Farewell to a Brother: The Unbreakable Bond of Thunder 13

It was a crisp morning in Mumbai on December 18th, the kind where the city's hustle feels almost invigorating. I had just stepped out of my hotel, ready to head to a meeting with a couple of colleagues, when my phone rang. The caller ID showed my old engineering college buddy, Ravi—a guy who rarely called during work hours. For a split second, I scanned the street, half-expecting to spot him waving from across the road, pulling one of his classic pranks. But when I answered, his voice was steady, that same macho tone I'd known for years. "You got five minutes, or are you busy?" he asked. What followed shattered my world. Over the next few minutes, Ravi laid out a nightmare that had unfolded over the past two months. It started innocently enough—a loss of appetite, a visit to the doctor. But tests revealed a massive lump in his liver, complications piling on like a cruel avalanche. Things had spiraled, and now, the doctors were giving him just 4-6 weeks. I stood ther...