The Music Under the Bridge

“What can books do, Naren? Listen to music, you get the kick” Robin, tapped on the books with a rhythm all the while exploring the sounds emanating from the hard bound old books that were finding shelter in Naren’s protective clutches.

“Cut that out! Books and stories give me the kick, you know.I visit places, I meet people and I know them all !” He retorted with a flare.

“You are sick! You need a psychiatrist buddy,imaginary friends and places  leading to the whole maze of delusions and illusions” Robin was at his humorous best.

“Cricket and games.”Everybody turned to the source of the sound ,they gave him a long awkward stare.

“They give me the kick” Arjun stretched his impediment body that wasn’t of any help stuck in the clutches of Harminder, trying a new trick from WWE.

“Girl-friends and booze should give the actual kicks, what weird kicks are you talking about?” Harminder intruded the erudite conversation by twisting Arjun’s feet by now.

The small gathering of what is called as thick friends gave out a snorting laugh.The four individuals somehow tied with a bond of friendship sat under the bridge, their place of serenity, where each one of them could escape the intrusive eyes of the strangers and judgments of the kith and kin.

Above the bridge was a total different world, people who never paused, never observed nor never acknowledged, lost in the infinite loop of the life’s needs, jobs and money.The four friends liked the moving vehicles and moving clouds above them.they were beyond everything, minds, creative and fresh.

A tiny stream flowed down the bridge accenting it’s natural beauty,with lush green surroundings and the damp sand with the waters fell into their definition of beauty and bliss.

The appealing beauty of the place and the privacy it provided away from all the chaos and commotion, it was their world under their bridge, the talks ranging from the girl next door to the galaxy that lay thousands of light years away, their talks made it to all the relevant and irrelevant topics thus broadening their perspective.Trousers rolled till their knees and faint music from the player that Robin carried had it’s charm on their funny dances and fighting clouts!

“We are going to be scattered after college remember”Naren stared into the endless skies.

“Yeah, it’s going to be a hard time ,leaving this place, and the luxury of time”

“I’m going to miss the girls” Harminder yawned “But I get to see the new ones” He smirked

A few meters away ,something plopped into the waters, the current was swift and the scene on the bridge became chaos with screams and shouts, someone had just fallen into the waters. All four of them exchanged glances, it was Robin who dived in first followed by Harminder.

“My baby” The lady’s excruciating screams wrenched their stomachs, they swan swiftly to the area where they had thought a stone had been plopped but instead, the waters were clean devoid of any trace of the child.

“I can’t find any kid here” Robin gulped in some water and a fit of coughs continued.

“Follow the flow” Naren and Arjun were running parallel to the waters on the  banks.

Harminder sucked in a sack of oxygen and with a fleeting moment swam in the direction of the current followed by his friends on land and in water.

After what it seemed to be like ten long minutes, they realized that the child was tethered to a branch of the tree that was stooping dangerously, any moment, the branch could snap and with it the kid might go out of reach.

As if heavens had blessed, the kid was awake , it’s little body shaking with sobs and frantic cries.The help was near by the time they detached the kid from the wood and passed it to the people on boat.

They were celebrated and the town had their name inscribed in the registers of the local award of bravery, they got a book each!

“Now I’m really going to miss this place, people know us now” Robin and Arjun synced their words.

“Stardom huh?” Naren pointed out

“Exactly” Harminder purred with glee and thrust the book to Naren’s hand and so did the others,laughing all the way to the place under the bridge.

The times would fly, the days would pass and years would roll, friendship would remain in the warm clutches of time.They would meet again, like in old days with music playing under the bridge.

Naren read the last sentence of his novel sitting in the train leaving for Mumbai from the small town in North Karnataka.The would meet again, he smiled and clutched the book closer to his heart, he had three more copies of the same book in his bag!

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This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

The Music Under the Bridge