Reveal The Buried Secrets

"Anuj is coming to meet us," Vimal informed his wife Kavita.

"He got leave from the army?" Kavita was busy in the kitchen.

"Yep. My childhood friend will arrive tomorrow."

"Wasn't he the school bully?" She asked Vimal as she set up the dinner table. Vimal put down the casserole pan on the table gently and grunted.

"Tell me that story of how he became your friend."

"I have told you so many times."

"I love to hear that one." Kavita smiled.

"Gladly but only after dinner. Too hungry to speak." Vimal pretended to grab his stomach.

They cleared the table after dinner and then sat down in front of the TV. Kavita muted the TV and looked at Vimal.

"Well, I was in class 8 at that time. Anuj was the school bully, getting into scrapes with everyone. He used to play football but in every match, he would get in trouble with the referee. He would shove other players, deliberately trip them. No one wanted to be around him but he was our star forward. In one of the matches against Zila School, he had scored 3 goals. The coach wanted him on the team, the rest didn't have a voice. In any case, that fateful day, the 7th of July 2007, our paths crossed. You see, I was a bookworm. I used to be in the library while Anuj used to out there in the fields. He might have been aware of my existence but he never cared enough for me. On that day, I was going down the stairs. I was in a bit of hurry for I was going to be late for my class. I ran into Anuj who was climbing up the stairs. The impact sent him sprawling and it maddened him enough to rough me up. I mean, he grabbed my collar, pushed me against the wall, twice I think and then punched me once in my guts.

I started bawling my eyes out and he was so disgusted by my tears that he called me some names and pushed me away. I kept crying all the way to my class where my friends consoled me. I could not pay attention in the class. All that I could think of was how badly I had been treated by Anuj and how I have to settle the score with him. I was a simpleton then. I had read many books and I wanted to be the most well-behaved child. That was the way my parents had raised me up. I decided to take matters to Anuj's parents. I reasoned that if I told them how Anuj bashed me for no reason, they would side with me and thrash him or maybe even scold him. That would have made me happy. So I asked around and got Anuj's address and after school, I decided to pay him a visit.

Well, that day, Anuj had to practice extra for the upcoming football match and I didn't have to worry about running into him. I soon found that I had never been to that part of the town. It was a slum. That's the only word I can think of it. Think of overflowing sewers, of children running around in just their knickers, of clothes being hung outside the houses to dry and most of them were torn or patched up. The stink is something I still remember. I had never ever smelled anything so horrible till now. I saw many people lying on the cots outside their hovels. Most of these were drunk. I had only read about such an abysmal way of living. My first experience of the horror of real life. Later I had many horrible experiences but that day shook me awake. In any case, I stood there, paralyzed, unsure of my next step when I was approached by a young kid. He was Anuj's kid brother. He was in our school too and he recognized the uniform so he came towards me. Later, much later, I learnt that his name was Jeet and that he was in class 4. He came to me and asked if I had come to meet his mother. I somehow nodded my head and he led me to his hovel. His mother was sitting outside, cleaning rice. You have never seen it done but people used to buy rice with a lot of pebbles in it and one had to remove the pebbles. She looked tired. She looked up at me and her face contorted. See, everyone who had come to her house had come to complain about Anuj. She just looked at me and realized that I had come to complain. She asked about it and I have no idea why but I lied."

Vimal took a deep breath.

"I could have told her the truth. The way she asked me about it, I knew that she was not even going to question me. I knew that Anuj would get scolded or beaten up and that was why I had gone there but then, at that moment, I could not say anything. I told her about Anuj's great match, of how he scored three goals and helped our team win. That was the only truth I said. From then on, I lied to her about how hard Anuj was studying, of how he helped other students. I told her that her son is an outstanding student. My lies got through to her. She began to weep. Through her sobs and from Jeet, I learnt that Anuj's father had abandoned them, that she was finding it very hard to bring up two young boys. I watched her cry helplessly and felt ashamed. I left after some time and went home but I could not concentrate on anything. I had lied and made Anuj a hero. I had gone there to get him thrashed and all I did was to praise him to the heavens. I was not happy at all with myself. I cursed myself. I cried myself to sleep. Then I formed a plan.

I approached Anuj two days later. Initially, he would not even speak with me properly but I persisted. I offered to help him with Maths which was his kryptonite. I even offered to help him with other subjects. We started chatting and I became his confidante and his voice of conscience. My friends shunned him but slowly I won them over too. Anuj became a part of our group. He stopped acting in the class or on the field and started to put more efforts into his studies. His house did not even have electricity so I offered to do combined study in our house. He would cycle to our house at around 4 PM and then we would study for 2 hours. Then we would go outside to play for an hour. Then he would go home. Sometimes my mom would feed him too but mostly he went home. We became inseparable and all the time I was carefully preparing my speech. I had to destroy him in front of everyone. I was planning to insult him for his lack of manners and to mock him for his ineptitude in school subjects. I wanted him to get mocked by everyone, to become the laughing stock of the school.

I am now ashamed to say it aloud but at that point in time, I nurtured that dream. I believed Anuj to be my enemy but I kept up a facade of friendship with him. After three months of our friendship, Anuj began to confide in me about stuff that he had never shared with anyone. I was so pleased with the development that I encouraged him. I noted all the gory details. Anuj opened his heart to me and I kept looking for ways to hurt him. The Christmas holidays were going to start soon and we were going to have a small function in our school before school broke for the winter holidays. I had decided to wreck Anuj in that function. My plan was to mock him so much that he would not dare to show his face again in the school. Then and only then my revenge would be complete."

Vimal took some sips of water. Kavita knew what was to come. She had heard the story so many times now. She knew that the upcoming part was the hardest bit, that Vimal found it very hard to look at it but she did not want to stop him.

"I wrote my neat little speech. I added all the juicy details of Anuj's life, how his father hated him and his family, how they were abandoned, how his mother had to work for some time as a house help. Anuj had told me about so many of his pranks, pranks that had hurt people, that had destroyed stuff. I knew that he was responsible for trashing the principal's office. All I had to do was point him out and the rest would have been taken care of. He would have been hounded out of the school. I psyched myself into believing that I was the avenging sword of all the students who had suffered at Anuj's hands. I was going to become the greatest hero by bringing an end to Anuj's reign of terror. But then..."

He sighed.

"But then the next day Anuj didn't come alone to study at my house. His mother and Jeet accompanied him. My mother was a bit surprised to see them but then Anuj's mother started to cry. She blessed me as the angel who had turned his son around, of how she was very scared that her son would become a street urchin and get involved with local gangs, of how she was now so relieved that Anuj now paid more attention to studies all because he found a great friend. She kept blessing me and kept crying."

Vimal stopped speaking again.

"At long last, she left but not before hugging me and blessing me again. I was gobsmacked. I locked myself in my room and cried bitterly. Anuj could not understand why I was crying but he left shortly. All this time I had hated Anuj and I planned to get him out of the school and all this time he and her mother were thanking their stars that I had entered their lives. I had never felt so bad, so worthless. The tears washed away my resentment, my anger. I tore into pieces my carefully crafted speech and threw them away. Anuj returned after some time. I was his only friend after all. He apologized for his mother's atrocious behaviour and it made me cry again. I hugged him and we went out to play. He became my brother ever since that day."

Vimal wiped tears off his eyes. Kavita took his hand and pressed it to her cheek. She could feel the coldness of the tears.

"Time passed and we appeared for our school exams together. I topped the school and he scored a very commendable 85%. He cleared NDA and joined army. I became a computer engineer. We stayed in touch. Jeet chose to become an engineer too. I coached him, taught him everything that I could."

"He is in an MNC, right?"

Vimal nodded.

"So your secret is that you actually pretended to like Anuj but you hated him and plotted to get him thrown out of the school."

"And this is a secret I am never going to reveal. It will stay buried."

"We are talking of events that took place almost 12 years ago. Surely he would understand."

"He may forgive me and then it will be all water under the bridge but what if he doesn't? No, I am never going to reveal this truth."

Kavita let go of his hand and smiled.

"Do you know why I love this story?" She asked. Her eyes had suddenly become mysterious. Vimal could not take his eyes off her.

"I need to come clean," She said. "The reason why I love this story, the reason why I love you, is because I know Anuj. His mother and my maternal aunt are cousins. I know the problems that Anuj and his family faced. His mother still sings praises for you. She calls you an angel who helped her son and guided him. You, Vimal, helped three lives. Because of your help and guidance, both Anuj and Jeet are doing so well in their lives. I am sorry but I have already shared this story with Anuj."

"Don't worry," She added hurriedly when she saw Vimal's shock. "He took it very casually. He suspected that initially you didn't like him very much but he was not aware of your plot to discredit him or get him expelled. He laughed it off when he heard about your little plan. He has taken leave only to meet you. He is coming here to ask you to let go of your guilt."

Vimal started to cry. Kavita held him tightly.

"You have carried this guilt for so many years now. You need to let it go. You need to forgive yourself."

She wiped his tears off and kissed him softly.

"He will arrive tomorrow. Just know that he holds no grudges. He has a lot of respect for you and he loves you like his brother. Let it go, Vimal. You don't have to suffer anymore."

Vimal smiled through his tears. He felt a great peace descending upon him. He hugged his wife and muttered a prayer of thanks. He looked forward to seeing his best friend again.