BROKEN RATTLES

Shh!! “Don’t make a noise. Let it come and we will catch it as soon as it comes near. If it runs towards you, you catch it, ok? Then we will play with it.” The squirrel went right through the middle and they both banged into each other. There was a huge gust of wind that blew into their faces. Laughing hysterically, they got up. The dust cleared and you could see two small boys so different yet so similar in their own ways. One of them was wearing a pair of lose pajamas, a long kurta on his young torso, while the other wore small shorts and a tee shirt. They both dusted the mud off their clothes as they got up giggling. They were best friends. They were even born the same day. They used to play together all day long. Krishna was from India and Mohammad was from Pakistan. They grew up seeing deaths due to bombing from both sides of the border. They had seen it so much that if for a month if they don’t hear the voices of weapons they felt uncomfortable. Different places or faiths didn’t matter to them. They had been there for each other forever, and will be they knew it. There were no schools left so their parents decided to teach them about the holy books in their own homes. The boys were still inseparable; they used to read about the Geeta in the morning and about the Quran in the evening. Like Muslims both of them used to commit their time to the Namaz five times a day and also pray to lord Ram and Krishna twice a day, in morning and evening. Whatever little time was left during the day they used to spend playing and climbing trees, if one got ill, the other one used to take care of him like a brother. They used to celebrate both Diwali and Eid together. Their parents were not best of friends; nonetheless they used to love both the kids. They used to play with ice when it used to snow and with sand when it was hot. Nothing could stop their free souls. One normal day, both of them got free from the morning prayers and a nice heavy breakfast. They went out to play in the sun and found an unusual ball to play with as they threw it to each other. They heard a loud noise, it was not from too far away, as the dust cleared they realized both their homes were burnt down and soon there were fire from both sides and soldiers managed to save both the kids, realizing they were from the two countries. Mohammad was taken by the Pakistani army and Krishna by the Indian. They grew up within both armies but never forgot each other. Now they were both successful army personnel’s fighting for their own country. They had till now learnt to hate the other country and had abuse them, killed many soldiers and had treated the bodies with disrespect. Today they stand in front of each other in the same place where they used to play together, now with guns facing each other. They both pictured of getting shot by the soldier in front, and die for their country. As they would die they would fall… even as their lives flashed past their eyes, they could only think of their childhood friend and wished long life for the friend they didn’t meet in a long time. As they die they wish they had a chance to meet their old friend once at least when they grew up. But no time was left. They came back to reality as a grenade blew up next to them… the two soldiers looked straight into each other’s eyes and aimed for each other’s hearts…