Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Meri Jodidaar!

I was in 4th, when I first saw her. I was playing with my brother in the evening and noticed that a brilliantly white girl with hazel eyes had shifted in our neighborhood. Our eyes met but we ignored each other.
My first thought was -" She is so pretty and rich. Definitely she must be arrogant. I cannot be friends with her."
The very next day, I learnt that she had taken admission in my school in the same section. She remembered me from the other day.
My thought - "This is my chance to become her first friend since I'm her neighbor too."
That's how it all started..
Our first 'small talk' when I realized she is just the opposite of what I thought.
Our decided 'play time' in the evenings alternately at our homes.
Our endless playtimes when 5th board papers were leaked.
Our first visit 5-seater visit to the 'aeroplane park'.
Our celebrating Bdays together.
Ours studies on slate and then copies.
Her brother giving us marks on our writing and deciding our ranks. I always ranked 2nd.

Our friendship was just too good for the first few years. Then slowly, she made a new friend and I made mine. Both of us hurt each other at that time in our childish ways but still she was the first one to apologize. I being the adamant one had to do so after getting scolded from my Mom.

So, with this amended friendship and renewed bond, years passed by. Our parents too became attached.
She always used to laugh at the faces I made and I was always surprised at how we both shared the same thoughts and spoke the same thing at the same time.  We were discussing our parents once and we discovered that even our parents speak the exact same things.

We both screwed up our Maths subject marks in 10th, courtesy MP Board glitches.
We were both standing in front our Princi and begging him with teary eyes to admit us in 11th Maths section. There were many others too, but after seeing her, my father told not to worry. He said, you will go to a new school if your Princi does not allow and your best friend will be there with you. On listening to this, she too smiled faintly and agreed that this was really a good option. We both agreed that if not SJCS, then any place would be good, if we had each other.

In 11th, 12th, she was again my partner in coachings and gossips. We spent an awesome time together in classes, laughing at boy etc etc. We would always stick together in class and even if one of us did not get the seat, our Joshi sir used to bring a chair and say -"Apni jodidaar ko bula le". If she missed a class, he will ask this for sure-"Teri jodidaar kaha hai?"

That's was the one point I realized that we really were inseparable and everyone knew it!

Come college and we barely had time to meet. Still, whenever I was miserable and remembered her, I don't know how she always called at the same time. This telepathy was so unique for us that we always manged to morally support when the other one was in trouble.

Our call frequencies reduced and with my parents shifting places, it became difficult to meet her. Still we managed to meet once a year and that was it.

4 months back, after a long wait for her marriage, she called me to give me the good news and I was ecstatic. I wished her all luck but could not attend it as it was on the same day on my new company's joining date. What I had not guessed that it would be the last time I was talking to her.

I was waiting to call her again after marriage when she came back from her honeymoon, when a sudden shocking news was given to me by my friend that she died of brain fever.

That was the day and till this day, I see her in my dreams, miss her every moment and think how she was in her last moments. Was she in pain? Did she remember me? I regret to this day for not attending her marriage.. atleast could have seen her. But, I guess, she remembered me, as she asked to post her marriage pics as her last wish.

There's a saying that your life is successful if there are 5 friends with you in your last moments. But for her, there was not one.
It's a sad end for her and even sadder for me. I'm left alone without you -'my jodidaar'.









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