A grand funeral

“Guys. I have sad news for all of you”, said Swatee to her group.

Group - It was a group of five, nicknamed SAVAN, using the first letter of the names of each of the members in the order of their ages. Swatee, Ankur, Vipul, Anurag, and Nikki. They were cousins. Swatee, Ankur, and Anurag were real siblings while Vipul and Nikki were the children of their aunty. All of them were very close to each other and most of their summer vacations were spent together.

Everybody looked up as Swatee announced the sad news.

“What is it?”, asked Ankur

“He is no more. I just checked on him”

“Oh no. I knew something was wrong with him. He was sitting still for a long time there. God knows if he passed away when we saw him yesterday night. You guys did not let me go near him. We could have saved him somehow”, said Vipul

“Where is he now?”, asked Anurag

“Still there. In the corner of the garden. I went near him and called out his name many times. When he did not respond, I went close and nudged him. That’s when I realized that he is no more”, explained Swatee. 

“He must get a very nice burial spot and a grand funeral. Shall we inform our mothers?”, asked Vipul

“No. They won’t allow us to do the last rites. Let’s do it ourselves. How about making his grave right there at his favorite spot - the corner of the garden?”, proposed Ankur

“Won’t our mothers scold us?”, asked the youngest of all, Nikki

“Don’t worry. Now, go and get a cloth to cover him. You can find a white one in my cupboard”, instructed Swatee and Nikki took off.

Everybody got up and went outside and made sure that nobody was there. As it was mid of June, the hot weather made sure that all the adults were sitting inside. Nobody can force the kids to stay indoors though. The boys dug the grave at the corner of the garden. By that time, Nikki had already got the white cloth. All of them gave one final teary look to their friend and covered him. Ankur and Vipul picked him up and lowered him in the grave.

They all stood around it and then slowly started covering it with mud. Everyone stood in silence, tears rolling down their cheeks. To everyone’s surprise, Anurag suddenly ran inside and reappeared after some five minutes. He came near all of them, made his way closer to the grave, and planted a flag that he just made, with their friend’s name on it.

“Goodbye, my friend. Rest in peace”, said a teary-eyed Anurag

Everyone shared their memories about him and occasionally had a brief laugh thinking about the precious moments spent with the departed soul.

“He always liked this corner. Whatever the season be, however hot or cold it might be, we could always find him here”, remembered Ankur

“And he instantly became our friend, isn’t it? None of us hesitated to play with him the moment we saw him”, said Vipul

“Yes. May he rest in peace”, finally said Swatee and placed some fresh flowers near the grave

“Nikki, won’t you say anything for him?”, asked Vipul

“Ummm… I… What do I say? He was very friendly and free-spirited. Always jumping and hopping around. Do you all remember his long tongue? I freaked out when I first saw him catching that big mosquito with his tongue. I wish we could have played a little longer with him. He used to play hide & seek with us here in the garden and it was always so difficult to spot him, for his green color. I’ll miss playing with him now. 

Goodbye dear friend, Froggie”

And SAVAN bid adieu to their friend, a green frog, who they had fondly named as Froggie.

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This is what our childhood was made of. Memorable summer vacations and stories to narrate to our next generation and laugh about them. This story is part fiction and part real. The real part is that we did name our group as SAVAN and had also performed the funeral of a frog. But we were not that dramatic in those days. We still are not!