Shifting Distance

                                                          

A and B, two friends and their families were on their way to Nainital for a fun tour. They stopped at a wayside restaurant for snacks and tea. They were long time friends. From their childhood onwards, they remained in touch with each other barring a few gaps when they remained busy in their life pursuits. Despite such gaps, they assisted each other in their unique ways. B being comparatively rich, helped A (often hard-pressed) on several occasions in kind or cash. A being humble and compromising always played second fiddle to B. 

A, despite having a ready wit and intellect at his command, never persisted on carrying on a debate with B. A struggled a great deal in his life. In his own way he developed a technique of pampering B. He just could not afford to lose his friend. Sometimes, to overcome a feeling of insecurity, A went a little out of his way to placate the whims of B.

So, let me come back to the beginning. As both the friends were sitting across each other, they started talking about what they did during the recent gap in their friendship. B started telling A about his past visits to hill stations. He particularly mentioned two occasions when he had to drive through an area dominated by the people of M community. He mentioned how as a result of his car having grazed against a vehicle belonging to a member of M community, they (members of M community) got together and started threatening him in a sinister way.

Narrating these incidents, B called them (members of M community) all sorts of names . He even held them responsible for being congenitally filthy and unhygienic. He even called them to be traitors and terrorists, and mentioned the neighboring country as their rightful place of living.

A, though, always eager to please, got fed up with B's monologue. He (A) wanted to interject and say something opposite to stop B in his tracks, but he could not. He just did not want to attract B’s displeasure and spoil his most awaited tour. Apparently, A looked as if he agreed with his friend. He even got carried away in supplementing his friend’s diatribe with the general discourse of hate against M community. 

Now, they got back on the road. A, driving towards his destination followed B’s car. At a particular stretch of about ten kilometers, they (A and his family) lagged behind B due to congestion and traffic. A drove in a low speed. He looked sideways and recognized the difference in the surroundings. By the dress of the people, moving on both the side of the road, he at once realized that he was in the middle of an area dominated by the members of M community. 

Despite considering himself quite liberal and open-minded, A got pricked in his conscience by  a fear of being attacked or heckled or threatened, if by chance, his vehicle touched anything that belonged to that community. Suddenly, he (A) heard the call of his wife sitting on the back seat with their only son (a teen), to stop the car at once. The son was feeling nauseated. It often happened with him on long distance travels. As A stops the car, his son and wife immediately came out. The son coughed himself in a retching fit and threw up in the roadside drain. The mother looked helplessly at her son, who grimaced in utter pain.

All of a sudden a child (about ten or eleven) sporting a skullcap appeared from nowhere and made gestures towards the mother to make her understand that she should rub and tap gently on the back of her son to soothe his pain. For some time the child remained squatting there holding his head in throbbing pain. Two more men, from a tea shop at the side, also approached the family. One of them offered water for the son to wash and drink. The tea stall owner offered tea for the entire family. After resting there for a while, the trio once again got in their car and resumed their journey. As they were coming our of the stretch, A turned silent. His gaze fixed to the road ahead, tied to his seat, he hardly heard the sweet words of maternal love, the mother showered on the son. He had an inclination to drive as slow as possible to increase the distance between the two cars.

Ranveer