Rohil stared at the mound of the clay spinning on the wheel head of
the potter’s wheel. He caught a quick glance of his teacher who was
observing him very closely. His teacher had just shown him how it was
done by holding Rohil’s hands, but Rohil had somehow instantly lost
all the confidence to do it.
Rohil returned with a small lopsided pot and sat beside Nihal. His
teacher was clearly not pleased with the result.
Rohil and Nihal studied in 8th grade of the same school. They had been
friends since 4th grade. The friendship had turned out to be a very
close-knit bond for both. They were always seen together in school.
Their close friendship also led to something else.
Their conversations during classes had forced teachers to place each
of them in different sections of the class. So, now Rohil was in grade
8 section A and Nihal was in grade 8 section C. Meeting after school
was out of the question since Nihal lived quite far from school and
travelled by school bus unlike Rohil who lived nearby and came to
school pedalling his bicycle.
“We will still see each other during lunch breaks and sports classes,”
Rohil said.
“I have another idea, let’s select gardening and clay modelling for
our club activity classes. Few students have selected them, we will
have our free time there,” Nihal had suggested and both had agreed.
There were few students in these club activity classes; Nihal was
right about that. But, having free time was something Nihal had
figured out wrong. These activities required a considerable amount of
hard work and focus. The presence of few students had also turned into
a disadvantage, as there was less noise present to blend the
conversations into.
Nonetheless, despite the lack of time to talk, the friends had managed
to make the best of the moments they got. But children can sometimes
be a poor judge of what a close and strong bond should be and all that
is required to understand and sustain such a bond.
Nihal was the first one to notice it. One day while he was returning
from the library, he noticed Rohil and the other students of Rohil’s
section leaving for the audio-visual room. Rohil who would have
otherwise come running on seeing Nihal, only smiled and waved from
distance and continued his discussion with his classmates while
walking away.
While going back home from school Nihal saw through the buys window
that Rohil was with one of his new classmates, both were going home on
their bicycles. Rohil did not even stop to wave Nihal good bye.
The other day while Nihal and Rohil were discussing a book they had
read, Rohil talked about the views of one of his classmates regarding
the book and then another day during lunch break Rohil brought with
him the classmate he went home with. Most of the words exchanged were
between Rohil and his new friends and Nihal remained silent.
“Do you feel our friendship has become different than what it was
before?” asked Nihal one day when he met Rohil before the morning
assembly.
“Since we are in different sections maybe things have changed a bit,”
replied Rohil
“I mean everything is the same for me. It is only you who have changed
here,” said Nihal.
Rohil did not say anything further and the bell rang for the assembly.
At home, Nihal’s mother took notice of Nihal’s change in mood and
behaviour. She went to Nihal’s room in the evening when Nihal was
doing his homework.
“How is school? Are you facing difficulty in any subject?” Nihal’s
mother, Mrs Moocken asked.
Nihal displayed a forced smile and spoke, “Everything is fine. No, I
am not having difficulty in any subject and if I do I know you will
help me.”
“… and what about Rohil. How is he?”
“I don’t exactly know; we talk less than we used to. He has changed.”
“Is that what is bothering you?”
“Yes, I don’t understand why this is happening. I thought we would be
close friends like we used to be forever,” Nihal replied.
“Everything goes through one or other form of change, you will also
have other friends someday. This doesn’t mean things have ended. You
both can remain friends for as many years you want to if you stay in
touch,” explained Mrs Moocken.
Nihal did not understand then what Mrs Moocken said, but he began to
understand next year when he changed his school to the one near his
house. He made new friends, had new experiences, it was a new face of
life waiting to be seen and then he went to college and the cycle went
around once more, and the same in his work life.
What happened to Rohil then? Did they keep in touch over the years?
No, they did not… not initially. When Nihal changed schools, their
friendship experienced a distance unknown to them before. Slowly the
talks over the phone faded as well.
The advent of social media brought in many changes in the world we now
live in. Earlier, some bonds would just drift apart beyond reach but
today one can just go searching online for anyone they once knew and
that is exactly how Nihal and Rohil became friends once more during
their job life. It was Rohil who found Nihal out. The bond they
rekindled this time stayed right till the end, because the
understanding they had now helped it sustain.
Comprehension
Early Morning Memories 