A/n Appa means dad. mannappams means food from sand,veno means do you want,Amma means mom.
Dev and I were best friends. We used to do everything together.
“Daa! What are you doing? Are you mad or out of your mind?”
“I’m eating Mannappams! Veno?”
“da! You will get diseases! But I don’t give a damn .gimme.”
We were inseparable. We went everywhere together. Dev’s mother was just like my mother, as I was a foster kid. I especially liked her Samosas. As a kid, food and Super Mario were my main priorities. We were very hungry one day, so we burned her kitchen and acted like nothing happened.
One day, Dev had a problem.
“da! I forgot to study!”
“so?”
“da! I also forgot to keep cutpiece!”
“so?””
“help please?”
“Hmm…..Nope.”
“da! Ice cream?”
“no. absolutely not. I am NOT falling for your tricks.i don’t want.”
“then help me please!”
“ok. But icecream.”
“ok. It’s a deal!”
Everything went horribly after that. I got caught. Dev failed. No icecream.
13 years later
“Amma! Why is the internet not working?”
“wait. I’ll switch off and switch on the computer.”
I waited and waited.
“AMMA!!!!!!”
“WHAT?”
“98 PERCENT!!!!!!!”
“OH MY GOD!!!!”
“APPA!”
“APPA!”
“Enthuvaada? Did you fail?”
“NO! 98 PERRCENT!”
“So you didn’t fail?”
“NO! 98 PERCENT IS NOT FAIL!?
“I knew it. Here you go. Your gift.”
It was an unmarked box. I opened it.it was a copy of ‘The Communist Manifesto.” My father was a communist supporter. I was not. I thought it was his way of joking.
“Appa! You know I don’t like it!”
“I know. Open it.”
“Why?”
“Open. It.”
“okay.”
The book was hollowed out. Inside it was a box.
“Whats in here?”
“See for yourself.”
It was a key. My father motioned for me to go out.
It was brand-new Motorbike. I was literally hyperventilating. It was black in colour. I had gotten my drivers license as I failed 9th grade.
“Ammu?”
“Ammu?”
“WHAT?”
“Did you see my new ride?”
“You got a bike?”
“YEAH!”
Ammu was my younger sister. She was 15.
“Wanna go for a ride?”
“Wait! Let me check my results!”
She got 97 percentage. Dad gave me an empty cheque and told me to buy Ammu a new PC
We rode around the city. I bought her a PC as she was studying computer
Sciences.
I went to Dev’s house after dropping Ammu off. Unfortunately, Dev got only 74 percent so he would have to go to another college. We already gave our entrances, so that was disappointing.
IN COLLEGE
I still miss Dev and I'm in my 3rd year.
This is the turning point of my life. I am going to my job interview for infotech, an IT company. I have to forget about dev.
At The Interview
The interviewer was the vice president of Infotech.
“Aditya paul? Come in.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. Come in.”
“Hello, Aditya. Take a seat.”
“thank you.”
“so, why do you want the post of assistant manager?”
….
“come on,I won’t ask you any cliché questions. Ok, so what are your qualifications?”
“I have a degree from NIIT College, sir, and I am fluent in C, C++, Java and ASCII.”
“very good. okay.so I am going to give you some tasks. If you complete any one task perfectly before 1300 tomorrow, you may be hired, rather you will be deemed fit for this job.” “Thank you so much, sir.”
“okay.”
The task was building an application. It was to prevent piracy and stealing of copyrighted music tracks.
It was an easy concept, however, the coding was a real pain. I was up all night with the programming and slept till 10 in the morning. Then I spent the next two hours designing and finishing it. By 12:30 I was done and I emailed it to the Vice president.
“Hello,is this Aditya Paul?”
“yes, Who’s calling?”
“This is Infotech. We are pleased to inform you that you have not received the post of assistant manager, but The main team leader of The Info-Tab project and The post of Senior manager. please report to this address next week at 0900.”
They sent an address to my phone.
“Thank you very much.”
I was ecstatic. I was jumping up and down the room, all dignity forgotten. The first thing I did was call Appa
“Appa! I got the job!”
“That’s very nice! But I need you to come home right now.”
“why?”
“I have some bad news. I was planning to call you.”
18 Hours later
I looked at Dev’s lifeless body. Even dead, he had that mischievous glint in his face. He looked at peace. The truth then hit me. I would never see him again. I would never have anybody to drink Lemon Soda with. I would not have anybody to call to eat samosas late at night. I would not have my Dev, My beautiful idiot.
I realised that now Dev was just a memory I could not bear to remember, The lost music in my life’s symphony ,The face I would hope to see everywhere, but in vain. He was my Friend, my best and only friend. His was the only face I hoped to see amidst millions of unfamiliar faces. I still live to hope that his once lost face would not be lost, even for a second, a moment. I watched his bereaved family cremate my Dev. I then took the ashes and vowed to immerse them in a beach, one of Dev’s favourite places in he world, so he could be in the beach eternally, and always have a pint of beer in his hand, and a packet of sand-roasted peanuts. I spent the next 2 days mourning over the loss of my Dev, I could not bear to look at his pictures anymore. He was a memory, A happy one, within seconds turned into a one that brings tears into my eyes. I took the next flight to Goa, to wash away Dev’s ashes, and with it, all my memories of him.
