FRIENDS NEVER SAY SORRY

A Story Of Two Best Childhood Friends

Two best friends sitting

Sawan Public School, Pathankot.

Leo Negi, 6 is a new student in the class, he is shy and sits alone on the last bench. After the school, he enters school bus but nobody gives him a seat. Finally Pujlis Kumar, 7 offers him the seat beside him.
Pujlis: What’s your name?
Leo : Leo and yours?
Pujlis : Pujlis.
Leo : What kind of name is that?
Pujlis : I like it.
Leo : But I don’t, I will call you Pulis.
Pujlis : Ok.
From that day, they become inseparable.

09 years later.
Leo, 15 and Pujlis, 16 are choosing streams after 10th class boards.
Pujlis: So what you have opted?
Leo : Same as yours, commerce.
Pujlis : But you don’t like commerce.
Leo : Yes I don’t, but you don’t like arts. Don’t worry, with you around I don’t have to study it all.
After the school, they race their cycles to the shopping center in the city.
They don’t have any money. They just roam the streets looking at the expensive things, delicious items, and beautiful girls.
Leo and Pujlis admiring the fanciest restaurant in town, The Venky’s.
Leo : Hey look at that fancy restaurant, they must have many tasty dishes.
Pujlis : Yeah definitely!
Leo : And boy! Girls in there are really cute.
Pujlis (looking at that way, nods his head): Yes they surely are.
Leo(determined): You know Pulis , one day we will own this fancy restaurant and we will marry very cute girls.
Pujlis(equally excited): And we will have two kids each, they will go to the same school. They will play together and we will just sit in this restaurant all the time.
Leo : Yes Pulis my friend, we will do all that.

Read the Heart Break Cafe series for more stories about friendship.

Two years later.
Leo and Pujlis are giving 12th class boards. It’s Economics paper.
Leo : I don’t think I am going to clear this paper.
Pujlis : At least try the two marks questions, you would pass the paper.
Leo : I don’t know any of them, I have written only seven one marks questions and five of them seems wrong.
Pujlis takes his answer sheet and gives him his.
Leo : Oye what if invigilator would come?
Pujlis : Then we both get expelled.
Leo : What if the examiner matches our handwriting?
Pujlis : I know how you write. I have been doing your homework for a long time.



They pass the boards and take admission in a college. Leo continues to be a brat and Pujlis manages to score well in all semesters.
Pujlis and Leo standing in the corridor. Some junior girls are passing by.
Leo : Nice nah? Whom do you like?
Pujlis : Naah no one.
Leo : Come on, I know when you lie just tell me, which one?
Pujlis : That girl, wearing red, walking in front.
Leo : Nice. What’s her name?
Pujlis: Nidhi.
Leo: Let’s go and meet her.
Pujlis : No no I can’t, I won’t.
But Leo drags him anyway.
Leo : Hi Nidhi.
Nidhi: Hi.
Leo : Nidhi, my friend here thinks you are an idiot.
Nidhi: Why he thinks so?
Leo : Coz he thinks you are too beautiful to date a guy like him and would choose some stud who drives fast bikes or some fancy car.
Nidhi smiles.
Leo : Is it okay for you if you would go with him for a coffee to show him that he is an idiot to think so and you are an intelligent and smart girl who appreciates good intention?
Nidhi : Okay.
Leo : Okay then, he would see you after the lecture.

Pujlis and Nidhi start dating soon. They get married after graduation. Pujlis finds a high paying job in an MNC while Leo goes for modeling.
They meet after a couple of months.
Pujlis : So how’re things going for you?
Leo : Just ok.
Pujlis: Why don’t you try in our company, I have many contacts?
Leo : Naah I hate corporates. They are mean suckers.
Pujlis: Why are you wasting your time on these things, you can do great things?
Leo : Don’t worry, I would do something soon.
Pujlis : Yes I know you surely will.
Leo : Anyways why don’t you come to our Ladakh trip, we will have great fun.
Pujlis : I don’t get much time these days. Nidhi is pregnant, so you know I have to be there for her.
Leo : Ok.



Three years later.
Pujlis have two kids now. He is in top management of his company. Leo is still struggling. He has left modeling and joined photography.
They meet at a cafe.
Leo : Dude where the fuck are you these days? No messages, no calls reply, not even picking my phone. It has been almost a year since I last saw you.
Pujlis : Sorry yaar, you know I have two kids at the house and then this high pressure at the job, I don’t get any time.
Leo : You are not even coming to trips, and this time you even forgot my birthday. You used to have fun.
Pujlis : Sorry about that.
Leo : Don’t be sorry, friends never say sorry.

Six months later.
Pujlis is very busy, he is heading a new project in his company. Leo holds a photo exhibition and calls Pujlis but he couldn’t come.
They meet after few days.
Pujlis : Hey sorry, I couldn’t come to your exhibition, I had an important meeting.
Leo (Furious): How come your project was important, mine wasn’t?
Pujlis : Come on, it was a local exhibition, I had a multi-million dollar project in hand.
Leo : So you are comparing now.
Pujlis(tired and frustrated): You are just playing around. You still live like a college graduate. You flirt around, smoke, drink and go on trips. You don’t have a stable career and you are not serious. Get a life and grow up.
Leo : So you think I am still a kid and you are a grown up just because you have this fancy job and a family?
Pujlis : Yes I think so.
Leo : If that is so, yes I am still a kid and I don’t want to grow up.
Pujlis : I don’t have to argue with you. I have to go now. I am getting late.
Leo : Where you are going, you just came?
Pujlis : I don’t know about you, but I have a family waiting at home. I have to be with them.
Leo : I thought I was a part of your family.
Pujlis : Sorry, I am really tired today, I just have to go.
Leo: Why don’t you simply say that you don’t want to be friends anymore?
Pujlis: Let’s not talk about it right now, you are mad and I am quite tired of this shit.
Pujis is about to leave.
Leo : Wait, let me make things easier for you. Since you are this big hotshot and I am just nobody, you don’t need to meet me again. I am never calling or seeing you again.
Pujlis just stands there, he hasn’t expected this.
Leo wants to shake his hand and hug him before leaving, he comes forward but stops.
Leo : Goodbye old friend.
Leo leaves without looking at his face.

Leo leaves the country next week. They stopped talking and lost touch with each other. Years passed. Pujlis becomes the owner of an MNC. His kids are in college. One day he gets ill and is told by the doctor that his days are numbered. He wants to meet Leo for the last time. He tries to contact him but couldn’t find him with all his resources. He dies a few weeks later.



Several years later.
A very successful Leo comes back to the country. He visits the city and goes to Pujlis’ house where is informed that he has passed away a long time ago. Leo feels sad and guilty for not saying a proper goodbye.
He thought to roam around the city before leaving the country again. He goes back to old school, college and streets where he and Pujlis used to roam as kids. All those wonderful old days make him nostalgic. He then crosses the fancy restaurant he and Pujlis want to own when they were young.
He reads the board it says, Leo’s Dream.
He gets curious and goes inside and asks the manager.

Leo: Excuse me, who is the owner here?
Manager: Sorry sir they are not around.
Leo: Where are they?
Manager: Sir, Mr. Pujlis died some time ago and his partner some guy called Leo Negi never visits this restaurant, I think he lives abroad.
Leo(to himself): Pulis you remembered.
Manager: Excuse me sir, who are you?
Leo: I am that Leo.
Leo signals him to the photo hanging on the wall. It’s the college time photo in which Leo and Pujlis are standing together and smiling.
Below the pic, there is a note framed in golden letters.

I know you will come here one day. I know you are mad at me and perhaps I deserve it. You are a stubborn person but would you still forgive this old friend? I am really sorry.
Pujlis.

Leo(with tears in his eyes): Idiot, friends never say sorry. You weren’t wrong…perhaps I just didn’t want to grow up.

-N2S
01042015

[Photo by Cole Hutson on Unsplash]

Those Eyes

Beautiful blue eyes
“With the hope to see her again, or least getting a glimpse of those eyes…again”

Place: Regimental Plaza, Nashik Road
Time: 6:30 PM

Leo and Chandu are standing in front of Pav-Bhaji center. Leo Negi, 26 and Chandan Singh, 26 are best friends since their graduation days. Both are products of Kendriya Vidyalayas, hence the ridiculous smugness on their face. While Chandu is undergoing his CA training and simultaneously preparing for PO exams, Leo is doing freelancing in content writing and screenwriting. On the relationship front, Chandu is currently single and has just escaped from a riotous marriage proposal while Leo is in a one-sided platonic relationship with a Korean pop-star.

Leo: Samosa Khayega.
Chandu: Nahi re tu hi kha, I am avoiding oily things.
Leo: Tu abhi se 40s ki life ji raha hai. Smoking karta nahi, drinking chhod di aur abhi oily cheezein bhi nahi khata. Kya karega aise jeekar.
Chandu: Tujhse toh lamba jeeunga. Abe chhod na. Tujhe khana hai toh kha, par bakchodi mat kar.
Leo to the Pav-Bhaji wala: Bhai ek samosa-pav dena.
Bhaiyaji: Ye lo, do chahiye na?
Leo: Na na bhaiya ek hi dena, ye lamba jeena chahta hai.
Leo has barely taken a bite, Chandu jolts him.
Chandu: Abe jaldi kha, baju ke juice wali dukaan mein ek mast si bandi aayi hai.
Leo: Sach mein, do second ruk.
He finished the samosa in one. Chandu is baffled by his speed.
Chandu: Tu itni jaldi itni garm cheez kha kaise leta hai.
Leo: Practice my friend, practice. Ye chhod, chal dekhte hain teri mast wali.
Our heroes make bold entry to Raswanti centre. Leo is moving ahead as usual; he scans the crowd of dozens and finds the girl, who could fit in the description of Chandu’s Mast Bandi, sitting on the third table on the right, with her mother. Her face is radiant. She looks at them. There is a vacant table on the left corner, both have to settle there.
Leo: Those eyes man!
Chandu: Maine kaha tha na.
Leo: Kasam se yaar, uski aankhein kamaal ki hain.



The boys are in no hurry to give their usual order of two glasses of sugarcane juice. While a plain Jane type girl sitting with her sister and father across the table is staring at them, they relish their visual sensory systems with the elegance of the girl, owner of the beautiful eyes. Her mother looks strict, the usual upper-middle-class woman, proud of herself.

The girl has her curly hair kept short and wearing a blue baggy T-shirt with black jeans.
Leo: Well dude, waise ye itni khaas bhi nahi lag rahi is angle se.
Chandu: Kya baat kar raha hai, itni mast toh dikh rahi hai.
Leo: I don’t know yaar, par yahan se dekhega toh uska face itna cute nahi lag raha hai. She is good looking, par itni bhi achhi nahi.
Chandu: Nahi re, mujhe toh bahut achhi lag rahi hai.
Leo: Abe dhyan se dekh, uski toh height bhi nahi hai. Tujhe toh heighted ladki chahiye na?
Chandu: Par mere ko chal jayegi.
Leo: Haan tujhe toh waise bhi kaam chalane ki aadat hai.
Chandu: Wo toh hai par is case mein main height factor ko ignore kar sakta hun.
Leo: Aisa kya khaas hai usme?
Chandu: Are uski aankhein dekh, main toh sirf uski aankhon ki wajah se usse shadi kar lun.
Leo: They are just blue, nothing much.
Chandu: Blue ke alawa badi pyari hain yaar, main toh unko ghanto dekh sakta hun.
Leo: Ek baat toh hai bandi sophisticated hai.
Chandu: Kaise?
Leo: The way, she is sipping that juice, her way of carrying herself, pure class I must add.
Chandu: Mere hisaab se voh intelligent aur practical bhi lag rahi hai.
Leo: Phir tera yahan koi chance nahi hai.
Chandu: Wo kaise?
Leo: Mere bhai, agar wo practical and intelligent hui toh tujhe kyun choose karegi, koi better prospect chunegi na.
Chandu: Haan wo toh hai.
The girl and her mother finish their glasses and leave for the cashier counter.
Leo: Khair jane de, waise bhi agle do saal tak tu shaadi karne wala nahi aur mera bhi 5-6 saal tak koi chance nahi.
Chandu: Wo toh hai. By the way, tujhe kaisi lagi?
Leo: 7 out of 10.
Chandu: Seriously 7?
Leo: Yeah.
Chandu: Mera ko 7 chalega, mere expectations jyada nahi hai.
Leo: Haan haan pata hai.
They finish their respective glasses and order for another round.
Leo: Aur bata Gaavde ki shaadi mein koi dikhi ki nahi.
Chandu: Abe yaar kya bolu kya maal-maal ladkiyan aayi thi aur do toh itni sexy thi ki puchhu mat, sab bhookhe nange unhi ko dekh rahe the.

Barely two minutes have passed, Leo has already forgotten about the girl. Chandu pays the bill at the counter while watching the girl with beautiful eyes to leave in the car as her mother drives away. He sighs, with the hope to see her again, or least getting a glimpse of those eyes…again.

-N2S