Hello Old Friend,
How are you? Long time since we connected.
Today is Friendship Day. Was thinking about you -my First Friend and my Best Friend.
I don’t remember when I first met you. We were probably very
young at that time, one year and a few months old, when we met. Your family had
moved in next door. Our friendship started when we didn’t know what life was.
As we grew up, our friendship also grew.
Remember, the nursery class we attended together? Your
mother was also working in the playschool as a teacher. She used to get
chocolates for you from the principal’s office. You would shout from the
classroom, ‘Mummy, get chocolates for Subha also’. Those tiny little chocolates
cemented the friendship in our tiny little hearts at that age.
Past playschool, we had to join a ‘Big’ school. I remember
the first day in my school when I realized that you were not there. I had
assumed you will be there wherever I go. I cried and protested I would go only
to the school where you were studying. Expectedly, my protests fell on deaf
ears and I had to continue in the same school. The only silver lining was that
I could come back to play with you in the evenings.
You were the sister I never had. Right from taking the first
baby steps together, you were there throughout my growing up years. You were
the only playmate and confidante I had. Growing up years are a tumultuous phase.
I am happy that you were there with me to share my little fears and tiny
secrets.
Not all relationships are rosy. We did have our share of
fights also. We had a particularly big fight in our early teens. I don’t
remember the cause of the fight. But we stopped talking to each other. The dark,
silent phase continued for a couple of months until your aunt intervened. Mingling
after the fight was awkward initially but soon we bonded well again. This
continued until your father got a transfer when we were in our high school.
We made it a point to meet each other whenever you were in
town. By then, we had our own set of friends but still we managed to make space
for each other. Now when I write this letter, it strikes me that we never took
photos together. Back then, we were not a selfie-obsessed generation and our
friendship was confined to our hearts. It was not the stuff for Facebook or any
other social media.
Higher studies, career, marriage, motherhood...Life took us
through different paths. Today you and I live thousands of miles apart. Our Friendship has withstood the test of times,spanning three decades.In this era,I think we are a rare set of friends who maintain our friendship even though you do not use any social media. We did meet a couple of times in person whenever we could manage it.But otherwise,our contact is limited to the
occasional phone conversations we have. I am thankful that we have maintained a
ritual of calling each other on our birthdays. We talk only twice a year but
when we talk, we find it difficult to stop. Whatever has happened the past year,
everything needs to be shared and analyzed. I can’t think of anybody else to
whom I can speak with such gay abandon.
Between friends, they say, there is no concept of Thanks.
But still I want to thank you for being my friend.For being one person in this
planet,to whom I can speak without even the slightest inhibition and be myself.For being the
one friend,whom I know will like me,irrespective of my status or
achievements or the lack of it.It is rare to get a friend like you and I am happy
to have one in you.
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This post has been written in association with Chaayos & Blogchatter on occasion of Friendship Day
'This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’
