SM Separations

Running a hand through her windswept hair, Sara looked grim.

“I never thought this could happen between us.”

Looking sad, Ravi nodded.

The teenagers were seated on a bench near the Pawse animal shelter in Parel where they had been volunteering for the last 2 years. Spending so much time walking dogs and soothing anxious cats, Ravi and Sara never realized when they become such close friends. What they were feeling could be called that popular four-lettered word. But before it could be uttered, things had changed.

It all happened out of the blue.

One night Sara was scrolling through her Instagram feed and was shocked. Ravi had shared an image of himself with a street dog that Sara knew only too well.

Unable to control her rage, Sara burst out.

“You know why this happening right? How could you? How could you click a picture with that dog who is in a gang of rivals that always teases our little Buntu?”

Ravi was taken aback.

“What? That’s why you’re so angry? Well that’s not fair!”

Looking cross, Sara snapped back “Don’t you dare tell me what’s not fair!”

Irritatedly again pushing her hair back on this rather windy evening, Sara suddenly looked confused.

“But wait, if you didn’t realise what you did to little Buntu, why did you think I was so upset?”

Ravi shrugged.

“I only thought that you realized your mistake.”

“My mistake?” Sara glowered.

Ravi glared right back.

“Yes. Yours. I saw how on Twitter you liked and retweeted some comment about how Dharmendra is a great actor. Don’t you realise how his ‘kutte, khoon pee jaaonga’ line is extremely problematic?”

There was a moment of silence for which Buntu the dog sleeping under the bench was grateful.

Sara and Ravi were both lost in their thoughts. If they were honest with themselves, neither of them remembered the social media content that the other was referring to. But at this point admitting so would not look too good.

Sara sighed. Sure Ravi was her closest friend, but this was getting too complicated.

“You are right Ravi. That was wrong of me. I’m so sorry…”

Ravi smiled with relief and blurted out, “Uh yes, you are also right about the Instagram thing. That was bad of me.”

In the next moment of silence little Buntu’s loud fart echoed through the narrow street.

Finally Sara said what was on both their minds.

“So now what?”

Thinking that he was saying what she wanted, Ravi spoke cautiously.

“I guess maybe this relationship isn’t working. Right?”

Her heart shattered to bits, Sara replied thinking that she was agreeing with what Ravi wanted.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re right. We should just be friends I think.”

Gulping back his tears, Ravi nodded and walked away. Only once he was gone did Sara hold her head and break into loud sobs. Finally wiping her nose, she resolutely got up and walked away.

Under the bench, little Buntu finally got up and rolled out. Kori the local crow quickly flew down to the bench.

“Hey! Hey! Buntu aren’t you worried? The friends who take care of you just broke up.”

Buntu yawned lazily.

“Ah don’t worry Kori bhai. See tomorrow morning I’ll just go into Tuffy mode.”

The crow narrowed his eyes.

“Tuffy mode?”

“Oh it’s just this thing where I’ll run away from Sara, towards Ravi and then make a cute face. It always works!”

The crow cawed sadly.

“Ah you clever bugger! Wish there was a Tuffy mode for us crows too!”

Buntu was no longer listening. He had found a butterfly and was determined to chase it.

Today ended in heartbreak. But with love, there was always a tomorrow.

THE END