A Tale of Ali and Rihan
“Ali, Where are you?” shouted Rihan, standing outside of Ali’s House. Rihan and Ali being five and ten years old boys are best friends, who play, study, and do many activities together. They live in a small village in Baramgarh, India with their huts opposite each other. Baramgarh is a village which is far from city areas, it’s a village with one school, one market, and one hospital and about five families live here. If one has to go to the city area has to take bus accommodation in the morning at eight o’clock.
Now Ali got awake from his deep sleep after hearing Rihan's voice. He had forgotten that he and Rihan had planned to do something crazy today, which is not actually crazy but according to their parent's thinking, it is. They had planned to go to a dark forest which is about twenty-five miles away from the village, and play the game Cricket there, normally; they play in the village’s playground. These both smart boys know everything about the village and the directions to go somewhere, even out of the village and then back to the village.
Ali after hearing his voice sensed that Rihan is very angry because he was supposed to be ready at this time and he was sleeping. So, now we should give Rihan some time to show some anger to Ali, Shall We? Ali got ready as fast as he can and having a biscuit thrown into his mouth by his mother, taking a chocolate from the drawer, he got out of the house and gave chocolate to Mr. Angry Rihan. Ali once upon a time read “Sweet Food lowers the Anger Mood”. But this little god’s smart, beautiful creature Rihan, smiled at him, took the chocolate and broke it into two halves, and ate both. After eating Rihan said, “I hope you didn’t expect the other half and if you did, well, you expect a lot from me, my dear friend”. Ali stood staring at him. They now took the path, which leads to the forest, with their Cricket Kit, Snacks, and Water.
They left at six in the evening and reached the forest at six-forty-five, yes, they do keep watch. They now started playing cricket of ten overs both, with no fielders. They played for one hour and with their food over, and water. They were now sweating and being aware of the distance that they had to travel to get back to the village, they decided to first wash their face in the well which was located at some distance from them. Luckily, they didn’t throw their ball in the well while playing Cricket. The well was very deep and the well’s height from the ground was not much high, it was somewhere half of Rihan’s height.
While walking towards the well, they heard a Bear’s roar from behind, and when they looked back they saw a giant bear coming towards them. The bear was black, with lightning eyes and it looks like he didn’t have food for about three-to-four days, and God he’s very hungry. Ali and Rihan left their kits and everything on the spot and ran as fast as they can, they did leave each other’s connection from the start. Ali being afraid of the bear did not know where he was running, and being unaware he ran straight and jumped into the well. And Rihan took left from the spot and ran towards a big peepal tree and climbed up to it and started teasing the bear, who was now standing below the tree. Rihan said, “Oh, Hello my Dear Bear, Can you jump and have me as your food, oh no you can’t, can you? Do you know why you can’t? Because you are a “fatty bear”, you’re FATTY! FATTY! FATTY!, just get out and do some workout, and get yourself some energy and yes hygiene too, my dirty bear, you smell so dirty, God save me from his dirty smell, take my nose away and keep me, alive god, do you hear me, God? Oh, no you didn’t”. Poor Bear continued to roar at Rihan for some minutes and then left with disappointment.
Rihan not being aware of Ali's situation, came down from the tree, and started shouting “Ali, where are you? Do you hear me?” He shouted several times and then suddenly from the well he heard, “Yes, I’m here, Rihan, Please save me, this well is deep, I don’t know how to swim and I’m losing my control, please save me”. Rihan ran towards the well and saw that Ali has jumped in the well. Rihan shouted, “Why did you? How did you? What made you? Jump in the well, Ali, Why? Why? Why? First of all this bear and now you, God can’t you give people and animals some mind, can’t you? Oh, I forgot you have some hearing problem, Okay Ali, wait, and let me see what I can do”. Rihan started looking for solutions. He paced around and tried to find out if there are any people or any resources, which can help him to save Ali. He paced around for about ten minutes and he couldn’t find any human, after shouting for help too, but fortunately, he found a Bucket and a rope near the well. But how can a five-year-old boy, lift up a ten-year-old boy? Who is maybe double his weight? But Rihan had no other resources and chance to do something except lifting up Ali from the well. It was already eight o’clock and they had to go back home too.
Without wasting time, Rihan took the bucket and tied the rope to it, and threw it in the water, and asked Ali to hold the bucket tight. Ali now holds the bucket tightly and Rihan starts to pull the bucket from well with Ali, holding it. Rihan thought for a moment that it is not possible to bring up Ali, alone. But God gave him no choice except to do it alone. After avoiding his negative thought, he still kept trying his best.
At one moment he said to Ali, “You know what? I think that you’re heavier than that Fatty Bear, seriously Ali, what did you eat today?”
Ali said, “Breakfast, Lunch, Biscuit and the food I brought with us”
Rihan said, “The food you brought was boring and I don’t know about Biscuit, so how can you be so heavy, only the God, who is defined as the never hearing person KNOWS, yes god? Oh, Shut up, Rihan, and focus on the work”.
Rihan kept trying his best to lift up the rope. He was already tired after playing; running and now he starts to feel low. He was sweating very much. He started to feel ill after some thirty minutes but he didn’t lose the rope and kept trying his best until he took out Ali from the well after fifteen to twenty minutes. So, after about fifty minutes Ali was standing well in front of Rihan. Rihan succeeded.
It was nine o’clock now. Rihan and Ali after about ten minutes of rest left for home, in a melancholic mood, because they now had to tell the incident which had happened with them as they never hid anything from their parents and also Ali was dirty because of the well water, so, there are chances that people will ask about his condition. They thought that after their parents and village people hearing their stories, they will be punished or get shouted at, for going to the forest.
After they reached home, they told the whole story to their parents. And guess what? No one believed their story and thought that they are just making up, and everyone instead laughed at them because it’s somewhere true that how can a five-year-old boy who doesn’t even have the energy to carry a bucket filled with water can lift up a ten-year-old boy from well. But Ali and Rihan kept telling them that the incident is true, Ali even showed off his dirtiness from the well’s water. But still, no one believed. Ali and Rihan got disappointed and went back home with sadness and slept after their boring dinner.
The next morning, they went to Rahim Chacha, who is Sarpanch of the Baramgarh’s village, and told him their story. And Rahim Chacha believed their story, and every people in the village was shocked and stocked with thoughts because they always believed that Rahim Chacha was one of the people in the village who hardly lies and can be trusted. Everyone from the village went to Rahim Chacha and asked why did he believe Ali and Rihan’s Story to be true and how can the boy Rihan do it. Rahim Chacha smiled and said, “These kids have already told you WHAT had happened with them, and what made Ali jump in the well and HOW did Rihan saved him by throwing a bucket in the well and then lifting up the Bucket with Ali holding it by rope.” And every village people just started staring at Rahim Chacha’s face with the thought in mind “Is he joking or what?” After realizing that no one has understood his statement, Rahim Chacha’s said, “It’s not about WHAT had happened and HOW did Rihan did, what he did, It’s about WHY he did it, He did it because at the incident time and as he stated that there was no one to tell him that he can’t do what he did, THERE WAS JUST NO ONE, NOT EVEN WE ALL AND NOT EVEN HE HIMSELF was there to tell himself that he can’t do”
Rahim Chacha continued, “If this incident happened in our well, you would have asked Rihan to step back and said to him that he was not powerful enough to lift up his friend, you would have broken his belief of ‘HE CAN’ before he even tries to save, that’s what really happens, we all do this thing to each other and keep on breaking others hopes, beliefs, insulting them instead of supporting and encouraging them to do something that they had never done before, and that everything is possible if one believes in himself or herself, why can’t we just stop being ignorant and start improving our thinking instead of judging others? Why? Can anyone just please let me know?”
This verbalization made everyone quiet and made Ali and Rihan relaxed because someone did believe their story
