THE BEST BIRTHDAY (THE STORY OF RAM, AHMED AND ANTONY)

THE BEST BIRTHDAY:
(THE STORY OF RAM, AHMED AND ANTONY)

“He must be a student, I think” a middle aged man was saying to his companion as they were watching the corpse of a young guy who had fallen from the train that was traveling above. There were almost 40 people around it. “Someone please call the ambulance” another man was yelling. Indians always wait for the others to take the initiative when it comes to social issues! A young man then took his cell phone and rang up 108, the local helpline number. After quarter of an hour the ambulance arrived along with two men. The men took a stretcher and lifted the body. One of them glanced something in the boy’s pocket. He removed it and took a look at it. It was the boy’s ID card. He first saw the boy’s photograph in the ID card. The boy had a typical Indian complexion accompanied by a pair of searching eyes. He then took a look at his name. It stated “RAM, FIRST YEAR, BGV ENGINEERING COLLEGE”. “The boy is an engineering graduate, must be a suicide” the man said to his companion lifting the stretcher.

A couple of hours earlier, Ram was in the train, returning from nearby city. He had his personal diary in his hand. There was rush but not that much as it was the 6th of December (The date of destruction of Babar Masjid). Ram liked standing near the entrance and allowing the cold December breeze misplace his hair. As he had some more distance to travel, he opened his diary. He opened the December 6th page and wrote at the top……

“ANOTHER UNHAPPY BIRTHDAY”

Yes, it was his 19th birthday. He then opened his bag and took the previous year’s diary, and took the page of December 6th. It also read the title “ANOTHER UNHAPPY BIRTHDAY”. He went through the events and closed his eyes. He recalled his events in his last birthday.

A year ago, Ram was traveling in a bus to the city. He had completed his schooling in his village. He was the first person to complete schooling in his village and he became more renowned when he got admission in an engineering college that too in an urban area. Ram was afraid on how was he going to face the city life. He reached the city’s main bus stand. He found a telephone booth and rang up his uncle, who was his guardian. Ram had lost both his parents by the age of 16. “Hello..!!” his uncle answered from the other end. “I reached safely uncle, really missing our village a lot, am not at all interested to study in this city uncle…!!” Ram replied in a shivering tone. “Son, just do what is given to you, never mind the people, and also learn to love people, but never believe completely on those people…...” his uncle advised. Ram had no other way than to accept as he too wanted a degree behind him. He hung up and walked through the bus stand. He photographed the modern youths in the bus stand with his eyes. He noticed young girls wearing men’s wear and men spending their money just for losing their hair’s natural color. Ram gave a look at these weird things and hired an auto rickshaw. He reached his college. “How much?” asked Ram. Ram was shocked to hear the fare. It was almost thrice the charge he paid for traveling from his village to this weird city. He paid him and entered the college. He reached the reception. A man in his early fifties was sitting as a receptionist. “Good morning” wished Ram handing over his application letter. The man nodded. Receptionists of colleges in India pretend as if they are the principal when they are attending or talking to a new comer. “Your room number is 56” the man said in a hard tone. Ram took his baggage and marched towards his room. He reached his room which was in the second floor. He felt the morning breeze chilling his forehead. He stopped outside the room which held the number 56. Ram noticed that the room was not closed. He slowly opened the door. The door opened with a shrieking sound. A warm and pungent air filled his nostrils. He felt as if he had opened an ancient box that was a century old. The room was filled with spider web all over. Inside the room he saw the luggage of his roommates. But they were absent. “Why don’t they clean the room if they had arrived earlier?” Ram thought. Ram found a broomstick at the corner of the room. It took half an hour for him to clean the room. He then went to take a quick shower. When he was wiping the water from his body, he heard sounds of people inside his room. Ram quickly tied the towel around his waist and opened the door. He saw two guys in his room. One was sitting on the cot and the other was searching for something in Ram’s bag. “Who the hell are you?” roared Ram. “Oops, sorry dude!!” said the boy who was sitting on the cot. The boy who was searching something in Ram’s bag was now going through Ram’s application letter. “Answer me” yelled Ram again. “Ha, we both are of the same blood group, let’s be friends dude..!!” said the boy who was going through Ram’s application letter. Ram snatched his bag from him and took an olive green shirt and his black pants. He then threw the bag down in frustration. “I am Ahmed and he is Antony, don’t worry I will replace your things” said the boy who was reading the application, pointing his finger towards the boy on the cot. “I am Antony” the boy on the cot said and got up to lend his hand to Ram. Ram now was dressed and he went out of the room unable face these bullies. “What type of human is this guy?” Antony asked. “Feel free dude, don’t expect everyone to be sportive” said Ahmed with a smile. “Feel free? Okay, I always fill my stomach if I have to feel free” said Antony with a naughty smile. “Okay Okay, I pay” said Ahmed and they walked to canteen.

Ram returned after half an hour and found relieved when he found both of his bullies@roommates absent. He ran to his bed, lied down and fell asleep immediately. Next morning he woke up a little bit late. He had a strange habit which he practiced right from his childhood. He wished that the first thing he saw every morning must be his mom’s face. So he took a photograph of his mom and was admiring her. Some sweet memories of his mom flashed through his mind. His roommates where busy getting ready for the classes. He preferred staring at his mom rather to face his roommates. After quarter of an hour, they left the room. Ram, after that got up, rushed to the bathroom, had a quick shower, ran the comb through his hair twice and got ready. He locked the room and started to descend through the stairs thinking how to face his first class and how to introduce himself. He reached the corridor. He searched for any name boards on the top as it would help him reach his classroom. He caught sight of one at the corner, ten feet away from him. It stated “I YEAR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING” followed by an arrow mark pointing to the left side. He walked slowly through the mechanical engineering department. He gripped his bag tighter and tighter to control his nervousness. He was now around 5 feet from his classroom. He stopped, took a huge breath and walked into it. The class was noisy and almost full. He had only one seat, which was at the last. He walked towards it. A few heads turned towards him and a few teeth came out of their respective lips on seeing him. Ram bowed his head and reached his place. He took a look at his neighbor, it was none other than Ahmed and next to him was Antony. He rested his forehead in his palm and again took a long breath.

It was the 15th of August. There was flag hoisting in the college and after that it was declared a holiday. Ahmed had the habit of smoking, that day when he was on his 7th cigarette, his cell phone vibrated. He took it from his shorts pocket. “MOM..!!” he whispered. He cleared his throat and answered. It was a 2-minute call, and Ahmed’s eyes went on bulging every thirty seconds. “OH! SHIT!” he hung up and yelled. “What man? What happened?” asked Antony. “A couple of Muslims were arrested near the market on doubt, and my brother started a protesting rally and now ending in prison, my mother is very unhappy with him” said Ahmed. “Oh god, what are you going to do now?” questioned Antony. “What can I do? I have already advised him a couple of times when he spoke of starting a group for protesting and conducting rallies on the 6th of December” said Ahmed. “I once said him” Ahmed again cleared his throat and continued “One day or the other, either me or any of our family member may meet with an accident or some illness, and at that time, we cannot talk of religion in the hospital or demand a Muslim blood and even a Muslim doctor”, “But he just pushed me and went away, I was twelve when I questioned him this way” Ahmed added. “Okay man, just cool” consoled Antony. “Pray for him dude” Ahmed said hugging Antony. “U too” added Ahmed pointing his finger towards Ram, who was hearing the conversation. But Ram didn’t respond.

A couple of weeks after that event, Ram decided to go to the market to get some things and also to visit a book stall to buy some books. He completed his shopping in a couple of hours and was walking back to his hostel. He heard the sound of an aero plane. He stopped and watched till it crossed him. If it was his village he would have waved his hand to the people traveling above believing that they will be seeing him. He will be also joined by a dozen people. But in city he had to avoid these small things that made him happy to avoid getting insulted. Ram smiled to himself thinking of the things he would have done if he were in his village. At that instant, he felt a soft scratch in his forearm. He came out of his dream and saw two blind children handing over a piece of paper to him. He went through it, it stated that the two from a charity home nearby and were collecting money for their people back home. Ram felt like crying on seeing them. He had a single 500 rupee note. He handed over to them without hesitation. A couple of minutes after the two left, Ram noticed a huge crowd standing on the opposite crowd. In the centre was a guy lying unconscious. Ram took a closer look. It was none other than Ahmed.

“He must be a drunkard, Indians are losing culture” a passerby was saying. “He is a drunkard too” Ram thought. He started to walk quickly towards his hostel. “Why does god punish children like them by making them blind, and provide a good body to people like Ahmed” Ram was thinking as he opened his room’s door. Antony was out to his hometown as he was going for a pilgrimage with his family. He will be returning the same night. Ram decided to take some rest. He ate one banana he bought from the market and lay down. After a while, he felt as if someone was shaking him. “Wake up quickly man” Ahmed was saying. Antony was with him. “What the hell do you need at this time of the night?” Ram yelled. “Well, your blood” answered Ahmed casually. “What?” yelled Ram again. “Don’t heat up dude, nothing personal, just a small help, my friends are running a private trust, they are in need of B-ve urgently, can you please help?” pleaded Ahmed. “Get lost, before I thrash you, I don’t want to believe stupid stories, you drunkard” said Ram in a harsh tone. Antony pulled Ahmed out of the room as he was getting more insulted. “What kind of person in the world is he?” Antony was asking Ahmed. “Ah, don’t talk about him, I know he is good hearted, he is in the midst of some confusion, that’s why he called me a drunkard” Ahmed said. “What makes you to speak these lies, how do you say him good hearted?” Antony said raising his tone. “You want me to explain? Okay, I will, see, I was in the tea shop when I saw Ram coming at a distance, I just watched him, at that instant I noticed four blind children collecting money for their charity home, they divided into two groups consisting of two people and carried on covering both the sides of the roads, I saw them coming and checked my pocket, I had a single 100 rupee note, I thought 100 was too much for them and borrowed some change from the tea shop owner and was waiting for them. On the other end I saw Ram handing over a 500 rupee note. I felt guilt on comparing my thought and his thinking. And that’s the last thing I remember” Ahmed said. “Last thing? What does it mean?” asked Antony. “Yup, when I opened my eyes, I was in the hospital surrounded by a group of guys who run a trust in the next street, they said that I fainted and they brought me here, they gave their card and departed, then the doctor called me privately, the doc told me that I have a rare lung disease and the only way to escape death is to transplant my lung within a couple of month, I was also advised to avoid smoking and donating blood as it may affect the recipient” Ahmed said smiling. Seeing Ahmed saying this with a smiling face made Antony cry and also Ram who was overhearing the conversation was filled with tears.

“How could I mistake this guy as a drunkard?” Ram was thinking leaning against the door. He heard footsteps coming towards the door, he ran to his table and pretended to be reading something. “Come dude, let’s have dinner” Ahmed was saying to Ram. “I am not hungry, you guys carry on” Ram responded. “Okay, me too, not hungry, come Antony let’s sleep” Ahmed said. Ram, at that instant felt deja-vu. His mom used to say the same when he was about to skip a meal. He thought of agreeing to Ahmed’s proposal. He turned towards them, the both were asleep by now. He slowly tiptoed outside the room.

Ahmed felt something near his leg. He got up and wiped his eyes. He looked into his watch. It was 11:30 pm. He switched on the table light. There was a parcel, he opened the knot in the plastic cover. There was a package, and it was written Arjun hotels on it. He knew it must be Ram who has bought food for him. He took a look at Ram’s cot. He saw something in the waste box near his cot. He took a closer look. It was cotton with blood stains. He then suddenly took his cell phone. There was a thank you message from the member of the trust. He walked near Ram’s cot. “Thank you friend” Ahmed said tapping Ram’s shoulder. Ahmed switched off the table light and lied down. Ram was smiling to himself.

The next day, they had their modal exam. Ram was the last to finish the exam. By the time he handed over the paper, everyone had left the hall. He moved very swiftly to the canteen. As he had anticipated, the canteen was over-crowded. He knew he won’t get anything to eat in this crowd. In the 4th table, he saw Ahmed and Antony having their meal. Antony completed his meal and went to wash his hand. Antony had the strange habit of leaving the tap half open after washing his hands. Ahmed always followed Antony and closed the tap. The same thing happened that day too. Ram who was witnessing this again felt deja-vu. His father had the same habit as that of Antony, and his mom used to close the tap. Ram smiled to himself as he saw Ahmed leaving his half empty meal to close the tap. Ram was so hungry, he saw four pieces of bread left in Ahmed’s plate. He quickly took one piece and pushed into his mouth. “Don’t you know manners?” Ahmed yelled noticing Ram. “S-O-R-R-Y” murmured Ram. “Ha Ha, was kidding, eat friend, could I get you some more?” questioned Ahmed. “No, thanks” replied Ram. “NO “THANKS” BETWEEN US” ordered Ahmed. Ram nodded smiling. “You are cute when you smile” Ahmed added. Ram now laughed heavily.

One day Ram and his two friends were having a walk through the city, Ahmed came to a stop when he saw a tea shop. He ordered tea and a pack of cigarette. Their order came in a few minutes. “This man resembles you dude” Ahmed said smiling to Ram pointing to the picture of the man in the cigarette pack. “And his lungs resembles yours” Ram said smiling to Ahmed. Ahmed suddenly lost his smile. “Idiot, don’t you know what to talk” Antony growled. “Am sorry friend” said Ram in a dull tone. “Ha, chill out guys, don’t spoil our outing” said Ahmed. Antony and Ram managed to smile. The three got closer and closer, day by day.

The semester got over and the three went to their respective home town to enjoy their holidays. Ram was to travel alone as Antony was picked up by his parents and Ahmed by his brother who returned from prison the previous month. A week after that Ram got a call to his uncle’s phone. It was Antony. “Ahmed is in the hospital, come here soon” said Antony in a dull tone and hung up. Ram explained the situation to his uncle and got a bus to the city in the next half an hour. He got down at the city bus stand. He boarded an auto-rickshaw. He saw the streets they have wandered. Every teashop in the road had a sweet memory of the three. The regular tea shop they used to go was closed and above the shutter of the shop was a poster which stated that all the Muslims in the locality are requested to participate in a rally which was yet to be held the next day. Ram took a look at the date. It was December 6th. It was his own birthday. The rally was to protest against the destruction of Babar Masjid and was headed by a man named Abdullah. Ram had heard the name before. “It must be Ahmed’s brother” Ram thought.

He reached the hospital in the next twenty minutes. Antony was waiting in the entrance. “Hi, when did they admit? Anything serious” Ram asked. “His lungs needed to be transplanted immediately” Antony said. “We have to go to the nearby city to check about lung availability in the government hospital” Antony added. “I will go to check it out” Ram said. “You stay here with Ahmed’s family, it will be more helpful to them” Ram added. “Okay, you don’t want to see Ahmed? He is in the ICU, you can see him if you want…” said Antony. “I CAN’T” said Ram wiping his tears and left the place.

Ram reached the bus stand. There was no bus as it was midnight. He then walked quickly to the railway station and boarded a train to the nearby city. He reached the government hospital within an hour. He explained the chief about Ahmed. He then gave Ahmed’s doctor’s number and asked the chief to contact him. After a half an hour, the chief replied that there was no lung matching Ahmed’s blood group. He returned to the railway station thinking of what to do next.

Ram suddenly came out of his thinking when the train was crossing the bridge. He closed his diary and was watching the black clouds above. His diary suddenly slipped from his hand and started to fall from the train. Ram in an attempt to catch the diary lost his balance and fell off the train. Ram was now falling from the bridge.

It was a 10 second fall from a bridge which was 100 meter above the ground. In the first 4 seconds of his fall, Ram’s mind was blank and he was confused on what was happening. For the next 3 seconds Ram sensed that he was going to die. The final 3 seconds a range of thoughts flashed Ram’s mind. He thought of his uncle, he thought of Antony, he thought of Ahmed, his surgery, their first meeting……Ahmed reading his application letter……….same blood group…… in the final second of his life Ram was praying to get his lung transplanted to Ahmed…………in the final 30 milliseconds Ram was smiling with a confidence that somehow his lung will be transplanted to Ahmed and his friend will be okay, this is my BEST BIRTHDAY….thought Ram. Then Ram’s head collided with a huge stone in the ground.

Crowd surrounded the corpse in an hour, a guy called the ambulance, the man in the ambulance guessed it as a suicide. After half an hour, in Ahmed’s hospital, the receptionist, who was asleep, received a call from the local health centre about a suicide case. The receptionist quickly sent two persons from the hospital. In the next two hours, the hospital’s ambulance arrived along with a corpse and a man who said he was the uncle of the boy who was dead. The receptionist spoke to him and convinced the man for the boy’s organ to be transplanted. In the next few hours the transplantation was successfully done. As Ram was missing for a long time, Antony contacted Ram’s uncle. He didn’t answer the call in the first two attempts. In the third attempt he answered. Antony enquired about Ram. His uncle told him the whole story crying loudly. Antony was shocked to hear about Ram’s departure. He cannot react. Ahmed was okay, but Ram was gone. He wanted to cry loudly. He ran to the chapel inside the hospital.

Ahmed’s family was happy for their son. “Shall I leave now?” asked Abdullah (Ahmed’s brother). Before his mom could answer, the doctor came out of his room and handed over Ahmed’s surgery report to Ahmed’s dad. “Shall I leave?” asked Abdullah again. “Where?” asked Ahmed’s father. “Rally dad, it’s my duty as a Muslim, today is the 6th of December, and the day The Babar Masjid was brought to ground for the construction of a Ram temple” answered Abdullah. “Do you love your brother?” asked Ahmed’s dad. “What the hell are you asking? I stayed the whole night leaving all my duties only for him” said Abdullah raising his voice. “Your loving brother got life because of Ram” said Ahmed’s father. “What the hell are you talking?” yelled Abdullah. Ahmed’s father handed over the report to Abdullah. Abdullah went through it. He saw the donor’s name. It was Ram. Abdullah suddenly felt his brother’s words once when his brother was just twelve years old. “His words had a great meaning” Abdullah thought. “What would have happened if the donor’s family had shown the same character that you are showing now, think of it, these kinds of people are found only in India, son” Ahmed’s father was saying. At that instant Ahmed regained consciousness partially. Through a small gap in the ICU ward, Abdullah saw Ahmed smiling. He speeded outside the hospital. He saw his group’s poster opposite to the hospital. He walked towards it and tore it with his bare hands. He then contacted his followers and informed that there won’t be any rallies anymore.

A couple of month’s later Ahmed was back to normal. He returned to college. He enquired about Ram to Antony. Antony told him the whole story. Ahmed cried loudly for the first time. He was unable to digest Ram’s departure. Everything came back to normal in a week. They were now in their routine. Ahmed bought a pack of cigarette after a long gap. He was about to open when he saw the picture of the man in the cigarette pack. Ahmed returned the pack and fled to the hostel.

BY

L. GAUTAM