Some friendships are cast in stone while others just dissolve over a period of time. I was meeting her after 5 years again. This time under different circumstances though I categorically told her no condolences. She was coming from US and had just one evening free. So I decided to travel to Vile Parle, late in the evening and took a train, fastest way to beat the evening traffic.
As I settled to the rhythmic beat of the train, my mind went 22 years back when I first met her. I was new in Mumbai and looking for a PG accommodation and someone had given me an address in Vile Parle. I climbed the 3rd floors and rang the door bell to see a petite girl, she had a voice like small girl and smile that was hesitant, straight hair that fell to her shoulders. Hesitatingly she allowed me in. Showed the place around. There was nothing to not like. I moved in the next 2 days. Medha was my room partner and we became friends instantly. She introduced me to places around Parla. Be it Murugan Stores, Sharma Pani Puri house and or new avenues of dabba and many more. Our trials with dabbas and sometimes the stale food that came with it. She was an Engineer, working with Software company and I worked in Advertising. Though our worlds were poles apart, we were in tandem. She was from Pune and so was I, so on weekends we travelled together to go home.
She introduced me to the local trains, a frightfully alien system, She dragged me to watch FIFA and I got hooked on to Football. She insisted that I put the toilet seat up ( don't know why..there were no men living with us;). We stayed together for a year with no arguments or fights. In fact we were BFF.'s She moved on to HK and then US. we both got married around the same time and had children at the same time. We celebrated birthdays and anniversaries on email and slowly it petered off yet whenever she came down we met.
My thought chain halted as I reached Parla station, and there she was waiting for me. She hugged me tight and conveyed so much, her pain for not being with me in my difficult time. We walked hand-in-hand like two 23 year old again. We looked for the similar signs and places that used to visit. lamented on the changed landscape. Despite living in US for so many years, she has no accent so whatsoever. Still a chatterbox, she is more hyper while I have quietened down considerably.
We decided to eat Pav Bhaji at Shivsagar, her favourite joint.Spent 2.5 hours or more trying to catch-up on our lives. Spoke about our various crushes and heartbreaks of those days. And how much fun life was then. Suddenly 21 years had melted away and we were gigging away much to the amusement of waiters around.
Here is cheers to another friendship that has remained after so many years.
As I settled to the rhythmic beat of the train, my mind went 22 years back when I first met her. I was new in Mumbai and looking for a PG accommodation and someone had given me an address in Vile Parle. I climbed the 3rd floors and rang the door bell to see a petite girl, she had a voice like small girl and smile that was hesitant, straight hair that fell to her shoulders. Hesitatingly she allowed me in. Showed the place around. There was nothing to not like. I moved in the next 2 days. Medha was my room partner and we became friends instantly. She introduced me to places around Parla. Be it Murugan Stores, Sharma Pani Puri house and or new avenues of dabba and many more. Our trials with dabbas and sometimes the stale food that came with it. She was an Engineer, working with Software company and I worked in Advertising. Though our worlds were poles apart, we were in tandem. She was from Pune and so was I, so on weekends we travelled together to go home.
She introduced me to the local trains, a frightfully alien system, She dragged me to watch FIFA and I got hooked on to Football. She insisted that I put the toilet seat up ( don't know why..there were no men living with us;). We stayed together for a year with no arguments or fights. In fact we were BFF.'s She moved on to HK and then US. we both got married around the same time and had children at the same time. We celebrated birthdays and anniversaries on email and slowly it petered off yet whenever she came down we met.
My thought chain halted as I reached Parla station, and there she was waiting for me. She hugged me tight and conveyed so much, her pain for not being with me in my difficult time. We walked hand-in-hand like two 23 year old again. We looked for the similar signs and places that used to visit. lamented on the changed landscape. Despite living in US for so many years, she has no accent so whatsoever. Still a chatterbox, she is more hyper while I have quietened down considerably.
We decided to eat Pav Bhaji at Shivsagar, her favourite joint.Spent 2.5 hours or more trying to catch-up on our lives. Spoke about our various crushes and heartbreaks of those days. And how much fun life was then. Suddenly 21 years had melted away and we were gigging away much to the amusement of waiters around.
Here is cheers to another friendship that has remained after so many years.
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