20
I was thinking all this when Mum called me for dinner. I did not know about tomorrow but one thing I promised myself that I am going to not let Mum, Dad or Isha feel Adi’s absence. I had to be their son and daughter at the same time – even if this is the only thing I do in my whatever remaining life. I immidiately closed the computer.
It continued the same way for a few coming days. I mostly remained silent and did all the chores I could find. Mum would sometimes complain that I am making her lazy. Probably work was also her way of escaping reality. I would ask mum to sleep or do some stiching. Earlier mum would spend hours stiching me tops, Isha’s frocks or Adi’s shirt. But since we had grown up, she had almost left it. I asked Isha to get mum some clothes and then mum starting stiching salwar – kurta for us. Rest of the time I would just sit in front of the computer and read and listen.
It was like living all those moments again except for the difference that this time Adi was the narrator. I relived all those moments. How we went to school together. When he was in class tenth, he used to panic a lot. It would take hours for mum to get him to relax and then I used to sit and study with him. Ofcourse I had my class 8 course. Isha would get bored, after all she was just 6. And then was the first time I took Adi’s place. Each night Adi would tell a story to Isha… this duty now shifted to me. Sometimes Adi would sit in Isha’s room while I told the story and eventually he would too fall asleep. Then I would have to call mum to wake him.
Miraculously, Ishaan mentioned every story I told Isha in his blog. I was reading one of those stories, one day, when Isha walked into Adi’s room. I sat in Isha’s room that night and told her the story. For a while Isha wept silently missing all what I was missing and then slept away. I, for a moment, felt it was one of those days again but no… it wasnot. There was no Adi sleeping in a corner on Isha’s bed or in his room, who would say ‘Done with my story telling session?’ as I would walk out of Isha’s room and enter his.
While reading Ishaan’s class 12th entries… well had grown now. The text was more about what he planned for his future life. Mention of us grew a lot. Our cycle rides changed to walks in the evening while having a heart to heart conversation. I remember all of them. With us growing, more and more emotions rose in both of us. We faced our own worlds. In school, we would hardly meet for I had 10th and Adi had 12th; but once back home… I would study while Adi had his coaching. So each day we had a schedule to meet at 7:30 pm in the buiding compound. Adi would be either playing basket ball then if he did not have coaching and I would be down from 6 sometimes talking to others, otherwise playing some game. But as soon as it was 7:30, we would both leave whatever we were doing and find each other. Sometimes our friends would laugh. As it happened, we had passed the age of being called ‘committed’ by others but none the less the suspecious glances kept coming. We had been fairly clear about our friendship. We were the best of friends and that was something natural owing to the fact that we spent almost 10 – 20 hours as day with each other or around each other.
It continued the same way for a few coming days. I mostly remained silent and did all the chores I could find. Mum would sometimes complain that I am making her lazy. Probably work was also her way of escaping reality. I would ask mum to sleep or do some stiching. Earlier mum would spend hours stiching me tops, Isha’s frocks or Adi’s shirt. But since we had grown up, she had almost left it. I asked Isha to get mum some clothes and then mum starting stiching salwar – kurta for us. Rest of the time I would just sit in front of the computer and read and listen.
It was like living all those moments again except for the difference that this time Adi was the narrator. I relived all those moments. How we went to school together. When he was in class tenth, he used to panic a lot. It would take hours for mum to get him to relax and then I used to sit and study with him. Ofcourse I had my class 8 course. Isha would get bored, after all she was just 6. And then was the first time I took Adi’s place. Each night Adi would tell a story to Isha… this duty now shifted to me. Sometimes Adi would sit in Isha’s room while I told the story and eventually he would too fall asleep. Then I would have to call mum to wake him.
Miraculously, Ishaan mentioned every story I told Isha in his blog. I was reading one of those stories, one day, when Isha walked into Adi’s room. I sat in Isha’s room that night and told her the story. For a while Isha wept silently missing all what I was missing and then slept away. I, for a moment, felt it was one of those days again but no… it wasnot. There was no Adi sleeping in a corner on Isha’s bed or in his room, who would say ‘Done with my story telling session?’ as I would walk out of Isha’s room and enter his.
While reading Ishaan’s class 12th entries… well had grown now. The text was more about what he planned for his future life. Mention of us grew a lot. Our cycle rides changed to walks in the evening while having a heart to heart conversation. I remember all of them. With us growing, more and more emotions rose in both of us. We faced our own worlds. In school, we would hardly meet for I had 10th and Adi had 12th; but once back home… I would study while Adi had his coaching. So each day we had a schedule to meet at 7:30 pm in the buiding compound. Adi would be either playing basket ball then if he did not have coaching and I would be down from 6 sometimes talking to others, otherwise playing some game. But as soon as it was 7:30, we would both leave whatever we were doing and find each other. Sometimes our friends would laugh. As it happened, we had passed the age of being called ‘committed’ by others but none the less the suspecious glances kept coming. We had been fairly clear about our friendship. We were the best of friends and that was something natural owing to the fact that we spent almost 10 – 20 hours as day with each other or around each other.
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