Small Story 545.

 Small Story 545

A Friend’s Gratitude

Ranganna called his friend Karthik and invited him to come to his house for a get-together at 5 PM. Karthik asked what the occasion was. Ranganna whispered, “If you come, you will be surprised to see ten of our friends there. Come and you will know the reason.”

Karthik hung up the phone. He knew Ranganna always liked to give surprises, so he decided to wait and see what it was about.

Exactly at 5 PM, Karthik arrived at Ranganna’s beautiful independent house. Inside the hall, which was nicely decorated, he saw ten of their group friends already waiting. Everyone greeted each other warmly.

After a while, Ranganna began to speak.

“Dear friends, today my old friend Dorai is no more, but his grandson has been selected for the Under-16 cricket team for the upcoming matches. Please meet Ashwin.”

Ashwin folded his hands and greeted everyone respectfully.

Ranganna continued, “That is today’s joy. And yesterday’s joy is that we all witnessed the magnificent victory of our team in this World Cup T20 series. Samson made a great impact along with the others. For this double joy, I wanted to celebrate with all of you and also support Dorai’s family and Ashwin.”

Soon the food was served. There were starters, followed by two sweets, onion pakoda, masala dosa, and ice cream—dishes that everyone in the group loved. Ranganna knew each person’s taste and preferences because he had worked in a private detective service before retiring.

Everyone enjoyed the delicious meal. Ranganna then presented a precious cricket bat to Ashwin. It showed the deep affection he still had for his late friend Dorai and his family.

As they were leaving, Ram whispered to Karthik, “Yesterday was our team’s victory day, and today is Ranganna’s grand day.”

With happy hearts, everyone thanked Ranganna and left, remembering the true value of friendship and gratitude.

K.Ragavan

10-3-26