THE LAST CALL

In the first week of August, It's blazing hot in the streets of Chennai. I and my friends were playing in the streets. I am Raksha. I am the youngest one in my family with two brothers. Being the youngest is such a benefit to do mischiefs and never get scoldings from parents. My elder brother, Sanjeev, and Middle one, Bharath will never allow me to touch their possession as a matter of fact, I am too young to handle it. My two brothers are very fond of pulling my pigtails and making fun of me. The day of tragedy arrived, while heading to Delhi my parents met with a tragic accident in which the car collided head-on with a truck and toppled in which my parents were spotted dead. From that day, my brothers protected me and take good care of me. After the incident, we suffered horribly near starvation.

Though they never mentioned my brothers even cleaned the sewage to provide me education. Being so young I cannot understand the sacrifices of my brothers. We never celebrated any festival after the death of our parents except Raksha Bandhan. Every year I'll go to the temple and worship for the wellbeing of my brothers. I never felt that I lost my parents as my two brothers managed to brought me up in this well-mannered way. Though we quarrel a lot, at the end of the day we are there for each other. Our bond added colors to our life. Time flies, Sanjeev managed to finish his studies and now he is one of the senior-most surgeons in Chennai. On the other hand, Bharath fulfilled his dream to be a part of the Indian army. I managed to complete my Ph.D. and got married to one of my relatives. After marriage, we still care about each other but our strong bond fades as time passes.

They never felt regret to welcome my in-laws to their doorstep. They never shed tears even after suffering so hard. But the day I left our house, I could see them they were extremely broken. To replenish and strengthen our bond every year I visit them during Raksha Bandhan. But this year went extremely painful as Bharath was in the border trying to protect India and Sanjeev was working day and night in his hospital trying to control the pandemic. This Raksha Bandhan, bad news knocked our doors again, the death of 20 soldiers in the border was spoken all over the country. I came to know about the news. I was thunderstruck and was frozen for a few moments. I could see myself crying to death while watching the news. I tried to contact Bharath but he didn't pick my call. Suddenly my phone was ringing, I was frightened to take the call. But I picked it.

Instead of Bharath, someone else picked it. "Hello, Is my brother alright", I asked with a shivering voice. The person said, "Sorry mam, I don't know. I found this phone near a dead body. So I picked it", In shock, I lost my consciousness for a while. Sanjeev contacted the army official and came to know about Bharath. I came to consciousness. Once again my phone was ringing. It was an unknown phone number. I picked the call. It was a familiar voice. It said, "Happy Raksha Bandhan".

In seconds I could recognize that was Bharath. My eyes were filled with tears. I just had only one thing to tell him, "Happy Raksha Bandhan Meri Bhai". During that day, I learned how deep is our relationship. I can do nothing just to promise you to build up affection than perfection and never give up on each other. I wish I could tie the knot in your hands and could see a glimpse in your smile. There may be ruptures in any relationship but this relationship relays a special place among all. I have shared everything with you and never stopped to annoy you.