The Last Drop – Episode 6

Tushar boarded the yellow school bus. Salila handed him his bag and yelled,

” Don’t lose the Aquatabs! Be careful with it! Bye beta! ”

“Ok mummy”, he said casually and waved his mother.

Today he asked for some extra tablets from his mother citing extreme thirst during cricket practice sessions in school. But it was far from the truth.

After getting down from the bus all the children proceeded to their classrooms. But Tushar waited near the gate for Badri. He was Tushar’s best friend. Although their backgrounds were very different from each other, still they had become best buddies in school from the time they were little.

Badri was the youngest of the three kids. He lived in the chawl and his mother Sindhu worked as a house maid in a couple of houses to earn for their living. He had lost his father long back.

Badri smiled at Tushar when he saw him waiting near the gate. They high fived with each other. But it was more than a mere greeting. Tushar slipped two aquatabs in his hand stealthily. Badri whispered a little thank you and both headed for their classes.

But Badri didn’t go to the class as yet. He waited till Tushar was out of sight and slipped out of the gate again. There was little time left before the class started.

A bike came zooming near the gate with the driver wearing a helmet. Badri handed him the tablets and took a bundle of notes in return. He quickly slipped the notes in his pocket and ran for his class.

Badri was grateful to Tushar for lying to his family and helping his best friend who was unable to afford the tablets which had become a basic necessity now. But he was from a poor family. He knew how to live with limited food and now he had learnt how to survive with minimum water also. He had struggled every day from the day he was born. Survival with limitations came easy to him.

More that water he longed for the latest mobile phone people were raving about. He desperately wanted to own one so that he could be at par with his classmates.

So when Tushar loaded him with aquatabs every now and then, he traded it in the black market for money. He was happy that he had made enough money for that phone. He loved his friend more than ever.

To be continued…