3 April 2019
The story goes, that the first time we met, she was standing there, confident and eager to enter the building. And there I was, watching her with wonder, bawling my eyes out.
We were standing outside a huge building (sure seemed that way back then!) and were all of 3 years old!
I still look at her with wonder, as the clocks turn and she grows a year older. And with that, I allow myself a smile…for it also turns our friendship 25 years old!
She has been my first, my oldest as she so proudly proclaims. Her the bindaas babe, me the meek mouse. The journey till date has been a rollercoaster as has every moment with her.
She was my first playmate, always inventing innovative games.
She was my first letter, very duly signed, “Your best friend forever”.
She was the person whose division I always checked, each year at the beginning of the academic year. For I couldn’t imagine an entire year without her face just across the classroom.
She was the first person I went trekking with, marvelling at how confident she was over the slopes.
She was the birdwatcher I first met, rattling off names of birds even while they flew a great distance away.
I saw her beat the crap (with a cap!) out of a friend when he dared mess with me. I saw her do it again and again, often simply to keep up the smiles on my face.
She was the shoulder I cried upon, the first time Life got too hard to handle.
She was the ears I blurted all my secrets into, when the Gossip was too juicy to keep within.
She was the only bench partner I had, over consecutive years and who never once scraped a “boundary” on the desk.
She was the first person who made me realise I had the eyes of a proofreader, as she valiantly went about murdering spellings and screwing up sentence structures.
She made me be a far more diligent person, noting down exam timetables and seat numbers, twice over. For who never know when she’d need me to remind her.
She was my first “healthy competitor”, when despite all this she always scored an extra percent (every single time!) on her exams and actually made me glad.
She slayed the guys and taught me to go for who I wanted.
She got the hearts soaring with her drop – dead gorgeous looks but always taught me that real beauty springs from a true heart.
She had me worried multiple times, as I watched her take some bad decisions. And yet she made me smile when she dealt with them and always managed to emerge stronger.
She is my first and oldest, and I still look at her with wonder.
We still are pretty much the bindaas babe and the meek mouse, but aren’t Opposites always meant to attract?