The Pact

They were best friends. They first met in Lawrence School, Ooty, where they had all joined when they were 8 years of age, in class 4. Since it was a boarding school, they became each others family. Four boys from different parts of the world. Binu Verghese was from Kerala, but his father had been working in AbuDhabi , and that is where Binu was born, the eldest of three sons. Medappa was from Coorg, his Dad had also studied there in Lawrence, it was a right of passage for the boys from the family to go to the same school before being sent back to Coorg, after studying outside. Digvijay was from Rajasthan, his Dad Colonel Pratap Rathore had put his only son there to discipline him. Jasjeet Singh was a Sikh, his Dad was a Vice President from a Multinational from Chennai, travelling all over the world. They were best of friends, doing everything together, they got in to trouble together and also supported each other. No body could break the bond they formed in school.

When they graduated in 1991 from school they made a pact to meet every year. Each moved onto different places and different colleges. They promised to meet every year in the alumni meetings in school and they did. In 1996, two years after passing out of college, each was settled in his new job. Binu was in Abu Dhabi with his Dad’s company . Digvijay had joined the army, the Rajputana rifles like his father and grandfather before him. Jasjeet was studying in the US, completing his Masters in Business Administration and wanted to stay on in the US to work. Medappa had gone back to the estate to look after it in Coorg.

They decided to meet again in Ooty, and that year, they decided that they would go camping. They decided to go to not very far from Ooty to Conoor, spend some time together and do some mountain climbing. Four went on the trip and three came back.
When they recounted the tale to the police, all three had decided to tell the same story to the police.
All four landed in Conoor, and went into the hills. They went climbing the hill, each shouting instructions to the other, after a very successful climb, they returned back to their camp that they had set earlier. They lit a bonfire, and started drinking. Drinking late into the night, exchanging stories, cracking ribald jokes, and remembering the good old school days. At around two they all called it a night and decided to get some sleep. Binu got up at night to take a pee, he walked away from the camp. Something startled him at night, he slipped and fell, hitting his head on a rock. His body then rolled down the hillside into a crevice. He was dead, his neck had been broken in the fall.

When they went to the police, Jasjeet was a blubbering mess. He did not remember anything from the previous night, and felt responsible for his friend’s disappearance. The police went back to the scene, and the Inspector began examining the scene, noticed the skid marks on the ground. He sent some havaldars down the hill to investigate. They came back with a fragment of a shirt, which all of them recognized as their friend’s. The police then got a team of men to go down and scour the area. Binu’s body was discovered just before sunset.

They still meet every year on the same day. All of them are married, Jasjeet has two sons. Medappa has one son and one daughter. Digvijay had one daughter and his wife and he were expecting their second child. They never talk about that night.