Pravar and Taransh were good friends. They were both in 11th grade of school and had met two grades back in a coaching class.
They had some similar interests in life which allowed their friendship to stay strong over the time. The primary of the interests being videography.
The arrival of cameras in phones led to many changes across the world, they not only gave birth to professions but also allowed more diverse and early on interests in fields which already existed. It had allowed Pravar and Taransh to have videography as a hobby right from their school days.
Both of them travelled around the city just for this purpose and a huge collection of videos. They even travelled to a few other cities for the same. While Pravar was more creative in videography, Taransh had greater talent at editing the videos.
Many had thought that the friends would pursue a career in filmmaking or a career as content creators on a popular streaming platform after they were done with their graduation. Taransh opted for the latter, thinking of video streaming as the future while Pravar decided to take a different route because of financial problems at home and found a job while also studying through distance education courses.
Taransh would upload the videos he took and Pravar would admire how good Taransh was getting at editing the videos. There was always a thought of quitting the job and joining Taransh in the project.
These things, unlike what many people think, take a lot of time and effort, as much effort as a job or even more and many start becoming dismayed when the money they were expecting doesn’t start to show up. Taransh was one of them, feeling the frustration deep within while doing his every day work, thinking about where he was going wrong, why his content wouldn’t pick up and in desperation he did something which ruined his friendship.
Pravar identified it instantly. In the next upload, it wasn’t Taransh’s video but his own. Later that day he went to meet Taransh, he didn’t want to risk ruining things over the phone.
“Your last video looked a lot like the one I shot,” said Pravar when he met Taransh at a café
“Really?” said Taransh, “we might have taken the same shot the same way”
Pravar thought about it and said, “could be” and then he looked at Taransh and observed the tiredness and said, “are you fine? If the work is getting to you too much, then maybe you could try something else.”
Taransh misunderstood it as Pravar mocking him and said, “you worry about your work and I will take care of mine. You thought this would be our project but this is mine, don’t try to claim any of it as your own.”
Pravar had never heard Taransh talk this way to him and he decided it was best not to take the conversation further. Pravar got up and left, without Taransh saying anything to stop him.
They didn’t speak for a few days till the next video which was also like the one Pravar had shot. This time Pravar went home and checked his collection of videos and found both the videos were his.
The next day he called up Taransh from office
“Why are you posting my videos? Shouldn’t you ask me first?” said Pravar right at the beginning in an agitated tone
“I told you they might be similar, what are you becoming so agitated about,” said Taransh in a loud tone
“Similar? They are exactly the same, I played them side by side. Those are my videos, remove them right now,” said Pravar with an anger filled voice. Pravar wanted to create something of his own with the videos he shot later on in life. He didn’t intend for them to be used like this.
“No, I am not going to remove them”
“What? Why?”
Taransh disconnected the call without replying and didn’t pick the calls Pravar made later and he also gave no reply to Pravar’s messages. This frustrated Pravar even more.
After office, Pravar headed straight for Taransh’s house but Taransh’s mother informed him that Taransh was not at home. Pravar tried the next day and again he didn’t find Taransh. Pravar realised Taransh was deliberately going out to avoid Pravare, thus he told Taransh’s mother, “he has something that belongs to me and I urgently need it back. Can you please ask him to do so?”
Taransh was informed of what Pravar had said and by now he was venturing deep into hopelessness unable to accept the reality of things and his ego wouldn’t let him confide into his friend.
There were no further video uploads and one day the account and its content were all removed. Pravar and Taransh were no longer on speaking terms but that day Pravar sent a message to Taransh which was delivered but was never read. It was only when he called at Taransh’s house that he got to know that Taransh had shifted to another state to work with his cousin in a book designing studio.
Pravar for a few moments felt the pain of things ending like that after what was a good friendship, and he also felt sad for never getting to know what was bothering his friend. He recovered fast, now that the responsibility of his family was his main focus, but he was still hopeful of one day having the talk they should have.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Words Unspoken
Early Morning Memories 