Best Buddies - The Birthday Gift - Part 12

TO ALL NEW READERS, PLEASE READ FROM
Part - 1
TO KNOW WHATS HAPPENING IN THIS STORY.


A long drive on the roads of Delhi, especially in the night is just indescribable. The clear dark sky, with stars twinkling and straight traffic free roads is just and added advantage.

Later on we all i.e. Ranbir, Ronak, Monica and me sat on the terrace of Ranbir’s house. Just then it struck Ranbir and me sort of at the same time that preparations for Ishaan’s surprise birthday party was yet to be made.

We sat there staring at the sky wishing if some idea could strike us soon. And then out of nowhere Monica jumped up and goes like,

“He is participating in Youth Cult Fest right?”

I staring at Ranbir, giving the expression like what’s wrong and then reply to her,

“Yes.”

“Your work is done guys. Your surprise will be planned. Give me time till tomorrow morning.”

Ranbir prompted in,

“What you thinking to do?”

“Guys just leave it to me. The entire plan will be sketched and told to you in the morning. Can we go to sleep now, Please.”

“So you told that just so that you could go to sleep. How selfish?”

“Shut up Ranbir. Leave it to me. Goodnight Guys.”

Monica and Ronak got up and went to sleep downstairs.

I and Ranbir stayed up for a while, trying to enjoy the last few days in Delhi and the vacation.

But the sadness of Ronak condition caught over my face. Somehow all the while, with the aim of giving support to Ronak I hid it, but couldn’t help it any further.

And if my situation was so difficult, then imagine how difficult it must have been to bring the smile on his face.

Ranbir saw it on my face and was like,

“Nikhil, whom do you love the most, at present.”

Going into a deep thought. What was that supposed to mean? On second thoughts, I love my family, friends, couldn’t think of anything else.

“Common answer Nikhil. Be specific, and please don’t be a diplomat.”

That created all the more the trouble. Specifically, who?

“Don’t take so long. Lets put it this way. Who has always been your support and you always look upto whether you are sad or happy.”

“It got to be Di. She has actually been a support system for me many a times.”

“And how much have you missed her in the past few days.”

“Actually a lot at times but then things around me helped not to remember her a lot. I mean in Kolkatta the team was there and with a few I share a good rapport. And then you have been here in Delhi all the while so hardly I remember her.”

“That’s what the whole point is. You have friends all over you so you don’t miss the person you love the most and on top you know that you will be with her in a few days from now.”

Ranbir was talking more than just common sense. He was not just the usual himself.

“Imagine his situation. New to Delhi, hardly made any friends, no family support, met Sejal, and she gave him the life he missed all the while. More than a girlfriend he saw a friend in her.”

This statement actually hurt me. I mean I have never been able to realize that there are some people who will always need you, no matter however far you are away from them. They see you as a lifelong friend and you just don’t tend to realize the truth, and when you realize its to late as that person feels that you are not going to be back and they decide to move ahead and then you end up staying there hoping for things to turn in your favor, repenting your earlier action.

“And accept it or not. He missed your entire group of Mumbai. You people were his lifeline. And he couldn’t see anyone taking your place in Delhi and that’s what made him lonely. His parents are working and spent really less time with him and even they couldn’t keep their married life happy. So the best moments of his life have been with you people. You considered him your best friend. Dude, he was totally dependent on you.”

He was hitting out so badly to me. I mean I just couldn’t stand all this any longer.

“I am not sure if you noticed or not, but his face did brighten up on seeing you, but just he couldn’t express it, as he was in a deep shock already.”

He was right. I seriously didn’t notice all that. How could I be such a fool? It’s said that if you listen to your heart carefully then you will always hear the voice of your near and dear one’s. Probably I failed to hear myself.

“Sorry if you felt bad, but that’s the truth buddy. The earlier you accept it, the better for you. Anyways me off to sleep. I know you will not be able to sleep tonight, but if you feel like talking to someone, you can always come to me. And don’t bother to think that did Ranbir say all that.”

Just when he was walking downstairs he goes like,

“By the way, I didn’t find a good time to tell you, but I am dating Sania. Details later on. Goodnight.”

For a minute, I was shocked, but then I had others thinks to ponder over, so I somehow postponed the thinking on this topic for an indefinite period.

It actually took me a while to get over all the attacking words of Ranbir. But then actually he wasn’t wrong.

I have known Ronak for quite a lot of a time now. But somehow he was acting strange and a lot changed. He was not the same guy I was a friend with.

Then actually putting the puzzle pieces of Ranbir’s words together, I realized the mistake of my life. I had left Ishita alone when she needed me the most, and then Ronak.

I descended down the stairs into Ronak’s room. I was quite sure he would be awake.

I went and sat next to him, where he was sleeping. But I was wrong. He was sleeping soundly and as per what Monica had mentioned it’s been time that he would be sleeping so well.

I sat next to him for a while, remembering the time we spent together. The school life was way to good to be forgotten and the time spent is just unforgettable.

I remembered the incident, when we are playing around in the science lab and a glass broke and smoke was going up the air and the fear on our faces. Inspite of knowing that we were not at fault we were so scared that we sat in our class for the entire day without uttering a word. Slowly and gradually the incidents just came flashing by and me lost in them.

It was really late so then I decided to go to bed. Just when I stood up, came in these words from Ronak,

“Nikhil. You will leave without even saying a word.”

I was stunned. He was actually awake.

“Ronak, its just that you were sleeping peacefully so just didn’t feel like waking you up.”

“Remember when you came to my place first time for a stay over and when I was so badly in need of sleep and you people would not even let me close my eyes.”

“I very well remember. You wanted to sleep because next day you had your first date.”

“Shut up. It was nothing like that.”

We started discussing all those moments, laughing at those incidents and time went passing by and we didn’t even realize when did we time pass by and we dosed off.

The next morning I woke up with the loud noise of Monica.

“Nikhiiiiiiiil. Ranbiiiiiiiiiiiir. Where are you guys?”, shouting at the top of her voice.

I woke up with a sprang and rushed out.

Even Ranbir came running in.

“What’s wrong Monica?”, I asked.

“You people are not even concerned that tomorrow is your friends birthday.”

“Ohh. Yeah. You said you are planning to do something. What’s the plan? Atleast tell us now.”

“Fine listen.”

“Tomorrow is the finals of the Youth Cult Fest at the Delhi National School. Vipul, my friend is one of the organizers at the event. So he has just told me that, The Indian School from Dubai has qualified for the final round.”

“That’s great news. Finals on his birthday.”

“The Trophy will be a perfect gift for him, I guess.” added in Ranbir.

“You are right.”

“Can I please continue with the plan?”, I and Ranbir nodded in the affirmative.

“It’s highly likely that they will be practicing past midnight tonight as the final show needs to be put up tomorrow afternoon. So basically that would be the best time to give him a break of some time and get in his birthday in style.”

“She is right.” I prompted in, although it was uncalled for.

“But frankly speaking he would not even prefer wasting a minute on all this. This trophy and event is really close to his heart.” Came in Ranbir’s comments.

“Guys relax. Alls set. At around 11p.m. tonight, Vipul has called in a meeting with the school coordinators to discuss the final line of events. That’s when through special permission you people enter the school premises. You have just less than an hour to decorate and put things in order, and all this without disturbing the school atmosphere, practice sessions and schedules. It’s a big risk sort off on Vipul’s head.”

“But then how do we manage all?” asked Ranbir.

“”See, the meeting gets over at 15 minutes to twelve. And it takes almost the same time to reach the main hall where your school would be practicing. Some people from the organizing school will be there to help you and update you with help from Vipul. And actually you will not even need to do anything. Vipul will try and have arranged a majority of the work internally already before your arrival. You just need to spring in the surprise at 12.”

The plan was really well made. But the only concern was about the finals the next day. I had lost the final cricket match and so had Ranbir lost the final football match. Will he win or lose in the finals? It was really weird to think about it and a sudden gush of blood flowing through my body made me feel all the more scared.



That night everything was so well formulated that things happened the way they were supposed to even before we thought of an alternative. Ranbir and I were just waiting to spring upon the surprise on Ishaan.

Ronak also joined in on my pressure, as I thought it would be a good change for him.

The last fifteen minutes before twelve were those when we just couldn’t control our emotions and that’s when we were signaled that Ishaan was on his way to the hall. The entire hall had been decorated and the practice had been halted for the next half an hour.

Ishaan came in earlier than expected, in short, before twelve. This was something not in our hands so we had to change the idea a bit at the last minute.

We sent Shaina, the assistant co-ordinator out to stop him still twelve. But this guy just wouldn’t stop.

“How come the practice has stopped?”

“Ishaan, we had a scheduled break at this time, if you forgot.”

“Fine, just come along with me, we need to decide on certain things.”, and with that even before poor Shaina could do anything, Ishaan pushed into the room.

Luckily the hours hand just slid under the minute’s hand, it was twelve. He switched on the lights and turned back.

Ranbir and I came running in with the entire team singing the Happy Birthday music in the background. He was surely astonished at what he was seeing.

After a round of wishes and hugs and gifts, and the usual cake cutting ceremony we sat down at a corner for a cup of coffee.

“How the hell did you guys land up here?”

“Indian Domestic airlines have really good coverage.”, came in Ranbir’s reply.

“Ya right. Very funny. By the way guys, guess what, we have reached the finals and it happens in a few hours from now, I am really excited and nervous at the same time.”

Hats of to Ishaan. He didn’t even bother about his Eighteenth birthday. Probably if it was not for us, then he wouldn’t have even celebrated it. He deserves a pat on his back. I haven’t seen a guy with so much sincerity and dedication to work.

“By the way, what happened to your tournaments.”

And as if I had taken a silent vow, Ranbir replied,

“We both lost in the finals.”

Now, that surely wasn’t encouraging. The smile on Ishaan’s face gradually faded away.

I guess the feeling that ‘what if even I lost the finals like them’ crossed his mind.

He took leave from us, but asked us to stay back, and watch them rehearse and suggest points of improvements from the audience point of view.

He was working really hard to grab that trophy the next day.



The event started off with a bang of performances followed by the presentation of the acts of the two final teams. They were said to be on a head on clash right from the start till the just concluded last set of events.

I must admit that the opponent had an upper hand in terms of the over all performance. They had put up a really impressive act beyond imagination. But my gut feeling supported my school and Ishaan. And also, though over all they were a better performing side, they had a few glitches in their act that could cost them a lot of points and that could turn things in our favor. But frankly, ours was also out and out a really splendid put up.

The results were to be declared in just a few minutes and my heart beat rate was faster than normal. I had not got this feeling even while playing the finals a few days back in Kolkatta.

The three of us held our hands tight just when the results were to be announced.

“And the time has finally arrived to bring this event to a close. As it’s said all good things come to an end, and so the Youth Cult Fest is also over. But we make sure that it does end in style. A time that we remember by as the audience and surely the teams that clashed on this very stage. And then on this stage, I will declare the winner in a few minutes from now, and this very stage will be thrown open for the party for the winning team.”

Why do these hosts have this habit of exaggerating things beyond a limit? I just felt like snatching that card from his hands and declaring the winner.

“And not wasting any further time, I declare the winner. Well before that, any guesses?”

Why doesn’t this loser on earth understand that there is no time for guesses and I will faint of excitement if he doesn’t declare the winner now.

“Yes you are right. It is the team from overseas, The Indian School, Dubai.”

The three of us jumped together in joy, Ishaan hugged the two of us and ran to the stage with the rest of the team to put his hands on that trophy.

Finally we shall be taking the winners trophy home. And surely this was the best birthday gift, Ishaan could ever ask for.

We partied hard that night till late. And as the host had said, as all good things come to an end, I was going to leave Delhi the very next night.

I had earlier planned to delay the flight, just in case Ronak did not normalize soon, but all was well, so I was going to leave as per schedule.

Ronak was gradually reaching his normal best and recovering really fast from the incident.

Ranbir was going to spend some time with his relatives and then turn back to Dubai, while Ishaan had to attend a wedding in Delhi and then return back.

So basically I was going to be alone in Dubai for a while. Well, no issues I boarded the flight back to Dubai, happy, satisfied and after a really memorable trip from Kolkatta to Mumbai to Delhi.