Friday, June 02, 2006

'Woh Kaagaz ki kashti...'

No matter which corner of this world we lived in, no matter how our financial and social position was back then, but for all of us who've been children at some point in our lives, we've had a special friend. Someone who we were inseparable with. Someone, for who we were ready to lay down our lives (though we didn't exactly know what that meant then). Anything special made at home, any special eatable, had to first reach this friend's hands. Any occasion - 'mom, can we call xyz for this function?'. We played games in the sand, we fought, we cried and we laughed. Time would stand still when with this special friend. He or she was our 'bestest' friend, and we vowed never to separate. Remember? "I'll never forget this time. I don't think I'm ever gonna forget you." We sailed paper boats in the rains, splashed our way back from school, the overflowing puddles our pool. We did each other's homework, we helped each other in studies (sometimes inspiring each other not to study at all, because, what the heck, who wanted to work boring desk jobs?), we knew each other's 'girl-friends' or those ones we 'silently admired' (girls, it'd be boys in your case) and knew all the secrets; we knew that casting an eye on that girl was next to committing the ultimate sin on earth, so we kept quiet about it. 'Sacrifice' we told ourselves. And we couldn't spend a single 'vacation' minute without this person. Life had some meaning only with this person around. And then something terrible happened. We grew up.

I wonder where my friend is today...

16 comments:

Mrs. Dalloway said...

Worse still is knowing where he/she is, and wondering what went wrong. Where all those childhood promises of together and forever went? Meeting at occasional parties and twiddling thumbs wondering what to say....

phatichar said...

poornima: oh boy...hmmm.. true.

Prerona said...

beautiful post ... as usual. one of ur best in a while, i think. but sweets, i dont think u should generalise ... lot of people never had best friends or special friends - loads had loads of casual friends - loads had no friends - etc etc ... i dont think u can make a statement like 'we all had one special friend'. but then, just a personal opinion. how've u been?

Anonymous said...

I was just going to post a comment similar to Poornima's. It's hard losing friends, but I think its worse when friendship just slowly wanes away.

d4u said...

hmm...games of time..i guess

phatichar said...

pre: hmmm, true...never thot of that.. :) actually, many of us havn't even had a normal 'happy' childhood, let alone pals - I personally know a few of 'em who'd never like to revisit childhood for this very reason. But I guess, yeah...opinions...am good, how've you been? still waiting for the email :). Take care.

ash: :) so true..

deeps: yeah, i guess so...

KJ said...

how true... i am lucky that my best friend is still the one who was my best friend from grade 3... we have our own lives now, but still never forgetting to call / sms / or email at least once a week...

v r friends forever...

:-)

KJ

Preethi said...

Well.. I should say that I never had anyone so close when I was in school.. I was a tomboyish kinda girl and so all my friends were boys, whom I am still friends with. But I know its not the same as being friends with girls... :(...
But I had similar things when I grew up..:) And thankfully, I am still the same friends with my bestest friend, and though we dont talk about \'that-guy\' anymore, we have some common topics...:)

Good nostalgic post , Ramana...

manuscrypts said...

damn.. i always knew something was missing :)

Sudipta Chatterjee said...

Well, as Prerona says, I guess I am one of those folks who didn't have a real best-est buddy around me. But I do know the feeling. Well written.

nowheregirl said...

i know where that friend is.
i know why we dont share that bond anymore.
i know that nothing went wrong.
we served the purpose we were supposed to at that point of time.
then we moved on.
to our own worlds.
to our next "best-est" friend.
:)

phatichar said...

kj: hmmm..lucky you. :)

smiles: :) thnx..
sudipta :)
she: 'she comments in poetry'..hmmm :)

aydiv said...

Very well written .. Just loved it !!

phatichar said...

nandini: it is something to do with that ghazal - it was all about childhood, remember? oh well, the song was more general, about the rain, granny's stories etc, but that was the connection basically :)

vidya: thanx... and welcome :)

Huma said...

Exactly the same question that was going round my brain while reading and relating eveyrthign to my childhood days.i wonder where is she now?

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