Two friends

Two friends were seated face to face across the table where dinner was served. They were eating rather silently with cold exchange of one or two occasional words which was quite unusual for them.

After all they were good friends, played together in the same county for long but………above all they belonged to two rival countries with long-standing border dispute and conflict. Ironically the same two countries will face each other in the world cup crujur final tomorrow while the two friends will play against each other to lift the cup for their respective countries.

Both of them had booked their return flights right after the match, so they were meeting last time in the tournament over a mutually agreed get-together through a dinner.

The entire world had been divided over the final match between the two nations who were arch rivals both off and on the field for years. The media on both side of the borders temporarily kept aside rest of the national and global news for the most comprehensive coverage of the match that generally started from capturing glitzy reactions of players’ wives and girl-friends to flashing high-voltage comments of the headliner celebrities aiming chiefly at digging out any flickers of controversies from all possible angles. The social networking sites were inundated by millions of fiery and belligerent posts, many of them had already gone viral and enough to give an impression of a would-be bloodshed and mayhem between the two countries.

A simple game took no time to turn into a lump of pure hatred among the people of the two neighbouring nations.

Crujur is not a war. It’s played not to kill people. It’s just another piece of game meant to entertain the spectators but never compromising the values and ethics of a sportsman. Sportsmanship doesn't actually go by border, religion, caste and politics. It is one of the highest human attributes. 

‘We are rivals not because of only crujur.’ Two friends were thinking almost in the same line. ‘Tomorrow’s match is no less than a war. It’s actually a typical do or die situation. If we lose the entire county will lose. We won’t be able to show our faces in our country. Our countrymen will put a definite ban on us. We will be shunned and dumped. It would be like losing out a big chunk of land to the opponent, not just missing a trophy. We can’t afford to lose.  The victory is a must. By hook or by crook. Victory is must for our survival, our country’s survival, our families’ survival. God, please help us to lift the victory. Please God!’

They somehow managed to finish the dinner within the silent murmuring of prayers.

The restaurant owner refused to take money from them for the food they ate. ‘Two world-class players whom I adore being an ardent crujur-fan visited my place for the first-time. How can I charge my most distinguished guests?’

The owner, instead of money took several rounds of selfies with them.

Their shaking hands didn’t carry an iota of warmth during the time of saying ‘good-bye’ to each other. They only ended up saying to their minds, ‘we won’t let you win tomorrow but wish you will play well.’

The friends already turned into fierce enemies.

Next morning when they got up their together picture in the restaurant last night became viral in all social networking sites with multiple adverse reactions of the fans and people across the two nations on the verge of a crucial crujur war.

Many raised profound doubts at their loyalty towards the nation. Many commented that they had visited the restaurant to meet some of the high-profile bookies to fix the match. Many even proposed to drop both of them from the respective teams in the final match. Many stamped them as ‘shameless creatures’ saying when people are getting killed in phenomenal numbers on the border how could these two enjoy each other’s’ company in the dinner? Was it not so that they were sharing the teams’ critical strategies with each other for the final match?

They were stunned and speechless. But there was no time for them to tune their minds to the right set up before the match.

And the match started in a war-like environment with the tightest security in place. Finally it reached the end point after passing through a series of breath-taking ups and downs, hyper tense moments and electrifying excitements. One country won under a close tie. The other had to accept the loss as the rule of game. Happiness and joy flew over one while gloom and doom shadowed the other.

But the two friends displayed the performance of their lives. As if they were fighting at the borders to protect their countries. Their games brought out the smell of their blood. They exposed every bit of their souls in their games.

Once again they posted their together picture in the air-port when they were about to board their respective flights for their countries. They were in their arms with broad shining smile.

And the caption of their picture said,

‘Our job falls in a different category which unfortunately doesn’t match with something like killing, match-fixing or showing insufficient respect to our countries. But there is also friendship which we equally value. You just can’t dictate the terms and conditions of our friendship. Please stay away from doing that if you ever feel to do so. You should know your limits the way we learn to be sportsmen.’ 

 (Crujur is an imaginary game and the story is a product of pure imagination without resemblance of any real-life situation)

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

I enjoyed the story. You create good characters and very interesting game. I liked the friendship and I like liked the situation shared. I liked the flow of the story. A final photo at the goodbye. Thank you my friend for sharing the amazing story.
Coyote

[SUGATA M]

Thank you friend.

[Coyote Poetry]

You are welcome my friend.