TWO FRIENDS - a short story

It was the year of 1970. Amar and Rehaan were playing outside in the snow-clad valleys of Kashmir surrounded by the mesmerizing reddish maple, the walnut, and the apple trees. Amar’s mummy just called him in for supper and Rehaan also joined him. He loved the vegetarian delicacies prepared by Amar’s mom. The two boys were simply inseparable. From dawn to dusk neither could be seen without the other. Just as much Rehaan was adored by Amar’s parents, Amar too was loved by Rehaan’s parents. Amar was an academically outstanding student and often used to help Rehaan with his studies. Rehaan, on the other hand, used to enjoy watching movies and often used to indulge in mischievous activities with other kids. But that was innocent childhood, and Rehaan’s behavior was overlooked because, he was the only male child of his parents, a brother to three sisters, and was pampered a lot. Whereas Amar was taught to differentiate right from wrong at a very tender age and despite being the only child, he was brought up just the right way.

The differences in religion, the way of living and many other aspects, however, did not affect their friendship and their love for each other. They both had grown to become handsome young boys. They were now nearly 18 years old and were already considering the options for respective careers. Since childhood, Amar had tremendous respect and fascination for armed forces and had one dream, to join the Indian Army. Rehaan had a flair for poetry. He used to love poetry and write commendable pieces. He wanted to publish his book of poems one day.

Meanwhile, in 1982, after the death of Sheikh, when Farookh Abdullah was sworn in as the then Chief Minister of the state, some political unrest had started. A word was spreading that terrorists had started infiltrating the valley.

Oblivious to these incidents, Amar filled the form for the upcoming exam of NDA and started preparing day and night for the same and Rehaan applied to JMI faculty of fine arts. Rehaan got selected for his poems and Amar too cleared NDA exam and thus the duo was separated. One went to Pune and other went to Delhi. And while the kids were away, the parents used to dwell in the memories of their childhood. And the two families became more attached to each other.

Initially, Amar and Rehaan stayed in touch regularly through letters. They used to pour their heart out to each other. Amar used to describe his training routine, his hours, his colleagues and, Rehaan used to send him his newly composed poems, talk about life in the college campus and girls and both used to miss their hometown. There was nothing that was hidden between the two, until one fine day when Rehaan visited his home town in January 1990.

It was a cold, windy morning on 13^th January 1990, when Rehaan got a message from his father about his mother’s ill health. He immediately left for home. He had completed his graduation and was working as an assistant professor in the same college. Upon reaching there he saw with his own eyes, what till now he had only heard and read in newspapers. Immense hatred was brewing against the Kashmiri Hindus. He recognized some boys of his age moving around with Kalashnikovs. He was baffled and instead of talking with them he immediately rushed home to his ailing mother. He decided to stay with his parents for a few days. He went to meet Amar’s parents too. They were in bad shape. They were panic-stricken with what was going on. They were unsure of what will happen. This was their house. They were being given notice of either to convert to Islam or leave the valley. Rehaan did not imagine, the dreaded night will come so soon.

It was 19^th of January when a huge mob gathered to massacre the Hindus in the valley, those who were not willing to convert. The men, women and children alike. They knew no mercy. Through the window of his house, Rehaan saw Amar’s parents leaving their house and escaping. They had come to his house the previous evening, to ask his parents for help. But in vain. His family disregarded them. He saw the mob burning the house down. Yet he stood there. From the mob, he recognized those few boys from his school which he had seen flaunting Kalashnikovs. They entered his house and after the casual greetings had a talk with him. The boys told Rehaan that they were a part of a group called Islamic Students League and that the group was formed to help the Kashmiri youth Hindu, Muslim alike. They told him to take him to some place for training and that the people there were really good. Helping them and teaching ways to make the situation better in Kashmir and would help other families like the family of his old friend, Amar and could help them come back home. Also that it was just like a freedom struggle and a lot many things. Next day Rehaan secretly left the house. Where did he go, how did he go, with whom did he go… nobody knew. The only rumor that could be heard was, he too, like many other young boys went to the other side. His mother was so heartbroken that she succumbed to her illness and died.

On the other hand, leaving everything to be burned down, and taking just a few essentials with them, Amar’s parents somehow managed to reach Amar in Pune. At the back of their mind, they knew that they will never be able to go back ‘home’ and finally decided to settle in Pune. Meanwhile, Amar got posted in Mechanised Infantry regiment, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. And so he left Pune. One day while visiting his parents he enquired about his buddy Rehaan. With a heavy heart and moist eyes, his parents told him that he visited them while he was there and that he was helpless against the mob on that fateful day. Neither Amar nor his parents knew that he had crossed the border and went to the other side. And while Amar was getting trained for better he was training for worst.

Rehaan had gone to some training camp in PoK. It was considered as a safe haven for not only training of Kashmiri militants but also international terror outfits like Al Qaeda. The proximity of these camps made the infiltration inside Kashmir easy. There he received army-like training, use of arms and artillery, Guerilla warfare and also use of Grenades as on a suicide mission. Also, they were told to adopt certain religious amendments against other religions and it was called ‘jihad’ i.e all of India including a few other countries were ruled by Muslims and it is their duty to take it back from the nonmuslim. Under these preachings, Rehaan’s way of thinking took a u-turn.

Years went by, Amar was now a Lieutenant Colonel and highly respected in his regiment. In the same year i.e. 1999, the month of May, a word was spread that the local shepherds spotted a few Pakistani intruders in Kashmir. The defense forces, all over India were on high alert. They were expecting something of this sort since the testing of nuclear weapons by both the countries. Soon the circumstances led to war and Amar, along with his troupe went to Kargil. He was in Dras, one of the prime locations of the war. They fought valiantly, capturing almost all the main peaks back. Finally, after two long months, the war ended. Many of the brave soldiers, his aides and juniors had lost lives and some suffered grave injuries. But the victory was theirs. Their operation Vijay was a success.

But the condition in Kashmir was tense as usual. People there were now revolting more aggressively against the Indian army. More and more youngsters were crossing over to the other side. They wanted liberation, but they did not know why, from whom and what good was it. They were brainwashed. Hands which should be holding books and pens were holding Kalashnikov’s. There was a certain inhumane element which reflected in their eyes. And due to this situation, Army enforcements were increased post-war. Amar was also one amongst those who got posted there near LOC. He had this desire to visit Kashmir, his home, his Rehaan, his childhood once but not like this. Having been posted there he decided to give his hometown a visit whenever he got a chance.

After a few months, things were slowly settling down. There was this uncertain calm in the valley, however, there was no unrest and things were absolutely in control. It was during this period that Amar decided to visit his village. He prepared for the coming Sunday and also asked two of his aides to accompany him there on a routine visit.

The day of the journey came. Amar left in his army jeep along with the other two officers. He reached by late afternoon and came to the spot where he and Rehaan used to spend the lazy summer afternoon lying amidst the walnut and apple trees, drinking in the beauty of the valley. He went further, the images of the good old days were running like some movie in his mind. He took a turn and the time came to a standstill. He saw the two houses, one as it was and the other half blasted, almost ruined. He entered the ruined house and was reminiscing the golden days. The time when he and Rehaan used to study together and have supper, those innocent childhood days. When suddenly there was a gunshot and a bullet went right through Amar’s heart. His officers heard the gunshot and rushed inside and on seeing a militant there, they gunned him down and rushed to help Amar but in vain. They saw that he was holding something in his hand. It was a photograph of two young boys lying leisurely amidst the trees on a balmy afternoon. It was the same place where the two bodies were laid. Side by side.

A terrorist had been long awaiting to lay his hand on army personnel and he somehow came to know of  Colonel’s plan to visit this particular village. He started his planning and was happy that he would get to take his revenge in his hometown. Maybe after killing the Colonel, he would once visit his house and have a look at his ailing dad. His mother, he had heard succumbed to the illness after he went away. But this was not the time to think about it, he would allow himself to soak in those memories after he is done with this Colonel. Rehaan reached the time and spot and was hiding in an old ruined house when he heard someone enter. It was Lieutenant Colonel Amar Singh. Rehaan was baffled. He was dumbstruck. Realization hit him hard. He was on a mission to shoot Amar! His hands trembled. He went back to the childhood memories when he and Amar were inseparable, they used to love each other dearly. Then how could he?. For a fraction of a second he hesitated, he almost put the gun down and thought of going there and hugging his friend. But then he remembered that this was not only his childhood friend but also an army officer, and how he despised the Indian army. They were ruining his Kashmir, his homeland and it was due to them that he lost his sister. He was fed on blatant lies and he believed them. The love and innocence in his heart were replaced by hatred. His poetry had taken the form of some cringeworthy vengeful slogans. He took out his gun and fired, the bullet found its target and proved fatal for Amar. It went right through his heart. Rehaan killed Amar. He was baffled and flabbergasted by the incident and instead of fleeing he just sat there like in some trance and did not realize that other soldiers had caught him and he got gunned down too by those army officers.

Two bodies were brought outside. The two friends were resting once again on a warm evening. Once again the two childhood friends were together. The friendship which blossomed in Kashmir eventually did a full circle and came to a halt there. But there was no innocence, no love, and no childhood. All that there was, was deceit, despair, and anger. The boys who began their journey together ended it together too, but one body was left there to rot, nobody to claim it, full of disgust and disrespect, whereas another went home wrapped in tricolor and 21 gun salute and received a medal of the highest honor for his bravery shown in Kargil war posthumously.