Page 134 - Musings 2020

IV.
We met again on the morning of December 19 , I had asked him to meet me once before he th
left. He called me to his hostel gate. I reached and saw him placing items in the car that had
come to pick him. He handed me one of his beloved flutes. After everything was ready, he
walked to the front window, opened it, and sat beside the driver’s seat. I suddenly
remembered that it was his Birthday, so I rushed to his window and wished him his birthday.
He just smiled, staying silent like always. I knew he was sad because he was leaving the
place that taught him everything, but he wouldn’t show it to anyone. The driver started the
car and rode it away slowly, taking a turn to the exit. Anand didn’t look back even once, he
never did. Four Years passed and there wasn’t one person who knew anything about him
other than his achievements. He didn’t have even a single friend who was very close to him,
but that was his choice and he never regretted it. After he was gone, I sat on the grass by the
side of his hostel for a while, hoping that he might have forgotten something and he will
come back. The realization came to me in a while and I started walking back to my hostel.
While walking back to my room, I was wondering if he ever realized what his presence
meant to me. In the last days of his college, the occasions of our meetings were very less, and
when we did we were usually racing on foot or on our cycles. Our meetings were short but
intense; and without speaking much he taught me secrets of life. When I reached my room I
had one thing on my mind, that one day, cycles will be identical and we will race as our lives
depended on it, and in the middle of the race, I will look at him and say,” I will miss your
hair,” and cross him with a smile.

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