Yaara Teri Yaari

“Yaara teri yaari
Umar saari, saath hai

This was the song we sang when we first met  14 years ago and this is the same song we were humming 14 hours ago until…until that fateful event happened and you left me. Left me alone to face the world, devoid me of my home, my sole safe place.” Karthik sighed and taking a long breath, wiped the tear that had found its way to his cheek bone. The entire church was packed with silence, everyone patiently waiting for him to continue.

“ We were merely 12-13 years old when we first met. Barely into our teenage years. Our school had organised a camp at a national park. When everyone was dancing and singing around the bonfire, the introvert me was sitting at a corner humming the song and that’s when we first met. He came up to me and there was something in his smile that I couldn’t comprehend. A smile that made you feel home in a second. I was apprehensive about the new face, the newly found companionship.

“ The song you are humming..I too like it.” He simply said and started singing it with me. Aise hui humaari baat start. That camp became special to me, for it was the place my lonely, nerd self had found a friend. A friend indeed. I was a pain in ass for him. I was the type of child who didn’t take part in any kind of pranks. But oh ! the prankster he was. He never left a chance to annoy the teachers, to pull jokes on our classmates. Him being him, dragged me along. And did we get punished ? Every single day ! But despite everything, he never left my side.

From sharing about our first crush with each other to sharing the news of my wedding with him, we stuck together. School came to an end and life happened. We got separated by the winds of career choices and colleges. But this idiot didn't leave a single day to call me and annoy the hell out of me with his conversations. The conversations which are now a memory, etched in my heart forever. Those conversations are the only thing I have to  live with now. 

Aaj tak suna tha that relationship breakup hurts the most. But why doesn't anyone talk about the time when a friend…a close friend  is snatched away from us. That sucks. The weight that I am carrying right now may never be lifted. When my life was falling apart, he was my go-to person. He was my brother. Solution to every problem, though his solutions were as weird as him.   People say friends come and go, but what about our best friend ? They can never be replaced. How am I supposed to accept that my friend is not with me anymore ? He never will be ! 

14 years and uncountable memories. Sharing pasta, bunking tuition classes, flirting with girls of our class…he was everything that I wasn’t. Polar opposite. Yet the best of friends. He was my home. My solitude. Losing him feels as if I have been separated from my own self. A part of me. 

We were two strangers who crossed paths out of nowhere.

Yaara teri yaari
Umar saari, saath hai

Never knew it would be us down the lane. 14 hours ago, we were driving towards the countryside to celebrate his promotion. Our car was packed with his favourite drinks. Never knew it was our last drive together. Maybe I won’t be able to accept that he isn’t  with me anymore. He was my ray of hope in the darkest of times. Assured me that as long as I had him, I wasn’t going to stumble alone on the floor. He was a magician, who carried magic to end my miseries. My safest place. My blanket of happiness.  And there will never be anyone like him, ever again. 

I MISS YOU, JOSEPH.” 

Karthik stood there, letting the tears cascade down his eyes while remembering the uneventful accident with Joseph’s last words ringing in his ears,

“ Yaara teri yaari
Umar saari, saath hai.”

He looked at Joseph’s coffin, memories of their times together hitting him. He felt numb when the image of Joseph, covered in blood and taking his last breath crossed his mind. Joseph had got down to purchase a water bottle from the local vendor and while crossing the road, a truck hit and he laid motionless on the concrete road.  

“Wapas toh aaja yaar,
Seene se lagja yaar” Karthik’s  heart screamed at the loss of his only friend.

Wc - 770 words