Friendship Story – The joyride
Photo credit: Seemann from morguefile.com
Rajesh and Vineet have been best friends ever since they could re-collect. This friendship blossomed by the virtue of them being neighbors. Vineet is older by 2.5 yrs among the two but are equal in every respect of their relationship.
On a hot summery afternoon in Delhi, Vineet calls out Rajesh’s name from the balcony of his first floor house. Rajesh who had just finished his lunch runs out to the verandah. He looks up to speak to Vineet while covering his eyes from direct rays of the sun which is at its hottest best at 2:30pm in the month of May. Vineet asks ‘’Lets play cricket in your Verandah’’ and without even waiting for the response he dashes for the stairs to come down. Rajesh in the mean while goes to the storeroom to pick up the bat and the ball.
He comes out and tells Vineet ‘’Yaar, there is no ball and we will have to go to the market and buy it’’
Vineet says ‘’I have 2 rupees, lets go to ‘TARUN STORE and buy one’’.
The two friends embark on Rajesh’s BMX cycle which had no brakes, chain cover and no horn. This all was removed to make it look stylish. Vineet decided to ride the cycle and Rajesh sat on the rod between the handle bar and the seat, since there was no carrier on the cycle. The two brats were unaffected by the scorching heat-wave and were enjoying doing acrobats on deserted afternoon streets. They were laughing while cracking silly jokes to each other and humming funny hindi movie songs and the next thing they remember was lying in a dry open drain.
With least attention on the empty road, on a sharp turn they unexpectedly collided with another cyclist. The rider of the 24 inch old black cycle was ‘Beera’ who worked as a helper at a nearby grocery shop ‘GOGIA GENERAL STORE’. Beera was a 20 something man with a moustache and short hair. He saw the wheel of his cycle which was completely bent and started shouting at the 2 boys. The boys retaliated, but Beera wouldn’t let them go. He demanded 35 rupees for the repair. The boys didn’t have that much money. Beera told them that one boy would stay with him and the other one should go home and fetch the money. Rajesh was petrified and didn’t want to stay there even for a second. He told Vineet ‘’Bhai, let me go home and see if I can take out some money from my ‘Bugni’ ’’.
Vineet, nodded in acknowledgement, since he anyways wouldn’t have that much money.The boy reaches home and takes a deep sigh of relief. He felt as if he just escaped death.
At the crash site Vineet was sweating like anything, not because of the heat but the fear that if Rajesh didn’t return, what will happen to him, will Beera beat him with a hockey stick, or would he take him to his jhuggi and lock him up, or worst, will he chop off his hands and make him beg at the railway station. 15 minutes had gone past and Beera gives the boy a stare while looking at his watch.
Now, Vineet’s suspicion was becoming firm, he started imagining that Rajesh would have quietly parked his cycle in the Verandah and would have gone off to sleep on his cozy bed with cool breeze coming onto his face from the cooler. He thought to himself, ‘’Saala Rajesh will not even tell anyone that I was with him when mummy will start worrying in the evening. He will say, Aunty, I didn’t even step out in the afternoon’’.
He could hear the hustle bustle of the Jhuggi cluster that Beera would take him to, cycle bells, vegetable vendors, boys playing, ladies figting…. Somehow the sound of fighting ladies didn’t seem to fade away. While he was still trying to figure it out Vineet felt a hand on his shoulder, ‘’Vineet, Vineet,’’ It was Rajesh, and he winked at him turning his head towards, the two ladies who were fighting, it was their respective mothers.
While Rajesh was trying to take out money from the Bugni, his mother became suspicious and asked him what did he need the money for in the afternoon. Rajesh couldn’t hold his emotions and started crying and narrated the entire story to his mother. The mother told the boy not to cry and asked him to take her to the accident site. On her way she rang doorbell of VIneet’s house and asks his mother to accompany and narrated her the entire story as well.
The two ladies shouted at Beera and told him to get lost while they threatened him that they will speak to Lalaji at Gogia General Store and get him thrown out from the shop. During all this commotion, the boys were quietly looking at each other, exchanging wicked smiles. They knew, now there was nothing to fear.
When all the drama ended, Vineet’s mother told the boys to come home now. Vineet took out the 2 rupee note from his pocket and while showing it to Rajesh said ‘’ Mummy, we have to buy the ball from ‘TARUN STORE’ and will be back in 10 mins’’.
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