My story corner: The pine cone

 The Pine cone 

Sal and Rabi were thick pals from the age of five. They were good neighbours and went to the same school, played in the same park and often went to see  the movies together with either Sal's parents or Rabi's parents.To be hones,t this kind of friendship was unique and rare. Sal was pure English and Rabi,  an  Indian from South African .One white and the other wheatish.
Rabi never called herself black....she wasn't black.Indians are wheatish.

 Karan was Rabi's elder brother. He was fourteen, three years older than Rabi but was big and tall for his age. He looked after his sister when his parents were not around. His parents had instilled the sense of duty in him to protect his sister in their absence. Karan was true to his duty and was always there when she needed him. Karan loved his younger sister Rabi.

It was Friday morning, just before four in the morning. Karan was packing for his trip to summer camp when he heard a rumbling sound as if it was thunder clouds  just below his feet. Quite scary!It happened  just for  fraction of a second. He waited ...perhaps he will feel it again. But everything looked normal after a second. Karan, a bit shaky, got back to his packing. He had to leave at half past five to get the train for Deharadun  in the morning  with his friend Robert. They had enrolled for 'Adventure course of Mountaineering'. "Everything would be fine...It is just a bad dream". He heard a car honking and he knew it's his friend. He quietly went to the door when his parents came to say good bye to their son and wished him safe journey. Karan asked if they also heard the rumbling sound but they were totally unaware of anything of it and so the matter was closed there.It's only when Rabi's dad went to work that he got to know about the tremor which was two on vector scale. A sudden fear gripped him and was very uneasy the whole day. He hoped everything was fine with Karan who was off to remote place in India for mountaineering where phone signals were  not strong.

It was  two weeks after on Thursday and Rabi was quite excited that Karan was coming back from his trip.
He always brought something for his little sister. Karan was very good with extra curricular activities. He won the award for organising good camping activity in his group. His instructor in the camp was very happy with his enthusiasm and conscientious efforts to excel in all  outdoor activities and had given him his own badge to show his appreciation.

Rabi's dad  waited anxiously for his son's arrival.He had some uncomfortable feeling nagging him since morning.

He felt a sense of relief when he saw his son back safe and sound. The whole day Karan had loads of stories to tell. He narrated with vivid imagination how they escaped the disaster of being devoured by  the gushing water just by a fraction of a minute on their return journey. A piece of mountain had burst with water just above the river that passes through Uttarkashi town. For some reason their car had stalled and had to stop just hundred yards before the bridge  that goes over the river. They enjoyed tea after tea whilst the driver waited for water to drain out of the break. A Maruti car  was speeding before them had mum and girls laughing and chatting fell into the river pushed by the force of the  gushing water and was swept away and in no time got swallowed.

 The whole town gathered to see the calamity and cruel trick that mountain played on the tourists. A rescue squad arrived but in vain. Within ten minutes  the mountain was back to normal as if nothing happened. It was still raining and was not safe driving at this time of the hour. Robert and  Karan weren't at the place of the scene but heard  people describing the scene coming from that side. They were enjoying hot fourth round of boiled spice tea. There were young village boys and girls walking with a stick on those mountains. For them it was nothing unusual. Sometimes it happens when it rains severely. But they hadn't witnessed  anybody being a prey to this kind of incident in recent years.

Karan's dad now  realised why he was  feeling so uncomfortable  the whole day and thought that God was merciful to his family and went to the temple in the evening with offerings.

Karan described how beautiful the camp site was and how well organised it was because  it is run by army guys.They made each day challenging and engaging for all. He also talked about new friends who had come from different parts of India.

  Even Sal listened to him with admiration. He promised to himself that he would also go to this adventure trip next year.

Karan had brought some different shapes and sizes of  pine cones that he knew his sister would love. Rabi quickly painted them with different colours and placed them in a vase like flowers. She made birds with other few cones. They looked beautiful. 'We should learn something from these cones' Karan said. 'The hard
covering not only gives it a beauty but protects the delicate future of the plant to spread far and wide to raise a new plant'.

That afternoon Karan slept like a log. When he woke up it was  late evening. He had Robert's certificates and awards from the camp packed in his bag and so he rushed to give them to him. He lived just ten minutes away from his house. Robert had slept the whole day and had completely forgotten about the valuable awards. Robert's mom offered Karan to have dinner with them so Robert's dad could drop him back later. Karan politely declined the offer because he wanted to be home quick. He was walking on the footpath and then crossed the road to go under the bridge towards his house. He was just about to cross the road when out of blue a speeding car turned under the bridge ramming the boy, throwing him meters away. In split seconds the whole life of Karan changed. People rushed to rescue the boy.  By the time crowd dispersed Karan's dad had arrived, shocked and speechless, held his son's hand, Karan opened his eyes as if just to say 'I love you dad' and closed his eyes forever. The tears just flew his eyes though he tried hard to take control on himself  but the tears just wouldn't stop. He still took him to the hospital with hope that some miracle might happen and prove him wrong and his son would narrate something about the trip at dinner table.
There was no dinner that day. The boy was quiet and his young body lay there still.

The family's sorrow knew no bound. Each day was mournful heavy with melancholy and  disconsolate.It has been fourteen years and still  the bereaved family is heartbroken and grief stricken. Today Rabi is getting married and the only gift she wants is the pine cones Karan brought for her. She never let the vase out off her sight in so many years. She always felt her brother near her. He never ever spoke to her in high pitch. He was always there to help her with home work and particularly mathematics problems.

 The stories of mountaineering still seems fresh and full of life. She wanted to visit the place of which her brother spoke so highly of but she could never gather enough courage to ask her father if she could go and collect the pine cones where her brother did.

The household was never the same again. Quiet ambience became the character of the house. Sal still visited the place almost everyday till he went to London to complete his higher education. He had become like their son.

Karan's father could never forget  the Earth quake before Karan left, the drowning of Maruti car a few minutes away from deadly incident and now ..... was it  his time to go alone ?

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