the 1st promise

The day I spoke to him he promised me, he’d be my friend forever, stand beside me in this world of crap when I needed him the most

He promised to teach me to drink

And he did

He promised to write a testimonial to me if I write one for him

And he did

He promised to love his parents as much as they loved him

And he did

He promised he will take care of our lodging if we guys decided to have an annual get-together

And he did

He promised me he would do anything for his friends

And he did

He promised me he will keep up all his promises

And he did not. He broke the first one.


I was sitting home jobless and like the fig dried out in the Sun I was getting killed of boredom. Out of nowhere an idea flashed up in my mind . My favorite victim - Hari Amirthraj. At a very quick pace I reached for my mobile. “Hey whats up dude, are you in town, do we meet up?” “What machi you sound all happy. Am in trichy da. My birthday is just round the corner. Il be back in Chennai and I swear I’l take you guys out wherever you guys want me to.” I continued, “Lets see if you make it here for your birthday you big dodger!!!” “I WILL [what a liar]” he said and his next words came out fast “Am on another call il call you back in a minute.”

Two days later…..

It was all dark. I could hear the faint tone of my mobile from a distant land. I tried opening me eyed but the lids felt too damn heavy. Few minutes later the same noise echoes through my head. This time with difficulty I did roll out the lids. I slept with my contacts on. Before my eye could browse for the name, I reached for the answer button to cut down the loud noise. “Hey Amir died in a car crash, we are leaving to trichy now, are u coming?” Prasanna’s voice was broken by his irregular weeping and sprayed me with questions. Hung up the call without giving an answer. Closed my eyes and everything went black once again. For once I felt the darkness comforted me a million times better than the flame that drove away the darkness and fear in me. The flame that did consume the flesh of my best friend, when so many of us stood around him watching the fire eat up his flesh. In tears. In our memories. For that moment, none had any thoughts that did not involve him in it. The flame he lit in our hearts is not the one that would die out ever. I wish he realized how we all loved him. As a pat on our shoulders. As a smile. As a brother. And as a friend. I believe its not God wanting to meet him soon, it’s the death which he couldn’t escape. For God wouldn’t be selfish enough to take him away from the mob that loved him a lot more than Gods own love on Amir. Rest in Peace Amir. Bye. Till the day we meet again.