Dipto and Shoumik grew up together in a village. They had vowed to be best friends forever and help each other at all times. When they were grown, they enlisted in the army together. They even served in the same unit there.
Dipto and Shoumik mostly enjoyed their time in the army. However, that would all change soon as their country was attacked by its neighbour. After successfully defending their borders, the unit that the friends served in was ordered to invade the enemy’s territory as part of a counter-offensive. As they were travelling inside enemy territory, they came under heavy bombardment by the enemy’s air force.
The attack lasted only a quarter of an hour, but to the soldiers, it felt like an eternity. They were not expecting any such attack and so had not prepared any air defences at all. Only a handful of them survived. Among the survivors, the ones with the worst injuries lost their ability to advance any further and required someone to stay behind to help them.
Some others took the chance to desert the troops. They did not have any medical personnel with them. Shoumik was also injured quite badly but was still ambulatory. Dipto remained mostly unscathed from the attack.
Witnessing the situation and fearing that the worst was yet to come, the two friends decided to advance on their own with the understanding that doing so would be their best chance to survive. Their goal was to join another convoy of their army that was engaged in battle a few miles away from them.
Knowing that they could come under enemy fire if they continued on the same route, they entered a nearby forest and continued their journey from there. Carrying their weapons through a forest for so long was not an easy task, especially for the now-limping Shoumik, even though he was forced to lose his rifle as it got destroyed during the bombardment.
All of a sudden, they got startled hearing a loud noise. A few moments later, they heard the noise again, and it became clear that the noise was actually a tiger’s roar. They instantly realized there was a high probability of them getting attacked by a tiger. Dipto said, pointing to a nearby tree, “Fear not, Shoumik. I cannot safely shoot the tiger staying here on the ground, so I will climb that tree and stay prepared with my rifle. As soon as the tiger shows up, I will shoot it. In the meantime, make sure to stay as calm as possible so as not to excite the tiger into attacking you.” Shoumik nodded in agreement.
Fear not, Shoumik. I cannot safely shoot the tiger staying here on the ground, so I will climb that tree and stay prepared with my rifle
Dipto climbed the tree and took aim towards the area from where they had heard the tiger’s roar. Within a few moments, the tiger arrived. Dipto, however, chose not to pull the trigger at the last moment. A wicked thought had just come to him. He realized that Shoumik’s death would be beneficial for him as he would no longer be held back due to Shoumik limping.
He maintained his aim towards the tiger but did not plot to shoot it. The tiger approached Shoumik, who had sat down by then. It growled at him and then stared at him for a few moments; Shoumik felt as though he was being sized up by the tiger. The tiger then grabbed him with its mouth and took him away. Watching all this, Dipto decided his burden was gone and continued on his path.
The tiger took Shoumik to a nearby pond and dropped him off. As the tiger went away, Shoumik realized it wanted to help him. He drank a little of the pristine water of the pond and used more to tend to his wounds. Looking around himself, he found trees bearing fruits. He ate some of those fruits and took some with himself for later consumption. He then continued on his path.
Dipto, however, was nowhere near as fortunate as he was unable to find any food on his path. He felt as though he could walk no more. Suddenly, he noticed a good smell coming from outside the forest. He ran towards the source of the smell only to find a large number of people wearing the enemy uniform. He stood no chance against them and was promptly shot dead. It turned out that hunger made him go off his path and walk right into the position of the enemy unit that his desired convoy was fighting.
Shoumik, on the other hand, managed to find his way to the right convoy. There, he was given appropriate medical treatment and a new gun to join the others in the fight. For his outstanding service in the war, despite his injuries, he was awarded a medal and hailed a war hero.
Radman Siddiki is a student of Dhaka Residential Model College.
