My name is Bhima. Thirty years ago, I was in grade five. We
were best friends. His name is Duryodhana. We used to go to the school
together, study together, eat, play and visit parks. For me he was the day and
night. We spent most of our time together as a child.
My
father was a Police. His name is Pandu. While I was in grade 5, he got a job
transfer and we moved from Norman to Kansas City. From that day I never saw
Duryodhana again till today.
I am
driving towards the Kansas City police department in my police car. I took my
father’s job after he retired. I have him on the back seat, Duryodhana. He
knows it is me, Bhima. I don’t know his story.
After
we moved to Kansas City, I missed my dear friend Duryodhana. I had no other
option but to make other friends. I made three new friends and life moved on.
We four friends always kept out of trouble, walked in a path of what our
parents wanted us to follow, went to church every Sunday. Our main goal was to
be good because that what our parents taught us to be.
I
could not resist but to ask Duryodhana of where did he go wrong. He story began
with a new friend named Dushashana that he made after I left with my parents.
Dushashana had a bad record from childhood of bullying other friends and
fighting with other students for no particular reason. Slowly but surely
Duryodhana was like him. As they grew up they started doing the same with the
strangers while walking down the road.
Last
night Duryodhana and his friend was walking down their street and doing what they
had been doing for last thirty years. There was a huge fight and someone ended
up in hospital. He flew away from the scene.
Today
I got a call from one of the bar in the city that they had spotted the man who
is wanted in the news. I rushed there in my car and now Duryodhana, my best
friend of fifth grade is the passenger of my car.
I
remember the story that I read in one of my class from Annie Besant, the
thirteen years of exile. It was the story about the Mahabharata and I remember
reading that our behaviors are like diseases that could transfer from one
person to other. I remember the part of the story where it emphasized that
staying around good company would lead you to become a good person and a bad
company would lead you to not so good place.
Me
speaking to Duryodhana: One thing to
remember is that, it is never too late to change. Sometimes we never realize
our mistake till the ground beneath us shakes and we fall apart. But we can
always stand up and move on start fresh again.
 |
| Pandavas Source: Link |
Author’s Note:
In
the story, the thirteen years of exile, Annie Besant writes about the time when
the Pandava brothers gets ready to leave Hastinapur. In the story it tells us
that what we become depends on who we are now. If we choose a good company and
stay around good people we will catch their habits just like a disease and it
goes the same with bad company. The book also tells us that we should always
surround ourselves with a good company.
This week story is based on this theory of a good company
versus a bad company and where it would lead us. I decided to choose two
friends as a characters and their choices that they made in their early life
and the life they are living when they are in their thirty’s.
Bibliography:
Story
Title: The Thirteen Years’ of Exile
Book
Title: The Great War
Author:
Annie Besant
Year
of Publication: 1899
Source: Link
