We leave on Sunday for Himachal to get Tanya married to Sandy. I met her today and roamed the Esplanade streets in what seemed to be the last page in this chapter of our life.
Post her wedding, life will be different. Though we didn’t meet regularly for the last few years, when we were both in Kolkata, we still knew we there for each other- staying in the same city, breathing the same polluted air, passing the same places on our way to work or play.
We didn’t meet each other, because we didn’t need to- the mere knowledge of the other’s presence and the assurance that we could meet up whenever we wanted to, was enough to keep us going in our individual lives.
An odd movie outing, or a hot cup of coffee on a cold winter afternoon were the innocent pretexts of our meetings, and at the end of each shopping spree or adda, the goodbyes came naturally- without much thought or a sense of loss.
“She’s just a phone call away, and we can always meet up for dinner next Saturday”, was what I thought on those occasions. But the weekends obliviously rolled into Mondays and the din of the city and the weight of our responsibilities sucked us into a vortex of mechanized, frantic struggle for a living.
Summers turned into winters and raw, sour mangoes gave way to sweet oranges, but our meetings never increased; nor decreased. A chat on the phone, a stay over at each other’s house was how we connected, but the real source of sustenance of our friendship went way back in the past when I had shared my life with her in a faraway hostel room in an alien city.
She had been like a sister to me, sharing my joys and my sorrows, laughing at my jokes, teasing me for my extra fat, taking care of me, fighting with me, staying up late at nights, so we could munch on Haldiram’s ‘Salted Kaju’ and watch ‘Remix’ on TV after I returned home from work at 5 am. She even cleaned our usually unkempt beds and the room we shared, as a birthday surprise for me. It sure was a relieving and welcome sight. A neatly made bed was unimaginable those days.
She played her guitar those mornings, as I sat listening, smoking a cigarette. Sometimes I would join in and sing a couple of lines of the song she strummed on her guitar.
La la la ra la la ra la la ra la la la ra
La la la ra la la ra la la ra la la la ra
La la la ra la la ra la la ra la la la ra
Bhalo lage shopner maya jaal bunte
Bhalo lage oi akasher tara gunte
Bhalo lage meghla dine
Nishpoloke ramdhonu khujte....
Bondhu!
She tried to learn the tune of ‘Coffee houser shei adda ta aaj aar nei aaj aar nei, Kothay Hariye gelo Shonali bikel gulo shei, Aaj aar nei’.
But she failed.
So we sang the ‘Bondhu’ song again and again, until tired and prodded by the gently rising sun, we would wind up our music sessions and drift off to sleep.
We worked nights then, and slept days.
Today I know why she couldn’t learn the tune, and why her fingers wouldn’t pluck the strings in the then unfamiliar way.
Tanya, you fool, how could you think you could play the song of loss and fond recollection, when it was time to make happy memories?
We were full of vivacity then, like rivers in their youth, gurgling past boulders and pebbles, gushing towards their destiny, on a path already set for them, but their innocence keeping them blissfully unaware.
But my dear friend, the river has reached the plains now, the pace slackened, and on the path destined, it flows through towns and cities, its responsibilities to nurture civilizations stripping it of its restless gurgling. It’s a stability long desired, but acquired at the loss of the wild youthfulness of yonder.
As you turn over a new leaf, I can only wish you my purest best, and pray that your dimple works overtime.
Try strumming the guitar now. You might be able to play ‘Coffee House’ finally.
Post her wedding, life will be different. Though we didn’t meet regularly for the last few years, when we were both in Kolkata, we still knew we there for each other- staying in the same city, breathing the same polluted air, passing the same places on our way to work or play.
We didn’t meet each other, because we didn’t need to- the mere knowledge of the other’s presence and the assurance that we could meet up whenever we wanted to, was enough to keep us going in our individual lives.
An odd movie outing, or a hot cup of coffee on a cold winter afternoon were the innocent pretexts of our meetings, and at the end of each shopping spree or adda, the goodbyes came naturally- without much thought or a sense of loss.
“She’s just a phone call away, and we can always meet up for dinner next Saturday”, was what I thought on those occasions. But the weekends obliviously rolled into Mondays and the din of the city and the weight of our responsibilities sucked us into a vortex of mechanized, frantic struggle for a living.
Summers turned into winters and raw, sour mangoes gave way to sweet oranges, but our meetings never increased; nor decreased. A chat on the phone, a stay over at each other’s house was how we connected, but the real source of sustenance of our friendship went way back in the past when I had shared my life with her in a faraway hostel room in an alien city.
She had been like a sister to me, sharing my joys and my sorrows, laughing at my jokes, teasing me for my extra fat, taking care of me, fighting with me, staying up late at nights, so we could munch on Haldiram’s ‘Salted Kaju’ and watch ‘Remix’ on TV after I returned home from work at 5 am. She even cleaned our usually unkempt beds and the room we shared, as a birthday surprise for me. It sure was a relieving and welcome sight. A neatly made bed was unimaginable those days.
She played her guitar those mornings, as I sat listening, smoking a cigarette. Sometimes I would join in and sing a couple of lines of the song she strummed on her guitar.
La la la ra la la ra la la ra la la la ra
La la la ra la la ra la la ra la la la ra
La la la ra la la ra la la ra la la la ra
Bhalo lage shopner maya jaal bunte
Bhalo lage oi akasher tara gunte
Bhalo lage meghla dine
Nishpoloke ramdhonu khujte....
Bondhu!
She tried to learn the tune of ‘Coffee houser shei adda ta aaj aar nei aaj aar nei, Kothay Hariye gelo Shonali bikel gulo shei, Aaj aar nei’.
But she failed.
So we sang the ‘Bondhu’ song again and again, until tired and prodded by the gently rising sun, we would wind up our music sessions and drift off to sleep.
We worked nights then, and slept days.
Today I know why she couldn’t learn the tune, and why her fingers wouldn’t pluck the strings in the then unfamiliar way.
Tanya, you fool, how could you think you could play the song of loss and fond recollection, when it was time to make happy memories?
We were full of vivacity then, like rivers in their youth, gurgling past boulders and pebbles, gushing towards their destiny, on a path already set for them, but their innocence keeping them blissfully unaware.
But my dear friend, the river has reached the plains now, the pace slackened, and on the path destined, it flows through towns and cities, its responsibilities to nurture civilizations stripping it of its restless gurgling. It’s a stability long desired, but acquired at the loss of the wild youthfulness of yonder.
As you turn over a new leaf, I can only wish you my purest best, and pray that your dimple works overtime.
Try strumming the guitar now. You might be able to play ‘Coffee House’ finally.
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