It was September 14th - A Short Story

My day starts early. Every morning at 5 am sharp, my handler wakes me up and then cleans me well. I am then loaded and with a deafening roar I start spitting fire at the enemy. This carries on through the day and by evening, I am tired, smelly and bruised. The next day, the same thing happens again. I am a machine gun of the Indian Army and stand majestically at the border with our mischievous neighbor.

I command a lot of respect but the work is hard and there are no breaks. I wait and yearn for the day when someone would give an apology to the other and I can go and rest in my gun house.

One day, I still remember the date (it was September 14th), at 5 am. My handler cleaned me and started to dismantle me. I was too worried at this development – to even have hope. Was I being replaced by a newer model? Was I getting too old to fire?? Just when my worry was turning into full panic – I overheard someone saying, “they just said sorry and we stopped firing!”

In the afternoon, when I was blissfully relaxing in a box at the back of a truck, I got the full story. That day was the World Fraternity and Apology Day (yes, it was September 14th!!). Both sides that were fighting for so many years, took a pledge of brotherhood and simply apologized to one another. It was that simple. It was that great. It was awesome.

Countless lives were saved. The valleys that used to burn with fire and ring with thunder – suddenly discovered chirping birds.

And I was happy. I am a machine gun who hates to fire. I would rather stay in a box than be set up to wage war. All my life, I was working and then came a magical day. Brotherhood won and two angry nations became closer.


Yes, it was September 14th.

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