Chirag and Anuj were the best of friends. Both outsiders, they kept each other company no matter what. Chirag's father was a policeman and had been transferred to the city nearly six months back while Anuj had come from a small town. He stayed in the hostel. Both of them had never studied in a school so big. Chirag had been studying in state boards previously but because of the change in local language he had to join the revered CBSE School in the city. Anuj's father had saved for the day. He always wanted his son to give his first board examination from a better school than what was offered in their town.
Six months into the 9th class, Chirag had absolutely no problem coping up with the change but Anuj was not so lucky – or smart if his teachers were to talk about him. Anuj often sought Chirag's help and he had somehow scraped respectable marks in every examination.
The Biology teacher, Mrs. Verma was in her usual trance that day. Her tedious talks were influential enough to lull anyone to sleep. She would only wait a few minutes in the beginning of any class and then she wouldn’t care if the students were asleep or dead, she had to finish her course. No distractions and that's all.
Like any other regular lectures, Mrs. Verma started that day with scolding a few children. Anuj was one of those few. Her reason for scolding him today was pathetic. Anuj had slept in the previous class and Mrs. Verma, in her own words, was just warning him that it should not happen again.
"Hemolytic disease in new born is not rare but it's not dangerous as well but before we study the disease we have to understand blood types..." Mrs. Verma was lecturing and Anuj's brain soon drifted to various matters of concern. He knew Mrs. Verma was not going to disturb anyone as long as they were not disturbing her.
However, at the end of the lecture something unexpected happened.
"Anuj, get up. What did I say in the end? Which disease are we talking about?" Mrs. Verma slammed her book on the table and shouted.
Anuj was alert and standing but he had no clue about what he was asked. He saw Chirag scribbling something at the back of his book.
"Hemolytic disease of the New born." Anuj said on cue.
"Okay, what did I say about it? Is it common in our country? How many children die because of it?"
"This disease has been prevented from almost entire part of the country. Many children died in the past but there are almost no cases since last many years. The government has done a good job." Anuj read the answer from the back of Chirag's book once again pausing only to decipher his untidy scrawl.
"Sit down and if I see you again doing what you were doing, you are seeing the Principal. Keep it in mind." Mrs. Verma said and continued her lecture.
School ended.
"You were so gone today." Chirag said. They were walking towards Anuj's hostel. Chirag's house was just a block ahead.
"You saved me." Anuj said.
"I had to. Hey Anuj, I won't be able to come in the evening today. My elder brother is coming today." Chirag said suddenly.
"You never told me you had a brother." Anuj said.
"Chetan stays in the U.S. He comes down once every few months. We are not so well connected so I hardly talk about him." Chirag said.
"Alright. I will do something else. We can continue to work on the cooler after your brother leaves." Anuj said.
"Yeah." Chirag said.
They paused at the Gola vendor, bought themselves their favourite flavours and continued ahead.
"I had an elder brother as well. You know my sister already. She is the eldest. Then there was Akash." Anuj said licking is ice-gola.
"What happened to him?"
"He died when I was 9. He was only three years older and he died of a heart attack." Anuj said.
"Impossible. Children don’t have heart attacks." Chirag said in return.
"Don’t believe me. Ask my sister when she comes." Anuj snapped.
None of the two talked for a while, then Chirag whispered softly, "I am sorry Anuj. What had happened?"
"Well he kept ill often. His heart was weak, they had told father but they didn’t know what was wrong." Anuj said.
They reached Anuj's hostel and Chirag bid him farewell. Chirag couldn’t help himself thinking about Anuj's lost brother for the whole day. He didn’t even eat any of the imported chocolates that his brother had brought for him.
The next day, he was happy to be back at school. He was looking for Anuj during the recess. Five minutes had already passed and Anuj had not come back. Chirag searched the toilet but Anuj wasn’t there. He went to their usual place and had only waited a few minutes when he saw Anuj coming from towards the office, clutching something in his hand.
"The peon had called me. They found my identity card. Someone broke the strap though. I'll have to get a new strap." Anuj said while he opened his lunch box.
"Hey, it says O negative in here. You are O negative? " Chirag asked, inspecting the damage on the strap of the id card.
"I am. In fact majority has it in my family. What is so special about it?" Anuj asked.
"Majority meaning?" Chirag asked again.
"My mother, my sister and I. My father is O positive so was my brother." Anuj said.
Chirag processed this information for a while. They ate their lunch in silence. Chirag could hardly keep his head calm.
"What's it? You suddenly went quiet. What is so special about being O negative?" Anuj asked while washing his hands.
"O negative is a rare blood type. A person with O negative can donate blood to anyone. Universal donors they are called. Mrs. Verma said this yesterday." Chirag said.
"It is amazing that you pay attention while she is teaching. She is like my mother, you see. I sleep when my mother starts talking." Anuj joked.
"Anuj, do you remember anything about the disease she mentioned yesterday." Chirag asked.
"No. I even forgot the name. What was it?"
"Hemolytic disease of the new born. You should go through it once." Chirag said in a grave voice.
"What happened? Why are you so worried? You think I have it? I am not a new born." Anuj said.
"I am not worried about you. I am worried about the lies our textbooks are spreading. The textbook said our government has this disease under control." Chirag said once again.
"What do you mean?" Anuj asked, perplexed.
"Tell me Anuj. What type of hospitals do you have in your town? Do you know which hospital you and your siblings were born?" Chirag asked.
"I know the name. It is not a huge hospital, just a small one. Enough for people of the town." Anuj replied.
"I can bet the doctor didn’t check both your parent's blood group when your brother was born. And they say the Government has it all under control." Chirag said.
Like most the people in the country, Anuj didn’t know what Chirag was talking about. Ignorance was bliss for them. They had nobody to blame.