Vijay And Meran

In a school very close by in the city of Kolkata, there were 2 boys in the same 9th-grade class for the year and worst of all they sat next to each other (you will see why). Their names were Vijay and Meran. Throughout their time in history since they met in that school and been at the very same school since Kindergarten, they have always hated each other to such an extent that they would threaten each other with either smashing them in the same with a racket or even punching each other and bringing their cliques towards each other. While Vijay wanted revenge against Meran and wanted to expel him for calling him fat, Meran never cared about life and always wanted to live life to the fullest.

Some wondered why both of them couldn’t get along, the same answer you will get from both is “no” or “it is complicated” or “I don’t care let the blood from the sky rain on either one of them and let them perish under the ashes and sand to the underworld of the below”. This is where things started to get tense and weird. 

Some just sat back to watch the show move on around them between the 2 shards of hate, while some said it was complete madness but did not do anything, which when you think about it, is kind of what everyone does in a particular situation, everyone wants to stay neutral and no one wants to be in such a situation or pickle. Reputations and actions are always monitored by the hundreds of eyeballs around us right this second. 

I won’t mention my name right now, but I can tell you that it is real, and no I am not the author of this story you are reading now. This is totally, very real here. 

It was 2010 in the city of Kolkata and I am here to document the day to day life of the former enemies into friends. And show how 2 enemies can become friends and form better relations between one another. 

Narrator - So tell me, about yourself

Vijay - My name is Vijay and I am 15 years old and I am from Patna, India, I can speak Bengali, Telugu, Hindi, and English and I like to read and do coding on my laptop.

Meran- My name is Meran and I am 15 years old and I am from Srinagar, India, I can speak Kashmiri, Hindi, Punjabi and also English, I like to cook and to play games, I like to also paint and play sports a lot. 

Narrator - why do you hate Vijay/Meran so much

Vijay - Meran is a jerk to me, a waste fellow and is a waste fellow, It is kind of complicated

Meran - Vijay is such a snitch all the time, I just paint and focus on several passions and mind my own business and he always intervenes in my own goddamn business. As always it is kind of complicated. 

Vijay - He calls me fat all the time and curses all the time and he is such a troublemaker. 

Meran - That guy named Vijay is a rowdy person, he put a bin over my head and kicked me in the knee

Vijay - He pushed my stuff off the table and had even mocked my webcam show on BlogTV

Meran - He hit me with a guitar during Music class and had screamed at me so many times for such stupid things. 

Narrator - Why do you think the conflict started in the first place 

Vijay - Well, he, he, I actually don’t remember

Meran - ummmmmm, …. I don’t remember either

Narrator - so, you don’t remember how the conflict started

Vijay - No

Meran - Unfortunately no

Narrator - What will you achieve when the conflict is over 

Vijay- I will have Meran expelled

Meran- I will have Vijay mind his own goddamn business since he acts like a gremlin towards everything I do and say. Whatever happened to free speech

Vijay - Free speech, what a block of nonsense, he curses and says cuss words all the time and brings in lucrative topics. 

Meran - Don’t think he is innocent, he is a complete douchebag and always starts a fight with anyone. He even makes fun of people just because let's say they don’t know who a particular actor or actress is. 

Narrator -Vijay/Meran do you think that you will ever be friends with Meran/Vijay

Vijay - No, I don’t think so

Meran - Highly unlikely that it would happen

So I decided to invite them both to lunch, but I did not tell the other that the other will be there. So I decided to just create some fun activities for both of them to do, At first, I thought maybe it was a bad idea, but I gained confidence and invited them anyway

Narrator - Hello Vijay, Hello Meran

Vijay - why is he here

Meran - why is he here also. 

Narrator - I thought maybe we all could have some fun together, here both of you sit down. 

As I watched Vijay and Meran sit down, I wondered if this was going to work, if one of them would leave or a big fight was going to erupt, it was a bit tense also for me. 

Surprisingly both sat down but neither one of them looked at one another as I knew they still hated one another. 

I watched as both of them filled in a sheet I gave each on their favorite hobbies and activities and listing the problems they had between one another

After filling the sheets both of them quickly left without looking back at one another and trying to get away from one another. 

As I read the sheet I found out both of them liked the same food which was Chili Paneer, they liked to play table tennis and lastly, they both liked to play video games such as Wii. So I came up with the perfect plan. 

I met with friends from both Meran and Vijay and asked a few more questions. The friends I asked were Vijay’s best friend Simmi and Meran’s best friend Naren. I went to find our more common activities and similarities. 

Narrator - so tell me, what is Vijay’s/Meran’s passion

Simmi - He usually likes to play video games such as Mario Kart

Naren- He likes any type of video game

Simmi - Vijay is very caring to me, he helped me recover from a breakup with my ex

Naren - Meran is the most supportive person I know, he has helped me follow my passion in arts and crafts and has always told me to never give up

Simmi - We both support one another when in need, such as when 

Naren - he is like my brother

Simmi - It breaks my heart to see him fight with Meran

Naren - It hurts me to see him fight with Vijay 

Simmi/Naren - we don’t like fighting and war but sometimes I am pressured to since I should support my friend in any case, right?

From this conversation with both of them I once again fully understood more on the 2 and decided to take it to step 2. I planned a whole day for both of them, we would eat chilly paneer all together, then we will go to the library for volunteering and then have all play Mario kart and some video games and have a bonfire in the park.

At first Meran and Vijay were once again hostile towards each other at the restaurant while eating chili paneer, both of them were eating but then they started talking to each other not aggressively but they started talking to each other about life and about school. 

Vijay - sooo,

Meran - sooo, um

Vijay - how is life for you

Meran - ok, everything is fine, what about you

Vijay, nothing much, I’m good 

Meran - ok good to know 

Vijay - yeah, right, so what do you want to talk about next?

Meran - I don’t know, maybe about school or sports or maybe our friends

Vijay - um, sure maybe

Even though they cringed a lot and were kind of awkward with each other, I knew that they still had some feelings for each other in the inside under the dense sheet of hate and misery, I knew it was time to open their windows. 

So the day continued to the library. Vijay was carrying a box full of books to the end shelf when he accidentally tripped but to everyone’s surprise Meran came and helped him and prevented the books from falling. 

Vijay - Thanks

Meran - Don’t mention it, no problem

Vijay - I just wanted to say thank you

Meran - yes no problem

Simmi - I can’t believe my eyes and what they are seeing

Naren - Neither can i

As both Vijay and Meran blushed from helping one another they suddenly which brought the jaws down of everyone in the school library, started laughing. They started laughing after 13 years of hate between each other. 

At the end, we all went to my house to play video games. I loved Mario kart also and decided to open the 3 controls and we all started playing. While Vijay thrived, Meran was struggling a bit and to my surprise, Vijay started helping him

Meran - ugh, how does this work

Vijay - oh you just have to turn your remote sideways left and right to be very precise with your actions and you press A to move forward. 

Meran - hey Vijay

Vijay - yeah?

Meran - Thank you

Vijay - You're welcome

Both of them blushed again but this time were starting to look at one another like they were best friends. They were actually looking at one another and reducing their stiffness and stubbornness. And slowly, but they weren’t in the friend's mood still yet, but at least they were getting along

Narrator - So, how did you like that day

Vijay - It was good

Meran - It was alright

Vijay - I mean, the trip was ok, nothing dramatic

Meran - It was fine the day, nothing wrong happened and I actually found it kind of fun

Vijay - It was kind of fun, I knew more on Meran

Meran - It was fun, I knew more on Vijay

Vijay - but that doesn’t mean we are automatically friends

Meran - I don’t think we are friends yet, as we still have something going on between us. 

I understood It wouldn’t be easy, So me, Simmi and Naren decided to arrange more days together and more activities during the weekend. From the expectation of 1 week, it turned into 2 months, but the changes were a success

From being tense and a little awkward and continuous blushing, slowly they started feeling comfortable, breathing and talking properly and not just that but started talking to each other. And they were smiling at each other. And that's when I knew that this initiative was successful.  

After a few more weeks, I noticed Vijay being bullied by someone unknown 

Unknown person - fatty. fatty, fatty

Vijay - shut up and leave me alone

Unknown person - ha, and which person would help a fat person like you

Meran - Me

Both the Unknown stranger student and Vijay looked at him

Meran then pounded the stranger on the wall. 

Meran - listen here friend, don’t even think about hurting or teasing my new friend here, talk to him, text or harass him again and you will be sorry, now scram. 

The stranger completely petrified, ran away crying and sobbing like a coward. Though it wasn’t right to threaten him or to use the threat of violence, I understood that everyone was human and also knew I had succeeded as Meran stood up for Vijay and both of them truly became friends

Meran - Vijay

Vijay - hmm?

Meran - are you ok?

Vijay smiled and then hugged Meran sobbing continuously and everyone around was shocked in something they heard they thought they would never hear in a lifetime 

Vijay - Thank you, I am sorry for this entire feud that had an unknown beginning

Meran also started crying too

Meran - I am sorry too, We were both foolish during this war, friends? 

Vijay and Meran looked at each other and both of them said friends and hugged each other continuously with such passion and happiness

Today in Grade 10, Meran and Vijay are the best friends, they have been helping each other and doing the best things ever and the school now sees this as a huge inspiration and respects their friendship fully. 

Even though I am not in India right now, I still video chat and see them together having fun, posting photos together on facebook and doing Webcast shows

Vijay invited Meran on Webcast and both of them were truly best friends

And this not only filled them from turning from enemies to friends but also filled me that I had participated in and contributed to helping them become friends and it fills me into helping others and I am so thankful and grateful for this and it gave me the message and goal to help others and to make the world better for everyone in the future and this similar application can be used to solve major world issues and rivalries between different people, countries, and societies

Next time, whenever you see 2 people fight, don’t be the spectator, be the peacemaker and take action into making life better for both people and do your contribution to making the world a better place for all.