“Congratulations! We are glad to inform you that……….”read the mail. He couldn’t believe his eyes. His heart was thumping wildly and the temple was sweating. He didn’t know how to react. It’s been months of preparation, hard work, sacrifices. For a brief moment, he felt like crying, but he didn’t. He just closed his eyes and thanked the spirits. He called his parents. They were proud. He put it on the WhatsApp groups. The calls and congratulatory messages started pouring in. His friends were in disbelief. He wasn’t convinced either. He called it luck and to some extent, it was. But the people who know him had seen his hard work and determination. He deserved it well. It was only after three hours he noticed that Shubham, his best friend hasn’t called. He called him up. He didn’t pick.

“You’ll achieve what you want. Don’t you worry. I have full confidence in you” his words reverberated in his ears. Raghvan and Shubham have been the best friends since middle school. They are into different careers but their success and failures have been the same. They’ve seen the best and worst together.

Earlier that year, Subham was very sick and couldn’t appear for his SSC exams. He had already failed his previous attempts. Two months back he was diagnosed with severe jaundice and has been recovering since. He has been struggling. Raghvan’s career hasn’t been great either until a few hours ago.

They hardly talked about their careers or their relationships. Both of them were self-assured. They talked about life in general. About women, lifestyle and more mature stuff like parents, spirituality, culture, children etc. Most of the times they were throwing insults at each other. And often they didn’t have much to talk, but they still randomized bullshit for hours. Revisiting old memories, abusing the system, ranting about the most solvable problem. They knew they weren’t seeking solutions. They knew they weren’t being judged for being shallow. They were just being at ease.

They became friends during middle school, but Raghvan has even earlier memories of Shubham. He remembers how they use to share the bench during 2nd grade and how easily Shubham use to tell him that he’s his best friend. How excited he used to be while describing his favorite show on TV ” Dragonball Z”. Shubham vehemently denies all this. He says Raghvan is cooking all this up to embarrass him and he only knows him since 7th grade. But Raghvan knows what he is talking.

Two hours later Raghvan gets a call from Shubham. He’s happy. He has been busy all day and didn’t check his phone. “I want a wooden flooring apartment, with a car waiting downstairs when I visit you”. Raghvan knew the demands. He didn’t argue about that. When they were sharing a modest apartment a year back, while still studying, they wishfully use to say that they’d share a lavish apartment someday.

They rued about not having a car in the big city. They rued being small-towners. The strugglers. Things were changing now.

Raghvan met his gang in the evening. Everyone was jovial, hurled abuses and made fun of his newfound stardom. Elaborate plans for the party were made. Raghvan and Shubham hugged without saying a word. That was it. They acknowledged the victory, the excitement and the change in those brief 5 seconds. That was it.

They didn’t see each other much for the months that followed. Raghvan was busy preparing for the ‘big opportunity’ while Shubham was recovering and studying for his exams. Random texts about the ironies of life were becoming less common. Sexist and lewd messages received a mere “haha”. “What is life?” was ignored and sometimes got a “fuck off”.

They’ve had this before. The phases where they didn’t talk. When Shubham got his first girlfriend. And they abused her together when she cheated on him. When Raghvan got buried in his first job. Phases.

He knew the guy with whom he watched his first porn, is not going anywhere. He knew that he still has lots of abusing and drinking to do with the guy who taught him the nuances of profanity. He knew that he would come around soon. He didn’t like to be happy alone. Like he use to taunt Shubham when he felt low. ‘Stop being a girl’. He was being a girl now. ( No offense to girls btw)

Irritated, he picked up his phone. There was an unread message from Shubham. “Babes”.