Can you get away???

Ruchika had just returned home from her school when she saw a man talking to her father about her being good in Tennis.An air of feeling good filled her lungs,she went into the kitchen and saw her mom cooking hot bhajiya's for the man in the hall room....

 "who is that uncle mom"??? she asked with a mixed expression of happiness and inquisitiveness
 "Ohh that man is the IGP of haryana"???? her mom said, with heavy stress on the word IGP
 "And what is he here for???"she asked, knowing very well what he was here for
 "Ohh he thinks you are very good at tennis, he wants you to be promoted to next level, by the way he is the president of the association as well and you have to go meet him tomorrow" her mom said with a sense of pride

 "Okay" ruchika said with a smile and giggled her way into her bedroom.


       Ruchika went next day to the man's office, full of energy and excitement, she wanted to play for India, and would do any hard work to reach there. She took along her best friend anuradha to witness her praises, but what she didn't know was anuradha was to witness the most heinous crime of humanity. On pretext of calling the tennis coach SPS Rathore sent Anuradha out, when Anuradha came back she saw ruchika crying for mercy and rathore molesting ruchika, Anuradha screamed in a high pitch resulting in him letting go of ruchika.

       SPS Rathore warned ruchika and her friend with severe consequences if they confided into anybody, Ruchika couldn't keep her emotions at bay and confided everything to her father 2 days later. His father was a  rich man and he could not bear his daughter being molested, he filled a police complaint and the result??? No rathore was not arrested,

• ruchika was expelled the very next day from one of  the poshest convent school for stealing pens of other students 
•  2 weeks later her younger brother was expelled from the same school on similar allegations. 
•  1 year later some goons forced ruchika's family out of their home in panchkula, they shifted cities, determined to go on with the case
•  2 years later ruchika's brother was arrested by the police on allegation of 11 thefts, he was tortured brutally giving him multiple fractures, despite being a minor.......
• Unable to cope up with the pressure, ruchika hangs herself in her bedroom, all at the age of 17 

          Yes this is the true story of Ruchika girhotra, the girl from panchkula, haryana who was molested by IGP rathore in 1990 at the age of 14 at the pretext of promoting her to the next level, she committed suicide three years later at the of 17.The story seems straight out of an Hindi movie where the villain always has his way,where the sufferer is made to suffer even more until one day the protagonist wins, truth prevails over lies, justice is delivered, Did i say justice???? Thats the only difference between hindi movie and this case, rathore after 19 years of long case got 6 months of imprisonment and Rs 1000 fine and is now currently out on bail.

           Why does a molester becomes a molester??? what is the reason behind it??? Mallika sherawat did her first film amd became famous for some 17 kisses, unprecedented in hindi cinema, the director of the movie was asked why he always has kissing scenes in his movies, his reply was, if he had been in france he would have made art documentaries, but since India is compact and close, he takes out his frustration this way. Nothing can justify molestation of a minor or in fact anyone, but, is our proud heritage the very making of a devil??  Why do so many rape cases happen in India??, and no, i wont buy the hypothesis that Indians are the most desperate men on the planet,its proven otherwise already. Right from an AIDS awareness campaign to a condom ad, all is a taboo in India, the intolerance level amongst us is so huge that the list of don't's keeps on growing, this leads to the making up of a demon, the frustration. I would rather live in a country which has zero cultural values(as we claims our culture to be the best), rather than living in a country where women are molested every minute.

          
             Now coming to this case, and in general the judiciary system, how fair is our judiciary system??? I would say , naah not quite.....The track record has been poor, jessica lal's murderer almost got acquitted, had it not been for public's intervention. Salman khan is still a free man after running over 4 people, driving drunk and without license, whereas a common man would face jail for a year even if caught driving drunk. And more  recently SPS Rathore being given just a 6 months jail, and a Rs 1000 fine, more surprising is the comment by the judge who claims that Rathore is being victimized.Why It took 19 long years and life of the girl to deliver the judgement?. Why was SPS rathore not booked for abettment  of suicide? that would have invited imprisonment of at least 10 years. Why was he made the DGP of haryana state despite a criminal case going against him and what was Om prakash chautala thinking as a chief minister when he recommended him for the president's medal for great service to police force??

           Questions are many, answers are none. Will the young girl who wished to play tennis for India get justice?? It is time to stand up against this system united, every single drop makes an ocean. I know it is all philosophical, but then philosophy is what drives our lives..........

What if "it" happened?

           Part of the credit for this blog I would like to share with the movie buff which resides inside me. I saw three movies in past few months. 2012 to start with, then I saw Dasvidaniya on PC and then recently Paa on the big screen. No these movies don't have anything in common, except for my mind which tries to link up things. So, to my mind, these movies had only one thing in common, the feeling of impending death in the mind of the protagonist(s). 2012 was a movie which showed the impending destruction of earth in the year 2012, Paa was a movie which showed a patient of a genetic disease progeria who would ultimately die. So what would a person do if he knows he dying??

            In the movie Dasvidaniya the protagonist prepares a 'to-do' list before he dies, like buying a car, marrying a girl , hitting his boss along with many other things. Ideally that is what a person should be doing, enjoying his very last moments.

          A friend asked me if all were to die in 2012 along with me of course , what would I do, I made a similar check list, getting married, then buying a good huge car,a huge flat in the south Mumbai area, using all my cards to their limit. I asked my friend, "What would you do??" ,she replied "Is this how things go??"

                 I pondered a lot over her last statement(yeah I wasn't working till then so you see i had a lots of time to spare for any kind of thoughts).A calm human mind free of any stress who is giving a personality test on facebook  would certainly give the answers like I did and probably get a reply suitable enough to publish it to his/her freinds, but a freaked out stressed human mind with the fear of impending death would certainly panic. He could have two ways to go about it, he may either loose his mind and go into depression or would try to frantically find a way to prevent the impossible.  If his relatives and near and dear ones know about the impending death they would be inconsolable and that would further drain out his/her mind of anything cheerful left. If his/her relatives are unaware of anything then although he may get occasionally cheered up but he would suffocate inside thinking over and over again about what impends him. Occasionally he may blame god( if he is a believer) for choosing him, an atheist would probably be critical of himself or the cause that may cause it. Believer or non-believer, criticism for anything and everything will be his part of life. He may become more rude or more soft depending on his persona,  Stress always makes a person temperamental so chances are he may become rude.

                      The person would count his days to death and may finally die a painful death. So what would we do? I am uncertain of the answer. Perhaps, I will go on a world tour, tell my loved ones how much I love them and spend time with them. The character of Anand from the movie Anand comes closest to what I think is the perfect way to leave the world gracefully. Having said that, I also believe that although unknown death is painful for the body, but knowing death is painful for mind, soul and body.

                         May god bless everyone with immortality

A day in a stadium

Okay so by general consensus, a few things can be concluded, Guys and Girls both don't like Test match, Many guys and a meager no.of girls like One day cricket match, and all guys and a few more no. of girls like T-20 match. Basically i am like any other normal guy who would at many occasions find a Test match very boring( although it can be nail biting sometimes). So when one of my best friend and a passionate and avid cricket watcher offered a pass to me for the test match between India and Srilanka at the brabourne stadium in Mumbai i refused to go on the first day, reason being it was srilanka's batting and primary reason being stadium is far away from my home, but i could not refuse on the second day, primarily because he is the best convincer i have ever met and secondarily because it was India's batting.




                  I reached the stadium a little late but just in time to see our Viru paaji making a century, the crowd went into hysteria and chants of viru viru went louder and louder. Jay took me to the North stand and then i recollected, oh my god this is the costliest stand and apparently the most notorious stand. This was the very same stand from which three people were arrested in 2007 for mocking andrew symonds with monkey faces. I frowned thinking of the menace i had got myself into. I looked around my self and so few good looking girls sitting, that came as a relief as i was prepared for a boring day ahead.

              Viru paaji had just hit a huge six of muralidharan and i stood up to cheer but to my surprise the whole crowd was chanting "Aussie suxx" again and again. I asked my friend why and what is happening, he pointed his finger to the commentary box right on top of us and there he was, bradd hogg the former australian cricketer who is here as a commentator. He at first tried to ignore the comments but he went in and came out and i saw something which gave a very fitting reply to the crowd, a middle finger in his right hand was raised towards the crowd. Although this only raised the chants from the crowd. In the meanwhile dravid was on the strikers end and was playing in his trademark "wall" style.

             It was tea time and i was definitely feeling very hungry, i asked my friend to buy something, but all the food stalls were overflowing with people( Test match at mumbai still draws crowds!!!!), to my relief a food vendor came up with domino's pizza. I heaved a sigh of relief.....

         "Bhaiya, give me two pizza's,small" i said taking out Rs 80
         " Saab it is 200" he said
         "What?????????!!!!!!!" i said in a voice loud enough for the chic sitting a block next to me to look at me.....
         "What else do you think sir, we have to pay license fee to the BCCI, besides we also have to pay the stadium authorities to allow us to work here and get things in"   the vendor said
         "But......."
         " Leave it yaar, we will buy one pizza and enjoy" jay interrupted as i started to say something
    

     So a pizza meant to feed one person ended up feeding two hungry souls. Since it was not enough, we bought samosa's and cold drinks and we did't argue when we paid Rs 15/ cold and bland samosa and never mind the half cup not so cold "cold drink" which was priced at Rs 20.

       The match resumed and even sehwag's sixers started looking monotonous to me and again the crowd surprised me... "Walk and talk talk and walk" the crowd started shouting with increasing tempo. I looked up and saw a TV production team official talking on his phone. And this time i couldn't stop myself from laughing and couldn't stop myself from joining in the crowd chants.I couldn't stop myself from dancing when sehwag hit a six. Slowly i was getting pulled in to what i considered a few hours back a taboo. I was all pumped up when crowd started with this yelling "Item" again and again. I looked at jay with a quizzing look, he pointed to a girl who was walking behind the boundary towards the cameraman. I could not blame the crowd for this behavior . The girl was wearing a designer outfit with cross cut at shoulder and knee length dress. The dress was black and was well complementing her body( read curves). The girl then looked up with a faint smile towards the stand and everyone started shouting again, but this time it was "Sorry". Although i was tempted to join in, but didn't join in the crowd chants. I didn't want to end up in police lock up(yes the aussie monkey haunted me).

       Finally dravid labored to his half century and with a heavy heart i asked jay to leave along with me. The experience of watching a match in stadium which would have been boring other wise on a TV was amazing. Everytime going to a stadium may be impractical but one such experience is must for cricket lovers.

  PS- 1) For BCCI and cricket authorities....."kyu paisa paisa karti hai, paise pe kyun marti hai"
         2) I tried watching the Test match on TV and i still find it boring......
         3) The north stand i was sitting in had the plushest of crowd with the roudiest of the behavior......

The phases of life for boys- with girls that is

        When a boy is born in a north Indian family,the grand parents go hysteric regarding a boy being born in their family, i don't know why?? From all my 22 yrs and at least 17 yrs in conscious i don't see a reason for being extremely proud of boy being born in a family, because ultimately intentionally or unintentionally females get more attention than males.

       So i went over the incidences and mindsets i had possessed or most of the boys have possessed over their years regarding girls.

  Phase-I- (0-4 yrs)

     This is the phase of innocence for boys. The girls reading this, believe me or not but all boys are innocent at this point of their life. From innocence stems ignorance for them. Boys are always confused about what a "girl" is. What exactly separates girls from boys. Parents usually have a hard time telling us the difference without dwelling too much into other things(read Birds and bees).

     "mom" i said shouting at the top of my voice after attending the first day at prep
     "what son?, keep your voice low" my mom said
     " What are these girls???"
     "Girls......they are just like you, sweet children but they keep long hair and don't shout like monkeys, like you do"
     "But mom, one of my friend kushal keeps long hair and he is a boy, and anuja keeps short hair and she is a girl" i asked inquisitively
     "ohhh then....well girls are some one who will wear skirts to school and not pants like you do" She said
     "haan, yeah so thats the difference" i said satisfied with the answer

 Phase-II- Primary and may be up to 7th or 8th std 


This is the phase in boys life where he actually hates girls, i know all you girls reading this may find it hard to believe but it is true, Boys hate girls for many things during this time. Guys don't like girls crying all the time. Guys hate the high handed attitude girls have and guys don't like girls getting special preferences.So in short you can say guys are jealous of girls getting pampered by teachers and guys getting the stick all the time. It surely doesn't help if the guy has a younger sister at home who gets pampered all the time( as was the case with me). This actually translated into ultimate hatred for girls in me and many other guys of the class and we formed a union against girls in 4th std( yeah see, we were smart enough to form a union, communism any one?). The main purpose of the union was to ignore girls. And then one day eureka.......

       "Hey abhishek" sneha came up to me putting her hand on my shoulder
       "stay away" i said in a calm voice and at the same time i brushed my shoulder and blew air from my mouth in a sweeping action.
       "What?????? you brushed your shoulder just because i touched you??" she said this and touched again
    
       I brushed again and what followed was an utter chaos in the school, all the girls were running behind the union guys to touch them( how badly i would give an arm for such a situation now!!!!!!). The whole school turned into a chasing ground for the girls.It was only after the intervention and scolding of the class teacher that we stopped( damn these girls, they got away again, we thought).

       The boys become a little milder by 6-7th but the some hatred still remains.....

Phase III- 9th and 10th


   This is the phase where the guys learn about birds and bees from some knowledgeable sources. And this is when they realize that why girls are the way they are. The two years,that is 9th and 10th go away noticing the changes.

       "Hey look that girl has grown so tall" 1 boy says
       "forget that, don't you think her chest is a little weird?? she is getting fatter" 2nd boy says
       "Dumbo, she is becoming a woman now" some other boy says

  During this phase guys are best behaved with girls or at least most of the guys. After learning about many things they refrain from hitting them( which was very common before), in fact not even touching them, If a guy shakes hand with a girl, it is considered to be a big taboo in the class. Also during this phase we get to see the wannabe perverts,in case girls always wondered when and how, yes it is during this time that many guys become perverts. So these perverts go about trying to grope some of the girls in the school, may be during assembly prayers, may be during the physical training classes. I have to shamefully admit that some guys do this on many innocent girls in the school.

   Phase IV-High school(11th and 12th)


  This is the beginning of the love stories. Yes this is the time when guys take crushes on the beautiful girls who have by now realized what potential they have.The mentality of boys mature too. It is no longer a taboo to shake hands with a girl. This is the time when guys instead of forming hate unions against the girls form the admiration society for all the good looking girls in the class. Although this is the time when almost all guys are shy about their feelings for a girl(a rare sight, a shy guy). The guy will admire the girl from a distance, the girls during this time are at their ignorant best, as they hardly gauge a guys feeling. Basically this is a very non- happening phase, but a phase of significant change.

  Phase V- College life


 Enter college and guys become roaring tigers.They are no longer shy about their feelings.They become overtly practical about feelings for a girl and flirt quite vocally. The girls also start liking all the attention and finally able to understand a guy. The guy on the other hand is now scared of commitment, he believes in flings, sometimes to satisfy a part of his desires( i don't have to elaborate, do i have to??). And this is the time when many guys are at their best for rudeness. The care which they might have shown during their high school days is now missing. A guy may have one or more than one affair or else their are guys who don't commit to any one girl and enjoy a healthy "just friendship" with many girls at a time. This is the most fun filled and also probably the darkest phase in a guys life.

Phase VI- The office 


 Sorry all those who are reading this, the time i was writing this blog i was into office yet, i ll surely write a sequel in a few months as to how things go in a corporate world for guys , with girls that is.........so keep reading and keep commenting on my blogs till then..........(geesh i very think i should be in marketing)

Bull who got bullied- II

       This blog of mine won't be a short story like the previous one....ohh by the way if some of you have missed my previous post, it was a short story on ragging, and it was kinda prelude to this blog. Since you have already taken the efforts to visit my blog and then please read the part-I to able to find a  link with this blog( i know its torture, but 5 mins of your precious time and a nice comment will make my day....uhhh i guess i should be in marketing).

      Before you start abusing me for veering off the topic, i ll snap back to the topic, no, its not ragging, its a wider issue of bullying. Bullying in a simple way can be defined as a process in which a more powerful person suppresses a weaker person to have his/her own way and the person who does that is known as a bully. Bullying  can be at any range and level. Even in small preps where a stronger kid may snatch tiffin to big corporate offices where a boss or colleague may bully people.Bullying may sometimes be funny and sometimes lead to dire consequences.

                A very common example of bullying is in local trains of mumbai. Yes its just another public transport, but for those who use it daily,its almost like a second home for them , and for some of them for whom it is a second home dont like it when they have to share it with some one new. In such a case they may not allow the person to board the train or else ask a person to vacate the seat for him/her(yes women are big time bullies as well, in case you thought why i used "her"). Bullying is very common in school and that is where it reaches dangerous proportions. Because a child's mind is like a dough(i know, its an old saying but very true), it can get molded any way we want. Bully or the one who is getting bullied both of them suffer.

              Now my previous post was loosely based on an incident which happened in gurgaon last year in school. Yes the person involved was my name sake(Abhishek tyagi). This particular name twin of mine was a big time bully in the school and stopped at nothing to bully two kids into frustration. The two poor souls started going into depression and worse still, their parents were not aware of anything of it. The two of them decided to set things straight with the bully. The carried a hand gun to school and shot the big time bully in a secluded place taking turns.( uhhh by the way it really feels scary when you hear that some one who shared the same name as yours actually died, and more so when it is splashed all over the news). The big bully died and the poor souls put into even poorer remand home. Result?? Everyone suffered, right from the kids, their families and even the school.

           Now what explains a bully's behavior?? Unfortunately i took up science and further still engineering , so i could not take up psychology or psychiatry. But from what i have seen and read, i believe that a bully becomes a bully because he has been at some point or other in life been a victim of bullying. It could be his parents, teachers, boss and sometimes even by life that he could have got bullied. The rule of nature is simple, the powerful suppresses the powerless. So someone bullies a person and in turn he bullies some one else and so the hierarchy goes on. Then the question is, why is everyone not a bully. That is because bullies are mentally not strong enough to handle the pressure of being bullied and hence they take out the frustration on someone less powerful than them. Those who are able to handle the pressure don't resort to bullying the powerless.

          Is bullying a psychiatric problem?? yes, indeed it is and it can be solved, but then how effective the solution would be. As long as the rule of nature exist, the bullies will continue to exist and as long as such bullies exist, the weaker people will continue to crumble or take drastic steps as survival instincts........

Bull who got bullied

  "Turn around" the 1st boy said in a cold voice
  "No please" he said
   "Dont force us to force you, co-operate please" the 2nd boy said in a sarcastically polite way
    He turned around and closed his eyes tightly waiting with heavy heart for lashes he was expecting...

    "Now strip down" the 1st boy said
    "no........aaaahhhhh" he screamed aloud as he was hit by belt by the second boy
    "I told you not to force us to use force" the second boy said with firm devil intent in his voice
    "please i beg to you" he said while stripping down into nothing
    "oh c'mon don't beg to us, you are an engineer and hence you are not supposed to be a beggar" the second boy said giving a hi-fi to the 1st boy

    Still warm with the belt lash on his back he felt a warm body closing in on him, his heart started pumping hard expecting another belt lash instead of which came something he never expected.......


           "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

    He got up screaming aloud, he looked around there was no one, his room mate was sleeping cozily on his bed, He was completely drenched with sweat, His heart was pumping heavily. He got up from the bed and headed straight to the bathroom, he washed his face and looked into the mirror, his face was blood shot. He was not able to forget the series of events which happened to him a week ago. The dreams kept recurring to haunt him again and again of the helpless state he was in. The police and principle of the college refused to help him because both the boys were well sourced and "good students" of a "good college". Even his anal swabs were not enough to convince the police of their crime.

      "Enough" he screamed out aloud in the bathroom and started crying. He was not able to sleep . It was a night he had to take a decision. He could not remain locked in the room his whole life. He had to face  the world and he had to face them, but this time things would be different and he would be different.....

   "Ohhh so you came to college today??" the 1st boy said
   "He was cherishing the experience man, it is a once in a life time experience junior, isnt it??" the second boy said to him mockingly
   "Yeah , it was indeed" he said with a faint smile
   "Is that supposed to mean you enjoyed it??" the 1st boy said
   "Ask him if it were the lashes he enjoyed or the other thing" the 2nd boy said to the 1st boy, laughing hysterically
   "I guess both" he said
   "Lets have an encore then" 1st boy
   "For the old memories sake, see you at the same place" the 2nd boy said
   "Sure" he said
   "And like last time, don't force us to use force" the 2nd boy said with cold expression


  It was a full moon night. The full moon was beautiful but it was still faint in front of the beauty of the new found feeling he was about to experience with those two boys. A feeling of satisfaction and completeness.

 "You came before us???" the 1st boy said
 "I have to turn around, isn't it??" he said
 "You seem to be in a big hurry man" the 2nd boy said
 
  He pulled his pants down and again he could sense the boys warm body nearing his body. This was the moment he had been waiting for, the moment which was about to give him satisfaction, satisfaction of revenge.
As the boy neared him...

     The second boy was looking at the full moon. How beautiful the moon was, but it was nothing in front the beauty of the feeling of suppressing someone. He suddenly heard a gun shot and a loud shriek from the 1st boy. He turned around to see his junior, he was holding a pistol upside down between his legs..... His body felt numb, he could not face the enormity of the situation, his best friend had just been shot in the groin, his friend was writhing with pain lying in a pool of blood. He reached for him and shook him, he shook him again, "wake up man" he said under his breath. His friend was dead.....

      "You fool, bastard, you killed my friend, you will pay for it" the second boy said at the top of his voice and proceeded to take out his belt but stopped mid way
       "You forced me to use the force" he said pointing the pistol to the second boy's head
       "Now man, don't you think its a bit too much, it was just ragging, senior junior interaction,thats all"  the second boy said in a shaky voice filled with fear
       "Yes, i know, so even what i am doing is a plain senior junior interaction, bye bye" he said in a cold voice
      
     He touched the pistol on the boys head and pulled the trigger immediately, blood got splattered from the boys head on to his face. The blood was warm and he could feel it. He was satisfied now, and he was complete. He looked at the moon and said, "this is more beautiful than you". Looking at the bodies ,a smile came across his face, the smile converted into a laugh, and then a roar of laughter. The round nose of the pistol barrel appeared attractive and amusing to him, he looked at it again and again. He wanted to have a closer look at the pistol nose. He brought it close to his eyes. He wanted to feel this round nose of pistol. He was the king of the world now, immortal and undefeatable, he touched the pistol nose to his forehead, his fingers went slowly to the trigger, his heart after what looked like an eternity started to pump heavily again but he could not stop himself, he knew he had to do it, this was what he had planned and this was what the destiny had planned for him. Slowly he pulled the trigger and soon he could feel a force entering his head. Thats the last he remembered, he could not see or feel anything anymore.

Next day newspaper cutting-

           "Last night in freak incident, three boys from RSNP engineering college died here on the terrace of the boys hostel.Dhananjay roy was a first year student from mumbai, the other two Shantanu mallik and Chriss Joseph who were third year students are said to be belonging to well to do families from delhi. It is apparently believed that the Dhananjay was mentally unstable and brutally murdered the two boys who were just having a night out on hostel terrace. Finger prints on the pistol are of dhananjay roy who apparently stole the pistol from one of the guard standing on duty here. Dhananjay then in a fit of mental instability shot himself on the forehead. The college authorities and local police are investigating the case and promise to reach the depth of the issue very soon.

The boy who lived....

 A young boy climbed up the aisle to the stage in the morning assembly on the 1st day of our secondary session,  he cleared his throat before starting to recite a Hindi poem in chaste and fluent way.

       "Mom who is this guy??" i asked my mom who was also a teacher in the same school i studied  in
       "Son,he is tanmay, he will be your classmate from this year, he is manju teacher's son"
       " He is so nice on stage" i said
        "isnt he,you know he used to stammer at a young age??"
        "ohhhh....but he doesnt stammer now....how??
        "Hard work to get out of a bad situation is what he did"
        "ok"
We all proceeded to our classes after our section were announced, since he was as tall as me i approached him and sat next to him.

           "You are seema aunty's son naa?? Hi i am tanmay" he said with a wide grin and a loud voice
            "Yeah i am abhishek"
            " I know"
            "Ok take this" he said with a melody chocolate in hand
            "uhhhhhh okay thanks" after some resistance i accepted the chocolate from him

                I started enjoying his company more and more. So much so that i used to look forward to the next day to spend time with him. We shared many interests which included hatred towards girls( How stupid i was, and how diagonally opposite i am now), hating homeworks ,bad handwriting, passion for going on stage and laughing aloud at silly jokes. We used to play cricket in the evening together. And sometimes we even studied together. My mom taught us English and social while his mom Hindi and Sanskrit. The quarterly exams came by. He to my surprise topped the class and i barely made it to the top 10. He turned out to be much more than what i was. We did share interests but he was better at them . He was better at handling the stage, hating the girls to the level of having a fist fight with them which i never could do and later it turned he was much better at studies than me.

               We never fought, but when our mom's went for a picnic with 10th std to ooty they took both of us along. And it was there that we started fighting. The fights were always petty, like who will get to seat at the window, or why i am sharing my bed with my mom rather than with him. One moment we used to fight and the next moment we were together.This all continued till 8th std.And yes he kept on topping till 8th std.

            In 9th std i got into different division due to my choice of elective subject. Slowly 9th std passed by and i became less aware of him. And we then came into the big year, the 10th std. Suddenly i came across him one day at the market.

                "where you coming from tanmay??" i asked
                "ohh i went to movie , devdas, nice movie"he said with a sense of excitemet
                "dont you think you should be studying? and how did aunty allow you??" i asked in bewilderment
                " I didn't tell her, as simple as that" he said shrugging his shoulders

        The results came out and i was shocked, no, not for me but for him because for the first time i had scored more than him, he had lost his position and many people had climbed up on him. He seemed least disturbed by this and seemed uncharacteristically chilled out. We went to the same high school, and this time again he was in a different section. It was my birthday and i decided that it was time to reconnect with my old friend. He promptly came on time for my party but was panting....

             "What happened?" i asked worriedly
             " nothing i need to go now, my girl friend is waiting for me" he said with a smile
             "I thought you hated girls, who is she any way.....and...."
             "No not any more,i love girls now ,she is my classmate,wanna see her?? come along"
             "No you go, i ll stay back"

     But out of curiosity i followed him, without knowing ,i saw the girl, she was pretty, but she left in only 5 mins and he was joined by some other set of friends. I saw one of them taking out a packet and to my astonishment, it was cigarette which he had lighted. I was shocked to the core. I didn't keep much touch with him may be due to some of my morals(baseless may be) and fear of being in wrong company. Grade 12 exams also came by and went and this time he had fallen well below his previous score. And he was least perturbed. His dad and mom promptly gave donation for him in the same college in which i had got my admission. Unfortunately he took different branch and yet again i couldn't be in his class. His consequent results were not good . He got 2 backs in 1st sem and 3 in 2nd, as a result of which he got a year drop. He cleared the least no. of subjects required to move on to next year and came back as a year junior to me. But this time again he could not clear one first year subject due to which he was denied permission to move to next year and now he became 2 yrs junior to me. I have passed out my engineering and he is still in third year.

       I lost tanmay my friend somewhere in translation, someone i had loved as a brother had gone astray. Who can we blame for his debacle?? His parents?? no that would be a grave mistake. He is himself responsible for his downfall. Deciding the set of friends is always a personal choice and i guess he made the wrong decisions at crucial times. The rush of testosterone and adrenaline, and the will to prove to this world took him to stooping lows. The boy with whom i lived my best part of life is i think no longer even living the life he is supposed to live.

          Their is a famous doha by someone i don't know( uhh plagarising again, but from my old hindi textbook) which says that snakes may be always wrapped around a sandal wood tree but a sandal wood tree never gets poisonous and always retains its charm...............Hope you are well versed with this doha tanmay.....