Happy Holi Friends

Koushik rang the bell of the apartment. Prachi opens the door and greets him with a smile. He enters and keeps his bag on the table. She brings a glass of water for him. He finish drinking it and then said “It’s hot today” She replied “Yes and so I asked Jai not to go outside to play” “Is Jai outside but I didn’t see him in the compound” “Then maybe he has gone to Deep’s house”

“Oh I’ve brought something for him. Ok I’m going to Choudhury House to call him back”

“You’ve just returned from office and are very tired. Why don’t you call them and ask to send Jai back”

“It’s ok. I’ve some talks with Atul Choudhury so it’s better to go to their house”

Koushik had a cup of tea and then ventured out of his home. First he thought of departing by lift then discarded the thought and took the stairs. The busy schedule doesn’t give him chance to exercise regularly. So to keep the body fit he often opts to walk down by stairs once in a day. The moment he turned one round he saw Jai. He is sitting on the stairs of their apartment and drawing something on them. Koushik was quite surprised. Why is his son sitting here when he should have been with his friends; he couldn’t understand.

He tiptoed down the stairs and then sat beside him. Jai looked up and saw his father but didn’t jump up like other days. Koushik said “What has happened to my loving son today? Why is he sad?”

Jai thought for a second then said “How did you understand daddy that I’m sad?”

Koushik smiled “Dads always understand their sons and daughters”

He looked at his dad’s face then said “I had a fight with Deep and Aman yesterday over playing video game which you gave me on my birthday”

“This is not at all good Jai. You should always share your things with your friends like they share their food with you, play games with you”

“I’m sorry daddy”

“You’ve to say sorry to your friends”

“But how? They’ve stopped talking to me”

“You’ve to think some way of saying sorry to them and win back their friendship”

Jai thought for a second then said “I’ve got a plan”

“That’s good. Now execute it quickly. Well I’ve brought something for you”

His face brightened. He said “What?”

“Go to your room, it is kept on your study table” He thanked his father and ran back to their apartment.

Jai is very excited today. Holi has arrived. His father has bought variety of gulal and watercolours for him to play. So he rose very early in the morning to get ready with his things to play Holi. He took two sheets of paper from his copy and wrote “SORRY. Will you play HOLI with me?” Then he tiptoed out of his house and went to Deep’s home first. The door is closed but he did not ring the bell rather he placed one of the sheet and a packet of gulal before the door and left. Then he went to Aman’s home and did the same. When he returned he saw his mother and sister making rangoli. It is beautiful. He too joined them in making it. His sister Shree asked “Where did you go Jai?” He replied “I went to the compound to see if anyone is out to play holi” Prachi said “No one starts playing so early in the morning”

After finishing rangoli the whole family gathered in the prayer room to offer their prayer to Lord Krishna and Radha. Jai had heard god listens to everyone if he or she prays very earnestly. He looked at Lord for a long time then folded his hands and prayed “Lord Krishna, I’ve fought with my friends. I’m very sorry for that. I’ve even written sorry and placed a sheet in front of their house. Please forgive me and see that my friends forgive me too” When he opened his eyes he saw smile on god’s lips. He became sure that god has accepted his prayer.

It’s ten o’ clock in the morning and Jai is excitedly looking out of the window down towards the compound to find if his friends are out to play. Some of the children are out but he couldn’t see either Deep or Aman. He was very worried, did they get his request or not he couldn’t understand. And what will he do next if they refused to accept his request. His sister came to his room and said “Come lets’ go outside and join the other children”

He said “No I won’t play without my friends”

Shree said “They will surely come”

So Jai went out with his sister. Shree started playing but Jai didn’t. He was sad so he sat on the bench under the gulmohar tree. He was sorry for all that he did. He was sure his friends had not forgiven him for his bad behaviour. He prayed to lord Krishna to help him.

Suddenly someone screamed “Happy Holi” and threw colour balloons on him. Jai turned to see both of his friends smiling at him. Jai was very happy to see them. He thanked God and then ran towards his friends smearing his hands with gulal and shouting loudly “Happy Holi Friends”