Real Gems

It was a lazy afternoon and I was sitting reading a story on the net, when I heard a plonk. It was a mail from my college friend Hari.
I smiled as I remembered those days. 

Hari was not exactly a close friend. He was a nice pleasant looking person and had a nice smile. He could be warm and friendly if he chose to be. The thing is he would choose to be aloof most of the times. Academics was his only priority in life and more often than not, he topped the semester examinations. The distance he kept from his classmates, gave him an aura and for most of our classmates he seemed like God. On certain days when we struggled to understand the complex engineering formulas, we would seek God's help. And if the God was free, ( read, if God had completed all the assignments for the day), he would help us out.

But I must be fair to him. He was very a hard working person and atleast he did try to be helpful. Also I can't really blame the way he was. He had been forced to make himself tough and competitive. 

A particular night in the year 1992 had changed his life for ever. 

That day had been a week before the twelfth standard board exams. At ten pm in the night, a stranger had knocked at the wooden door of their small house on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. He remembered opening the door and talking to the stranger. But after that moment, everything had seemed like a daze. The next thing he remembered was that he was running to the hospital. The stranger had said that his father had been found lying unconscious outside a provision store. His father had been declared "dead on arrival" by the time they had taken him to the hospital. 

The doctors in the hospital said that his father had had a heart attack.

Hari had not known how to react. He did not have time to cry. There were too many things to be done - taking charge of the house, paying off his father's unpaid loans, providing for and completing his as well as his siblings' education. His mom was a house maker and did not really understand much of the world outside. An uncle helped him take charge of the house. After his twelfth, which he passed with distinction, he took an educational loan, joined engineering and ended up being the gold medalist. It was in engineering that Hari and I got to know each other. It was there that he had earned the nickname of “God”.

He did well in his career and soon he started his own company. Out of sheer hardwork he earned the respect of his clients. He always kept in touch with me and called to share the joy of buying a beautiful two storied house in upscale California. He based himself out of the US and came to India on yearly visits. And every time he came to India, he never failed to meet me.

However, every time Hari came down to India for his yearly break, I would feel that I was meeting a loner. 

Hari had all the wealth in the world - However he seemed empty from inside. 

Hari had always been very caring person. In spite of the fact he wasn’t exactly the kind of person that I liked to spend my free time with, I could never decline his invitations. He never really kept in touch with any of the other college guys though. And eventually other guys started to ignore him too.

It was around this time that I heard a few rumours floating around about his shrewdness. He was said to have double talked and taken advantage of a friend who was in a difficult situation. His over competitiveness during the college days had always put me off, but I started to disconnect from him after I heard about his shrewdness. 

But I couldn't really disconnect from him. I had known “God” for 20 years by then and I had begun to accept him as he was.

Hari had always been very ambitious. He hardly socialized. Which was why, one fine day when Hari commented on one of our classmates travel pictures on facebook, it really surprised all of us.“Nice pictures Arun!” his comment said. 

My first thought was, "Hari on facebook! why was he not working?"

I couldn't help thinking, "Wonder which part of the world was he then!"

But something did feel good that day. After that day, much to our surprise, Hari commented very regularly on our friends' pictures and updates. “Was Hari really trying to reach out to everyone?” I wondered.

On a fine sunday morning, a few days back, my phone rang. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Hari on the line and more so when he very warmly said, "How are you ? When are you calling me for tea?" 

I waited with eagerness that evening for his arrival. Hari hugged me as soon as he saw me and shared all the beautiful gifts he had got for my one year old daughter. He sat on the floor and chatted with my mom and completely relished the hot powa that she had made for him. 

We were all overwhelmed. 

Something had changed around Hari and for the first time in years, he seemed at peace. His shell had softened and he seemed more connected to the people around him.

It seemed as though after going all around the globe and earning all the wealth in the world, he seemed to realize where his real gems lay.