Before I start let me tell you a few things.
I am not a writer and these are not stories out of imagination. These are true, real life happenings. Things, events and people whom I have seen around me. I have changed the names and at times the places to keep the real people out of poking eyes. But the events are real. At times I have added tits and bits of my imagination but only to make the story-line smooth. Most of the time you will find me in the event as I am a narrator and was in some or the other way attached to the event.
This is about a friend of mine who taught me the real meaning of life.
I met him when I was still drinking milk from the milk bottle my mom bought for me from friday market here at Sanjay Nagar. And since then we never really got disconnected as friends. Jeetu was always close to my heart, he still is. And we used to fight like anything over the pettiest of issues and yet we were friends. This series of events started when we were in Class 11th. He hated Physics and Mathematics like anything, probably more than I hated Chemistry. And yet he was stuck with both. His parents, as are parents in general, were very aggressive about him making to IIT because his mother's brother's son had made it to IIT. Gosh!!! How Jeet hated his parent's approach more than Physics and Mathematics.
Jeet loved Animals. Man he was crazy about them. One day as I reached his home I found a pug coming to me with tail (or rather the absent part of it) wagging. "what is this?? I mean where did you get this from", I asked. "Oh come on it just found me and a home to live in. " spoke Jeet as he shoved me into his study room. "come on lemme tell you what I did yesterday.".
Being an excited lad I just got a li'l bit more curious. "what did you do? Some problems in mathematics".
"duh !!! don't take that bloody name. well I tried to commit suicide".
"Whaaaat!!! What didi you do???", I asked with my mouth still kinda open.
"Didn't do it man, just tried to commit suicide."
"I consumed two strips of sleeping pills and guess what I woke up today with a heavy head and dizzy feeling and nothing else. These sleeping pills are no good.", he continued.
"You see its better to die than to continue with this pathetic life".
Jeet's life was really pathetic. His mom and dad were hell bent on making him an IITian which he detested the most. On that his grades have been following Newton's law of gravity and were in a free fall. Even I had forgotten when was the last time he had passed in any subject. In the half yearly exams our physics and math teachers had to take a number of tests just to pass him. On that his massive inferiority complex and zero self esteem was driving him into a whirlpool of depression. I knew all that but didn't know how to pull him out. At times I used to wish I could replace his parents. But well I wasn't god.
A week later as I was walking to Goyal's shop I came across Jeet again. he was his self again. Happy, at least on the outside.
"Hiiii man. Study you must but not at the expense of your friends man. and that too Physics???".
"Oh, Jeet please stop this. By the way what happened to you hand, and legs and your face?? All bruises. What happened?" I asked noticing bandages on his hands and legs and bruises on his face.
"Well was just driving down the road on my cycle when I decided to collide my cycle with this truck that was coming towards the T point I was headed to. At the last moment my instincts took over me and I applied brakes and didn't collide. So I decided to loosen up the brakes of my cycle. Then a couple of days back I decided to try again. Went towards the T point and saw a car coming. Thought it would be great if it hit me I would die and no one would point a finger at my parents. So I started my sojourn. But then I had forgotten that there was this speed breaker near the T point. the god damned car slowed down. My cycle didn;t have brakes so I ended up in the bushes as I failed to stop it. "
"But why are you hell bent on killing yourself? You don't think about your parents? You don;t care for them?" I asked, appalled at his stupidity.
"Parents??? They just want an IITian or else I am dead anyways. No point wasting and waiting two year to die when I know I will die anyways. They will kill me or drive me crazy with their taunts. I can't take it any more man."
I knew Jeet was speaking the truth but I also knew he was being too stupid.
"But don;t you think suicide is the option of cowards??" I snapped back, hoping that hitting him on his ego might salvage him.
"Oh please. Ask any god damned brave heart to consume poison, or jump in front of a train, or hang himself up or kill himself in any way. he will pee in his pants but won't do anything. So much for your brave hearts. Suicide is my way of telling God, You don't fire me, I Quit." How did I forget that defeating Jeet with his logic is impossible. I walked back home.
It was early december; it had rained that year and the cold was killing. I could often hear a rattling sound of my bones inside me. Jeet came home. very excited he was.
"I created cyanide. Yes man. I created cyanide at my school lab. Had all the chemicals to make it. Man I will succeed this time." He said, as he entered my room.
I saw a strange glow on his face. A man who is happy because he has found the ultimate formula to kill himself. Or was he just pretending to be happy?
"What the fu** man? What are you saying? You cannot be serious". Said I.
"Oh yeah I am serious. You know my rapport with Apsara. She let me in the chemical strong room of our school. And I just picked up the ingredients. you won;t believe it works."
"How do you know it works?", I asked as I got baffled at his claim.
"Can you see the pug around? No na? He died due to that poison".
"Are you nuts?? You killed a poor animal just to check whether you would die or not? This is disgusting man. Why don;t you just pour it into your mouth and be over with this stupidity? " I roared back at this extreme act of foolishness and it really angered me to see how an animal lover like him can become so cruel at heart? I was actually not angry at him. I was angry at his parents and God. This guy was becoming a threat to himself. yet I thought that good sense will prevail over him and he might not go to such extremes. So I decided to wait a tad bit more before I could tell his parents.
And then it happened.
He met Abhilasha. A tomboy. He fell in love with her instantly. Met her at his tuition center which he had just joined to fulfill his parent's ambition to see him an IITian. She was equally poor with Physics and Math and had same background as his parents. She was harassed at every moment to be an IITian. And they ended up in each others arms, in literal sense. Well almost. She had a steady boy friend and he had no girl friend. yet Jeet was so attached to Abhilasha that he decided to postpone his suicide. He decided to study Physics and Math seriously so that he can help her.
Even today whenever I go to his house we have a hearty laugh about his stupidity and what all he did to commit suicide and how he ended up killing a poor dog just to test his "invention". He and his wife both are teachers, he an assistant professor of Mathematics and she of Physics. And trust me I have never seen a happier couple. A few days back only I went to his home when I came to Delhi. The three of us (me, he and his wife) had a great time chatting at his home. Specially as Abhilasha is really a great cook.
Did I forget to tell you that Jeet and Abhilasha got married to each other???
Now don;t ask me how did that happen. That is another story and I will tell you some other time.
I am not a writer and these are not stories out of imagination. These are true, real life happenings. Things, events and people whom I have seen around me. I have changed the names and at times the places to keep the real people out of poking eyes. But the events are real. At times I have added tits and bits of my imagination but only to make the story-line smooth. Most of the time you will find me in the event as I am a narrator and was in some or the other way attached to the event.
This is about a friend of mine who taught me the real meaning of life.
I met him when I was still drinking milk from the milk bottle my mom bought for me from friday market here at Sanjay Nagar. And since then we never really got disconnected as friends. Jeetu was always close to my heart, he still is. And we used to fight like anything over the pettiest of issues and yet we were friends. This series of events started when we were in Class 11th. He hated Physics and Mathematics like anything, probably more than I hated Chemistry. And yet he was stuck with both. His parents, as are parents in general, were very aggressive about him making to IIT because his mother's brother's son had made it to IIT. Gosh!!! How Jeet hated his parent's approach more than Physics and Mathematics.
Jeet loved Animals. Man he was crazy about them. One day as I reached his home I found a pug coming to me with tail (or rather the absent part of it) wagging. "what is this?? I mean where did you get this from", I asked. "Oh come on it just found me and a home to live in. " spoke Jeet as he shoved me into his study room. "come on lemme tell you what I did yesterday.".
Being an excited lad I just got a li'l bit more curious. "what did you do? Some problems in mathematics".
"duh !!! don't take that bloody name. well I tried to commit suicide".
"Whaaaat!!! What didi you do???", I asked with my mouth still kinda open.
"Didn't do it man, just tried to commit suicide."
"I consumed two strips of sleeping pills and guess what I woke up today with a heavy head and dizzy feeling and nothing else. These sleeping pills are no good.", he continued.
"You see its better to die than to continue with this pathetic life".
Jeet's life was really pathetic. His mom and dad were hell bent on making him an IITian which he detested the most. On that his grades have been following Newton's law of gravity and were in a free fall. Even I had forgotten when was the last time he had passed in any subject. In the half yearly exams our physics and math teachers had to take a number of tests just to pass him. On that his massive inferiority complex and zero self esteem was driving him into a whirlpool of depression. I knew all that but didn't know how to pull him out. At times I used to wish I could replace his parents. But well I wasn't god.
A week later as I was walking to Goyal's shop I came across Jeet again. he was his self again. Happy, at least on the outside.
"Hiiii man. Study you must but not at the expense of your friends man. and that too Physics???".
"Oh, Jeet please stop this. By the way what happened to you hand, and legs and your face?? All bruises. What happened?" I asked noticing bandages on his hands and legs and bruises on his face.
"Well was just driving down the road on my cycle when I decided to collide my cycle with this truck that was coming towards the T point I was headed to. At the last moment my instincts took over me and I applied brakes and didn't collide. So I decided to loosen up the brakes of my cycle. Then a couple of days back I decided to try again. Went towards the T point and saw a car coming. Thought it would be great if it hit me I would die and no one would point a finger at my parents. So I started my sojourn. But then I had forgotten that there was this speed breaker near the T point. the god damned car slowed down. My cycle didn;t have brakes so I ended up in the bushes as I failed to stop it. "
"But why are you hell bent on killing yourself? You don't think about your parents? You don;t care for them?" I asked, appalled at his stupidity.
"Parents??? They just want an IITian or else I am dead anyways. No point wasting and waiting two year to die when I know I will die anyways. They will kill me or drive me crazy with their taunts. I can't take it any more man."
I knew Jeet was speaking the truth but I also knew he was being too stupid.
"But don;t you think suicide is the option of cowards??" I snapped back, hoping that hitting him on his ego might salvage him.
"Oh please. Ask any god damned brave heart to consume poison, or jump in front of a train, or hang himself up or kill himself in any way. he will pee in his pants but won't do anything. So much for your brave hearts. Suicide is my way of telling God, You don't fire me, I Quit." How did I forget that defeating Jeet with his logic is impossible. I walked back home.
It was early december; it had rained that year and the cold was killing. I could often hear a rattling sound of my bones inside me. Jeet came home. very excited he was.
"I created cyanide. Yes man. I created cyanide at my school lab. Had all the chemicals to make it. Man I will succeed this time." He said, as he entered my room.
I saw a strange glow on his face. A man who is happy because he has found the ultimate formula to kill himself. Or was he just pretending to be happy?
"What the fu** man? What are you saying? You cannot be serious". Said I.
"Oh yeah I am serious. You know my rapport with Apsara. She let me in the chemical strong room of our school. And I just picked up the ingredients. you won;t believe it works."
"How do you know it works?", I asked as I got baffled at his claim.
"Can you see the pug around? No na? He died due to that poison".
"Are you nuts?? You killed a poor animal just to check whether you would die or not? This is disgusting man. Why don;t you just pour it into your mouth and be over with this stupidity? " I roared back at this extreme act of foolishness and it really angered me to see how an animal lover like him can become so cruel at heart? I was actually not angry at him. I was angry at his parents and God. This guy was becoming a threat to himself. yet I thought that good sense will prevail over him and he might not go to such extremes. So I decided to wait a tad bit more before I could tell his parents.
And then it happened.
He met Abhilasha. A tomboy. He fell in love with her instantly. Met her at his tuition center which he had just joined to fulfill his parent's ambition to see him an IITian. She was equally poor with Physics and Math and had same background as his parents. She was harassed at every moment to be an IITian. And they ended up in each others arms, in literal sense. Well almost. She had a steady boy friend and he had no girl friend. yet Jeet was so attached to Abhilasha that he decided to postpone his suicide. He decided to study Physics and Math seriously so that he can help her.
Even today whenever I go to his house we have a hearty laugh about his stupidity and what all he did to commit suicide and how he ended up killing a poor dog just to test his "invention". He and his wife both are teachers, he an assistant professor of Mathematics and she of Physics. And trust me I have never seen a happier couple. A few days back only I went to his home when I came to Delhi. The three of us (me, he and his wife) had a great time chatting at his home. Specially as Abhilasha is really a great cook.
Did I forget to tell you that Jeet and Abhilasha got married to each other???
Now don;t ask me how did that happen. That is another story and I will tell you some other time.
