Stone(d)!

I didn’t know what day it was. The vacation was going on. So all days were as good as a Sunday. I had just passed out of first standard. The summer vacation was the most awesome thing known to me then. I used to hang out with my guru and my competitor. I respected my guru immensely. He was the oldest out of us. He had just passed out of fifth standard. He was my role model. He actually used to wear full pants! I always wanted to wear full pants. All I ever got was a half pant that would reach only one fourth of the distance from where my legs started till my knees. I don’t know why they call it a half pant yet. And he was quite tall. I used to look up to him. Literally also. You could say that he was a hero for me. I still haven’t figured out why. I would have done anything for him. I remember we had once threatened a kid together. He wanted to be a part of our group. I bet he got so scared that he refused to be part of our group himself. Now that I think of it, I think he refused because he found out that we guys weren’t really as cool as he had thought we were after we threatened him! But the point was that I was totally in awe because of this guru of mine.

But life is never peaceful. I had a competitor. He also respected the guru as much as I did. He was in third standard and was taller than me but shorter than our guru. He was a real chump. We had loads of topics to fight about. The most touchy topic being who out of the both of us did the guru consider to be closer to him. We would argue for minutes and then start yelling or hitting each other. He would also have done anything for the guru. And being physically fitter and intellectually higher than me, he used to impress guru a lot. I hated him!

It was a nice evening. Guru had bought a new sling. And we were dying to play with it. But guru always had a way with everything. He said ‘To use a sling, you must both be first acquainted with the art of throwing a stone properly’. This was his typical way of talking to us. It made us respect him more. There were a few kids playing on the ground that was between two buildings. There were benches for people to sit on the edge of the ground. There was an old man sitting over there. He was just watching the three of us. I was confused. We weren’t cute like the other kids at all. We had loads of oil in our hair. And our skin was all dry because of the morning cold. We used to hang out with each other since the morning till late evening. I guess he was thinking something else and didn’t really know that he was staring at us.

‘It’s pretty simple. When I say one, you take this stance (enacting the stance). When I say two, you hold the stone more tightly in your right hand and twist like this (he twisted along the vertical axis). And finally when I say three, you swing your body and the stone holding hand with as much force that you have in you and let go of the stone.’, guru said. But chump here always had to ask questions. He never missed a chance to impress guru. ‘At what point do we leave the stone?’, he asked. How foolish! The reply also wasn’t smart enough I think. ‘It will come to you by instinct. Just close you eyes after step two and then do the step three.’ That time I thought this was a good reply. Then chump turned to me and said ‘Is the stone too heavy for you chotu?’. I hated that name and that sarcasm. I kicked him in the leg. Now that I am smart enough to think of a reply, I think I should have said ‘It’s only as heavy as your brain.’ He also was going to hit me back but guru stopped him. ‘Stop this both of you. Don’t you have any shame that you are fighting in front of me?’ I had once seen guru fighting physically with two girls. Funny of him to talk about shame to us.

So we took our positions. Me to the left of chump and guru a little ahead of us to the right of chump. He was just going to watch us do it. So he was facing us. He was around four feet away from the line of throw of chump. So we were all ready to impress guru. And also to see whose stone goes farther. Guru started counting.

One.

We took the stance.

Two.

We twisted and closed our eyes.

Three.

We swung our bodies and right hands as fast as we could. It was really difficult to tell at which point to let go of the stone. I just hoped I didn’t let it go late because I really didn’t want to miss this chance of impressing guru by doing it right. But guess what? In my effort to not be late, I had actually been early. And because of that, I missed guru’s ear by two centimetres. But that is only half of the story. Chump here was also thinking like me. He also had left it early in an attempt to not be late. Both our ‘instincts’ had been wrong unfortunately. And to add to it, chump didn’t miss like me. He had hit the guru right in the forehead. Before we knew, guru was on his knees howling in pain. A red liquid was dripping on the ground and was all over his hands with which he was holding his forehead. We had made promises to do anything for the guru. But both of us were just staring at the sight in horror. I think chump even tried to hold my hand. I don’t remember clearly. But I did see that old man running towards us. He grabbed guru and gave him a handkerchief. He then lifted guru and took him to a hospital leaving the two of us there alone on the ground. All the kids were watching us. We looked at each other and went back to our houses to tell our parents about it.

After two weeks guru was fine. Both chump’s and my parents had gone to his home to see him. We hadn’t seen each other for two weeks now. I had asked my mother to ask guru’s mother if she would let guru come to the ground to play with us again. My mother came back with a positive reply and warned me to be careful this time. That evening I, chump and guru met on the ground after a long time. If we were adults, it would have probably been a weird situation. But we didn’t know anything about ‘weird’ then. We just came there without any thoughts of the past. Guru had a dressing on his forehead. Chump was the first to speak.
‘So what do we do today? Did you bring that sling master?’
Guru was impressed by his apprentice. He spoke in that wise manner that he always used to speak in with us.
‘So have you two been practicing how to throw a stone when I was gone?’
If it weren’t for my respect towards guru, I would probably be rolling in laughter. It was weird to look at the dressing on his forehead and listen to him say that simultaneously. I controlled myself but couldn’t control a smile that came to my face. Guru saw me. And he smiled back. A blow on the head does teach people to be polite!

I slept very peacefully that night. I felt happy. Not only because guru was back and had smiled at me, but also because this smile was proof of the fact that I was closer to guru than chump. I had won. I had defeated a chump!

P.S : It's all fiction.