’t aware you ran at all” replied Vish licking his fingers clean of the masala.
“Don’t you remember me in the marathon,” said Rana, almost choking on the dry noodles “I ran all the way to Lebong from school”
He was bewildered that his friend had forgotten this feat of his, even as he himself conveniently forgot to remember that he had been one of the last to finish the race and that too after taking a short cut.
“Anyway,” he added “if I can remember, you were on the back of a padre’s motorcycle with a sprained ankle as you crossed the line” he said emphasizing the word sprained.
The two little boys (little quite literally as not only were they in Std IV but also boarding school thin) sat munching their wai wai’s in silence as they both contemplated what had just been said. On any other day they would have probably laughed the whole matter off as they both accepted the fact that as talented as they were and as much tennis they played or as much as they swam, track & field was not really their area of expertise.
On this fateful day however, with the evening sun glinting off the fence in the distance something inside the little boys awoke and before the words could be taken back they were both standing in front of the Coach enlisting for the heats of the next event.
It happened to be the 2000 meters.
Two friends stood at the starting line suddenly turned into competitive beasts. As the gun went off so too did the motley crew of little pre adolescents. Each eager for a place in the evening sun.
The 2000 mtrs in this ground was usually about 8 circles of the huge field. Halfway into the first circle it was clear that the two little boys were being left way back. Still they huffed and puffed their way along the track trying, around the far corners, to cut a few meters as they ran outside the line of the inner track.
It was somewhere during the 3rd circle that they realized that there were some people behind them who were slowly beginning to catch up.
Filled with a sudden rush of adrenalin they increased what little they could of their speed but still the ones from the back began inching closer and closer as they finally overtook the two little boys.
It was only as they overtook, that the 2 boys realized that those were in fact the leaders of the race who were overtaking them by a full circle.
They were still last and second last.
Still they trudged on. Each willing the other to drop out but too proud to be the first to do so.
The boys on the banks sat like bored hyenas waiting to find a weak prey to pounce on and two crazy struggling boys was exactly what this boring evening required.
They began to cheer.
“Go Rana” screamed one side as the other side immediately overcome by the competitive streak usually present in school boys instinctively shouted “Go Vish Go”
Two friends were suddenly lifted and could almost see glory at the end of the line. The line was still almost 4 circles away but that did not deter the 2 fired up athletes.
They began to race each other.
However they had both long been fed on a diet of wai wai’s and stale biscuits and stolen sugar cubes (don’t ask) and were an equal match for each other.
Rana went ahead by a leg but a few paces later Vish was ahead again and so it went.
The rest of the spectators smelling blood cheered wildly from the side. Suddenly this routine prelims was beginning to look interesting. Hearing the cheers more and more boys from other areas in the school began filing towards the ground.
And then it happened.
Amidst all the noise and hoopla it wasn’t clear who began it but suddenly the two began to pull at each other. The more they pulled the more the crowd cheered. Even as they ran they now began to claw at each others shirts. Already exhausted after almost 4 rounds they two boys could not even hold on to each other’s shirts but still they ran on.
For the first time in the school’s illustrious 100 year history the race to be second last was suddenly worth it. Or so they thought.
Their latent friendship would still not allow them to physically punch at each other but they did everything else they could. They grabbed at each other’s hair, Rana tripped Vish but in the jumble he also fell.
Shirts in disarray, hair awry, scraped shins and bleeding knees they ran on and now even began to taunt each other.
And as suddenly as it had begun it all ended.
Did I mention here that both boys also suffered from a strange affliction that made them collapse in a fit of giggles at the most inopportune moments. Many years later when they would go to visit an aunt of Rana’s to offer condolences on her mother’s passing this fit would come again but that’s another story for another day.
Now on the field, bruised and bleeding they began to laugh uncontrollably. Their already slow progress became even slower and the fickle crowd began to jeer.
The Coach, Mr. Wangden Lama (a stern a man as any) was watching all the while from the sidelines and he now decided that enough was enough and marched in and dragged the struggling little boys off the field.
The two never raced again.
Many times in the years that followed they would hark back to that day and every time, without fail, it would bring a smile and always those memories ended in a hearty chuckle.
By the way they still haven’t decided who was in the ‘lead’ when they were unceremoniously yanked out.
Sometimes even adversities can be an excuse to smile.
Time indeed heals everything.
Happy Friendship Day!
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