Mohit finished his jog and stood still for a few minutes, gasping for breath.
He then looked around for his friend Saurabh. Spotting him at a distance, he walked over. Mohit was about to collapse onto the warm sand when he was startled by Saurabh’s sharp cry.
“Hi! Look out! Don't you dare destroy my treasure!"
“Treasure?”
Mohit looked down and saw some scattered seashells.
Saurabh began to pick the shells up and put them into his bag. Mohit chuckled.
“That's your treasure?”
“Of course it is,” retorted Saurabh as Mohit sat down on the sand beside him.
“They are pieces of Nature's Art. Look at this one.” Saurabh picked a shell from his collection and held it up. It was a beautiful shell with intricate grooves. "Just look at this beauty. Look at its shape and grooves. Do you know what these grooves represent? They stand for resilience!"
Mohit, who until then had a mocking expression, suddenly turned serious. "Shells… symbols of resilience…” he stammered.
"Yes," replied Saurabh in a dreamy voice. "Just think about it. Each groove formed in the shell has its own story to tell." Turning the shell around, he continued, "These shells lie in the depths of the ocean for ages. They withstand extreme weather and pressure. Remember the tsunami? Heaven knows how many gigantic killer waves these shells have seen! And yet, they continue to survive! They retain their beauty! They…”
Saurabh paused and glanced at his friend. To his shock, he noticed that Mohit had suddenly turned serious and seemed to be brooding about something. His bloodshot eyes betrayed the pain he was trying to suppress.
Noticing the sudden change in demeanor, Saurabh patted his friend’s shoulder with concern. Mohit turned to Saurabh with a grave expression. "What is it? What happened to you all of a sudden?" asked a worried Saurabh.
Mohit took a deep breath and gathered himself with great effort. Straightening up, he told Saurabh, "You know, when you were speaking about these shells, I was reminded of my childhood."
"Why?"
"Come. I also have a precious shell to show you." Mohit got up and started walking toward his car, with Saurabh following behind. He opened the trunk and reached inside, pulling out a large, black chunk of heavy metal and holding it up in front of Saurabh, who looked unnerved by its sight.
It was indeed a bombshell! "Take it," said Mohit as he offered the empty shell to Saurabh. Saurabh touched it hesitantly, hardly believing his eyes. A real bombshell from a war was right in front of him.
"This is an ACTUAL bombshell."
"Yes."
"One used in wars?"
"Yes. The Gadimerth War."
"You seriously collected these?!?!"
"Yes."
"But why? For what joy?"
"Just like that, you know. My home was close to the Line of Control, the War Zone. After the war, I would wander around the area with a few friends. That’s when I collected these bits and pieces of war. They make for quite interesting memorabilia."
The calmness in Mohit's voice as he revealed all these details unnerved Saurabh. He could hardly believe that his jovial friend was speaking of war so casually and had a bombshell tucked away in his car trunk.
"Are you in your senses? War shells are memorabilia for you? Don’t they always remind you of the war and its terrible aftermath?"
"Then why do you collect these seashells? Don’t they remind you of floods, tsunamis, and their disastrous consequences?" Saurabh gasped.
"We lived so close to the LOC that we heard the sound of bullets and shelling as often as you hear thunder in the monsoon," said Mohit with a sad smile. "But that didn’t lessen our zeal for life. It scared us, but it made us stronger. If anything, it gave us courage. The end of the war brought us new hope. And this,"—pointing to the shell in Saurabh's hand—"is a reminder of that very strength and hope that helped us overcome those difficult times."
Saurabh looked down at the shell in amazement. It was no longer a relic of terrible warfare but a symbol of the resilience of the human spirit.
"Man," he exclaimed. "I had never thought of it in that way! Even in the deadliest and most dangerous places, life still exists!"
"It doesn’t just exist, Saurabh. It thrives. Disasters and destruction don’t take life away from a place," smiled Mohit.
Saurabh nodded and smiled back.
Picking up their respective "treasured shells," both friends got into Mohit’s car and made their way home, enjoying the cool breeze and the beautiful sunset by the sea.
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