Camp Fire

Smoking stoves, loaded carts, packaged confectionaries, anxious passengers, brimming eyes, chugging engines; the scene at the Indian Railway Station has forever remained the same.

An irritation pops up at the sight of incomplete infrastructure, unhygienic washrooms and swarming beggars. But soon, this is trampled under a sense of comfort which passengers across India have got used to, since this is one mode of travel which penetrates across all the different layers of the Indian Society and brings them all to the same platform: the railway platform.

As she flipped through a magazine disinterestedly her eyes casually glanced over the multiplying crowd. Wait! She had seen something familiar. Or rather someone familiar! Shreya switched her concentration back to the platform, this time to scan every person on it, to get back to that someone. Her eyes finally zeroed in on that lad or rather boy or maybe now a man.

The incoming train’s honk did not allow her gaze to be riveted for long to that familiar face.

Chaotic movement on the platform, long strolls across the college campus; hasty search for the correct berth, complete peace; endless noise, unending serenity. Her thoughts and the happenings at the station was completely contradictory. As porters hurtled the baggage of boarding passengers onto the berths, her baggage of memories lay open and all the accoutrements were scattered. All because of that one unexpected glimpse.

She settled herself adjacent to the window in an honest attempt to forget whom she had seen. A couple sat opposite her cuddling each other and whispering sweet nothings which Thank God! she was unable to hear. Right across the other side, a young mother tried to calm her wailing baby, all in vain. Shreya gazed outside the window to find some peace, as the train moved on.

Vast barren lands with distant horizons, conflagrant brick kilns and barely clad village women cross past as the train gathered momentum. She tried to cut herself off from the happenings across the compartment. Was she able to drift off to something else or did she land onto the same thing, this time in her thoughts……?

All the three were in the same class Abhimanyu, Khushi and herself. They sat together playing cross-zero or crosswords during the lectures and having lunch together at the canteen with whoever willing to join them and pay their own food-bills. They scored averagely in the tests and exams with each taking turns in outranking the other’s average score. They made an awesome threesome. What connected them?

There was one knot which tied the three of them together: a common proclivity for sports. They had selected it as their preferred co-curricular activity in the curriculum. It was truly invigorating to have the college crowd cheer for them from the sports stadium’s aisle. All the three had won themselves medals in the sports events organized, with each revelling in the other’s victory. The only difference was that Abhimanyu was an outstanding, unchallenged sportsperson with competitors not even close to him. Shreya and Khushi were good though, not as brilliant as Abhimanyu. Both admired him for this and it was certainly vice versa as well though, he never acknowledged the same.

The Sports Day had come to an end. There was pin-drop silence in the room. However, the cheers from the sports stadium, was still reverberating in the mind. Khushi walked into Shreya’s room for reliving the memories. As they munched through the leftover soggy snacks, Khushi excitingly babbled, ‘Abhimanyu is terrific at sports. You know, we should train together and keep up the exercises throughout the year. This will keep us fit and will be fun as well’.

‘Yeah that should be interesting, we’ll have to ask Abhimanyu about this’, Shreya responded.

‘Don’t bother! He’s fine with the idea. I asked him already’, was the quick response.

‘Oh, so you are just telling me, not asking I guess,’ Shreya stared annoyingly.

‘I’m not even asking you. You’ll definitely join us. I have done my homework’, she smiled.

It was the first practice session in the evening and awkward for the sports enthusiasts. Being together in the classroom and playing cross-words was very different from this. Abhimanyu’s approach was very professional.

‘Let’s jog from here to the stadium. It will be good for a warm-up!’

While they started jogging together, the two girls soon noticed that Abhimanyu was miles ahead of them. Leave apart the workouts; that day the girls were not even able to reach the stadium on time. They were exhausted and it was nearing the girls’ hostel in-time already. They decided to walk back together.

‘You girls really need to catch-up!’

‘C’mon Abhimanyu. It’s just our first day!’ Khushi retaliated back.

‘Hi there!’ While Khushi caught up with some of her other classmates and digressed on the way, both Abhimanyu and Shreya strolled their ways back. Abhimanyu spent the entire thirty minutes explaining on how she must increase her stamina through proper intake of nutrients. Shreya listened while she dragged herself back.

‘See you tomorrow!’ Abhimanyu waved to an exhausted Shreya.

Back in the room, Khushi agreed to massage Shreya’s aching legs that evening on a promise that she would do the same for her after some time.

She enthusiastically asked, ‘How was your stroll down the secluded lane back?’

Shreya knew what she was hinting at and responded irritatingly, ‘Totally unromantic!’

‘Hey, you totally wasted a good amount of time I gave you!’ was her faint voice as she walked out of the room.

The second day was more organized with them reaching the stadium on time. Abhimanyu helped them with the warm-up exercises and passed over tips on the routine aerobic sessions one must follow. While Khushi easily completed the calisthenics, Shreya’s head was almost reeling.

‘You need to improve upon your stamina. Will tell you about workouts, to improve your muscle strength’, was Abhimanyu’s observation.

Shreya gave up for the day only for watching Khushi and Abhimanyu have all the fun on the tracks. Both had lots of fun challenging each other on the tracks with their stopwatch. The fun lasted forty minutes.

‘Abhimanyu was really worried about you’, mentioned Khushi as they hired a rickshaw for their way back. ‘You need to increase your haemoglobin levels!’

This evening drill gradually became a part of their daily lives. Shreya or Khushi would be in and out of it depending upon their mood swings and stamina levels for that day but Abhimanyu was the permanent attendee. The three would now cycle down to the sports stadium on borrowed bicycles. Eventually, they would meet Abhimanyu’s friends playing either cricket or football at the ground. Abhimanyu would respond sportingly to the obvious leg pulling, regarding them being together. He however continued practicing with both girls on the tracks. He would join the rest of his group post the girls’ hostel in-time. Shreya truly appreciated this spirit and admired Abhimanyu for this gallantry. She would narrate the entire session for Khushi on the evenings that she was absent. Khushi would merely scoff it off saying, ‘There is nothing romantic in the story!’ She would be upset with the boredom of zero romance in the event illustration.

It was one of the foggy and chilled winter evenings when both Shreya and Khushi were hurrying down towards the hostel, post practice. Abhimanyu had agreed to accompany them since it was getting dark.

‘We have surpassed the in-time. There is a fence-line over which we can jump into the hostel premises’, observed Khushi. Shreya was numb to the option since they did not have much of an option. Abhimanyu simply smiled. There was a wall which aligned with the fence and this served as the barricade for the girls’ hostel from behind its buildings.

They reached the wall. ‘Let me get on this wall’, Khushi decided to lead the way and climbed over the wall. Abhimanyu helped her and she managed to easily jump over to the other side.

’We are athletes, aren’t we?’ rejoiced Khushi on the achievement. Shreya was inspired by this feat and climbed over the wall with Abhimanyu’s assistance. It was dark already and she missed seeing her sweatshirt’s edge hook onto the barbed wire. She took the plunge while her sweatshirt caught into the barbed wire, split into two. One half was with her and the other entangled in the barbed wire. Shreya felt disgraced and was frozen for a second. There was no time to think. ‘Take my jacket!’ Khushi covered her and pulled her towards their mess attendance halls. Shreya was embarrassed enough to not look back even once to check upon Abhimanyu’s reaction. They slid into the mess hall, pretending nothing had happened and managed to sneak-in conveniently.

Khushi doubled into laughter as they sat in her room. ‘Wow!! That was an adventure. Wonder what all did Abhimanyu get to see!’ she guffawed.

‘Just shut up, it was your stupid idea’, Shreya grumbled in irritation as she took off her jacket only to notice that her track-pants was also mildly torn and there was scratches and blood all over. Khushi nursed the bruises while simultaneously having her share of fun, teasing Shreya.

Their cacophony was interrupted over, by Abhimanyu’s call. Shreya was too awkward to take the call. Khushi received it on her behalf. When she disconnected, she rattled, ‘He is really worried about you. Didn’t even ask once, whether I was fine.’

‘That’s because you did not fall over you fool!’ was Shreya’s quick smart reply.

Shreya was embarrassed as hell. There was a feeling of awkwardness which had engulfed her. She was simply unable to muster the confidence to sit with Abhimanyu in the class the next day. She would have preferred bunking the class but couldn’t, since she was already falling short of attendance. She sat elsewhere and as the class ended, she tried to slip out. Abhimanyu grasped her hand from behind. ‘It’s ok. Not a big deal’, he said. She smiled stiffly and on constant coaxing, promised to be there at the stadium in the evening.

‘Hmm……that’s romantic!’ giggled Khushi later, on Shreya’s narration. ‘Today maybe I should escape going for the stadium session. You carry on!’ Khushi had silently blurted what was in her mind.

Unlike all other evenings, that evening was indulged in chatting with each other rather than calisthenics, since Shreya was supposedly badly injured. Khushi was purposefully absent, maybe to make the other two more comfortable. Both realized how much they had missed upon on knowing about each other’s aspirations and just mindless training. It was then that Shreya first realized the importance of sports, in Abhimanyu’s life. Not that it was trivial for her, but she knew she could not earn a living out of it; especially given the infrastructure and encouragement provided for athletics for women. But Abhimanyu believed he could make a career out of it. If not athletics, then maybe football or cricket; or any other sport given that he was good at all. For Khushi and Shreya it was an already lost game. But for Abhimanyu, sports, was his life!

Days eclipsed faster than nights and time flew.

Squats, sit-and-reach, knee-lifts, cardiovascular exercises, body curls; all sessions seemed to leap fast amidst fun and frolic. The Sports Day was there in no time. 100m, 200m, 400m, high-jump, long jump….the girls swept each of the events with their flair and endeavour. Abhimanyu’s coaching had ensured that both girls bagged these titles, with both alternating between the first and second positions. It was truly gratifying to watch their other friends cheering for them, as they strived through every event.

Not sure whether she had become famous for her accomplishments, but Shreya had surely become famous for collapsing after the relay races. Thankfully she collapsed after the finishing line, with volunteers running towards her with Glucose supplements. It was during then that Shreya realized how proficient one needed to be for sports. It wasn’t an easy game at all.

As for the Abhimanyu? He was simply the unchallenged winner! Exemplary and outstanding.

Khushi and Shreya had very much become a part of Abhimanyu’s gang by now, due to their constant interaction on the sports field. All were delighted with their very own individual medals and, also on each other’s achievements. They realized, there could not be a better victory than a Sports victory. It was the coming together of all, the mind, the body and the emotions.

Drenched in this joy of their sports success and soaked in the feelings that there was only a year left for all the friends together in college, all decided for a trekking fun-trip to the nearby hills which they often gazed at, from the college campus.

‘We should visit there and celebrate!’

There they were, at the foot-hills of an unknown hill, on a cold cloudy day. Rohit, Aanchal, Siddharth, Rahul, Naina, Abhimanyu, Khushi and Shreya; all enjoying themselves up the hills. Aanchal and Naina were college juniors who were dating Rohit and Rahul respectively and had jumped-in last minute on this trek. It was a Saturday and they were enjoying their sports success up the hill.

Abhimanyu would lend the girls a hand at climbing over the rocks or would wait for all to gather breath, before they moved on. Shreya felt giddy in her head due to exhaustion and Abhimanyu’s valiant moves. All halted at noon-time over a relatively plain turf. All were hungry. The guys were involved in setting up the tent while the girls unpacked the food. Shreya got the job of fetching sprigs and twigs for lighting up a fire both for heating the packed food and also, since it was chilly. Khushi wanted to accompany Shreya but gave up the idea when Abhimanyu decided to join her. She got herself busy, unpacking the rest of the rucksacks. There was mist intermittently blanketing them, completely contradictory to what all had predicted for that day. They had on the contrary, expected a warm winter camping.

Abhimanyu and Shreya walked over as the fog caused obscurity and both strolled further into dimness. This haze caused Shreya to suddenly trip over a stone. Before she could balance herself, Abhimanyu enveloped his arm around her to prevent her from falling. This heroic act of his however, caused him to lose balance, slip and fall-down. Even before Shreya could comprehend what had happened, she saw a helpless Abhimanyu hanging over the cliff. Apparently, they had walked too far….

She yelled in full fright for help, but before the rest could trace their voices and reach them, Abhimanyu had fallen off.

Shreya shivered and cried both out of cold and fear, as the guys frantically hunted for Abhimanyu. The height of the ridge was unfathomable due to the engulfing fog. They however managed to locate him as he yelled back in response to the screams and calls from their end. It was pitch dark by the time all were able to rescue Abhimanyu. They lit the fire and collected around it. All were tensed and decided to lay their camps for the night. It was late already, and they now realized the risks involved in climbing down. And most importantly, Abhimanyu had badly injured himself. He was in pain but did not express it. All attended to him with whatever knowledge they had on first-aid and this had very slightly eased down Abhimanyu’s pain. All pretended like this was just a usual accident though they knew heart-of-the-hearts, it was grave.

They had all planned to play dumb charade or ‘Antakshari’ but the situation had whiffed it all off. All friends lay down to the open skies trying hard to still forcefully enjoy themselves. Hence, each one was just chatting casually to make the situation seem very much in control. The talks swayed from one topic to the other till the fateful foggy night had fled past and it was a clear morning.

‘Let’s pack and move back to the hostel. Abhimanyu you need not carry anything, we’ll do that!’

It is only then that they realized how severely Abhimanyu was injured. His knee was badly injured. He limped every step. His limp grew worse with each step only for two of the friends to carry him on the way. The guys got him checked and bandaged at the college dispensary.

The bruises healed fast but, Abhimanyu’s limp took some time to improve. Doctors called it a ‘tendon and ligament-rupture’ and that, it shall heal gradually.

The three friends continued meeting at the stadium in the evenings, with now Abhimanyu just instructing and the girls working out. None of the friends teased now. The lesions recovered and pains alleviated with every passing day. The next Sports Meet started drawing close.

All the three would try to cover the track together. Surprisingly, Khushi and Shreya would manage complete it but, Abhimanyu would need to stop halfway due to the cramps and discomfort. He tried consulting doctors outside campus, only with a conclusion from them that, he should not indulge much into physical activities as that would strain his hamstring muscles further. The friends would now meet at the sports complex only to spend time together rather than drill. Khushi started opting out of the meets stating to Shreya, that she should not interrupt into their trysts. And the rest of their group started leaving them ‘alone’ be it in the canteen or stadium, themselves concluding and citing them as pairs. The two of them were however unruffled by all this. On the contrary, there was a lot of unmentioned tension brewing in between them. Shreya blamed herself for the disastrous incident while Abhimanyu was gradually losing his confidence. Each one started pretending to the other that everything was fine, although it was not.

Abhimanyu stopped turning up at the sports stadium intermittently. Shreya would end up returning back alone with him, not even answering her calls. Abhimanyu would explain the next day that his mobile was not with him or that he had dozed off or built upon some other fresh excuse. His reasons were however different, which Shreya somewhat comprehended. It was Khushi who drew her attention towards the fact that Abhimanyu was sinking into a depression due to his physical condition.

Shreya tried talking it out with Abhimanyu. But he simply ignored all the sympathy since he believed, he was in a helpless situation.

‘Don’t worry, you will be fine. Just concentrate on the college placements for now’. Abhimanyu would be silent and would not reply. Khushi helped in talking out as well, but to no use.

The last Sports Meet of their college time had finally arrived. Both Khushi and Shreya looked forward to it since they knew that their sports career did not have any future beyond this. It was an overwhelming environment at the sports stadium again. Apparently, there were younger, talented and more energetic contenders from the freshers’ batch by now. Both Khushi and Shreya won at least few medals for themselves. They were thrilled even though they were not the champions this time. Abhimanyu participated in the events, clearly violating every friend’s advice. He participated in every event and lost in all. It was a complete contradiction of the erstwhile times.

None of the friends had the courage to face Abhimanyu. All now felt guilty somewhere, for his condition. Shreya dared to meet him as he sulked solitary in one corner of the field. She held his hand and said, ‘It’s just fine. It’s just that you are injured and haven’t recovered completely.’

‘It’s very easy to say that with those medals in your hand. Never thought you would be so selfish’, he retorted.

Shreya tried to ignore the pricking comment and sympathized, only to receive back his yell.

‘Just stay out of my life. This is my life. You cannot understand my situation and never will. Look, what you have done to me!’

Shreya was unable to see Abhimanyu jerk off her hand and walk past, due to her tearful eyes.

Abhimanyu stopped interacting with Shreya completely. They never sat together in class now, in the entire of the last semester. Shreya was deeply hurt, blamed herself for his injury and partially it was also her self-respect which stopped her from pursuing him. Khushi would try to intervene, but all in vain.

College came to an end with each one scaling their own way. All friends had landed themselves into jobs in different cities. All promises of regular meets and interactions with friends had dissolved into the everyday ‘life of a common man’. Even the frequent calls had been crushed into the daily grindings.

The pantry attendant asked for her choice of food as Shreya looked upon blankly, drawing herself out, from the memories which she had buried somewhere in the past. She realized her misunderstandings and neglect and was willing to conciliate. However, she too was adamant on the fact that she would not make the first move since Abhimanyu’s injury was never her intention. It could certainly be her mistake though. Two years had hence flown past without any effort from either end. Khushi was ready to assist Abhimanyu on his misplaced anger and frustrations but seemingly, he had severed ties with her as well.

Unending meadows, engulfing darkness, Shreya tried hard in concentrating on the beauty outside the window after twilight.

‘Can we have dinner together?’

Her heart skipped a beat. She recognized the voice and turned her head for authentication. It was Abhimanyu. He too had caught a glimpse of her at the station and rummaged through the crowd, to interact with her. And this gesture was moving enough, for her to gulp her ego. All negative feelings were swept aside, as she made space for him to sit.

‘How have you been?’ He held Shreya’s hand, least concerned about the public glares.

Abhimanyu confessed, ‘Sports was the spoilsport not you!’ He had come to terms with the truth and had analysed the situation in retrospect.

Curious onlookers, uncouth glares, weird snores, littered gallery with unfinished food; the train sped past with them nursing each other’s emotional wounds and apologizing to each other. They detached themselves from the surroundings, as they listened to each other’s explanations and caught upon the last two years intently. And this train trip was the beginning of a new journey for both of them.