Best Friend

As a part of the Write Tribe Festival of Words which kickstarts on September 1 and will go on till September 7, I am writing about the 7 relations in my life, without even one of them my life would lose its meaning. These seven people are very dear to me and I hold them very close.

Best Friend  -

We met for the first time when we were kids. Her family had shifted to my town that year and we stayed in the same building on different floors. She also joined my school.

We go along really well. We hit the correct note right from the beginning. At school we were in different division, so it had become our daily ritual to discuss our day with each other sitting on the staircase once we were back from school. We were thick as thieves. From competition, complaints and bitching, small arguments and big fights, there we discussed it all. I remember when at times playing on the terrace I would forget my watch or other belongings, for which I was never worried, because without fail she would always get them back. We played games, jolly and also we made bets, which most of them she would lose. We had this rule that the looser gets ten slaps on the palm with a rider that the last one would be on the cheek. She would always put a brave face while deciding on this rule, but would end cribbing when she would lose and then she would complain to her father and I would get a dressing down.

She is a beauty with brains and she would always out score me, or should I say I was not even a competition. I used to cycle to school and back, while she used the rickshaw with her girly group. When there would no current, my house still would have it as we used charged batteries. At times days before exams I remember when used to come back home and she would have already reached, I was not allowed to enter my room as she would be studying. My family used to say ‘you won’t study but rather disturb her, so you are not allowed to enter’. At my place she was always loved, if not more, as much as me.

But one day it all changed and how. A few guys from our locality played a mischief, they preferred calling it prank. It was very disrespectful to her and frowned her father. I was summoned and was held guilty for the same. I tried to reason, to explain, but no one would listen, not even her, it all fell on deaf ears. I stooped her once and confronted - “I’m not supposed to talk, please don’t bother me” - it was only this much that I was offered. They also changed their residence over night.

A few years passed and somehow we started talking. At tuitions and junior college we spoke, unknown to our parent by various ways and means we communicated and kept in touch. As a result we were seeing each other was contemplated, but that never bothered us. But again fate had caught with us and once one of her cousin’s friend saw us speak. A concocted and fragmented version of it was presented to her family by her cousin and then it was the end. She was vowed not to speak to me ever again.

This time I did not make an effort but instead decided not to interfere, confront or bother and in peace let her be. Being in the same locality, crossing her at numerous occasion and still not even our met. This was a kind off resolve I had made. I never had thought we would speak again, but at the same time I had not lost hope. There were a lot of things happening and things started moving in my life. All this things the first person I wanted to tell was her. So I made a habit to note all this. At times I wrote it as though it was addressed to her. I also had made sure I was updated of all the happenings of her life, because right from day one she was the most important friend of my life and I always wanted to be abreast in her times of need. I would envy people who were close to her, for they could easily walk upto her and say whatever they wanted to, be with her and also visit her place. But with so much to tell I would be just left standing there.

And after eight agonizingly long years like a miracle it happened and we finally spoke again. I distinctly remembered it was for a concern of a common friend we exchanged messages late in the night. She replied in one off the message, can we talk and on reading that I had got numb. I had to pinch myself to believe I was not dreaming (it actually happened and I am not using a metaphor). I instantly replied I’ll give a call tomorrow. The next day we spoke for more than two hours and that conversation is forever etched in my memory. From there on it has been a special relation, a sacred bond that we share. We have a lot of fights, but that’s because we care. We are demanding and we are fussy at the same time. Now she’s married and we are miles apart, but we still make it a point that we chat daily and share almost everything, but we still have cold war’s and sometimes we even stop talking to each other for days but albeit this time it is decided by us.

Sitting on a quay writing about you,

it brings back memories,

a beat my heart misses

Those plain greetings,

& simple wishes,

didn’t know, it would

blow things apart,

we lost touch for years, how could,

it hurt me like a dart,

Can’t thank the almighty enough

that we are friends again,

even if poles apart

You are a girl,

as crazy as hell

A cupboard full of clothes unworn,

A shelf full of books unread,

Still

a bed covered with books & shopping bags,

before every trip you are on

To ask you why? Everyone is dread

But you are cove,

With a heart of gold,

worries away you shove,

With a laugh in soul,

you really care,

you don’t believe in rumors,

that ruins the friendship,

we share

You have so many friends,

& so do I

But our friendship will never change,

It will show on the top,

Its root will also grow,

like a tree it will blossom,

like a river it will flow

You are a friend,

I would never trade,

Not even for my breath,

for you I’d even face death

                                                                                                   ~ KARAN
Write Tribe Festival of Words