Who is a friend anyway?
- Someone who can bring back joy on the dullest days – check!
- In whose presence you feel lighter instantly – check!
- With whom you share jokes alien to the world – check!
- Who is, often, of the same age or generation as you – UNCHECK (from this day forth!)
I was one
among those firm stereotypes who think that that the people we identify as our
friends have to necessarily be from our age group for a correct wavelength
match. Thankfully, I have been rescued from this misconception early on! And
here goes the tale that brought it about:
Last
summer, a girl landed all starry eyed in Canada looking forward to an amazing
time. However, after battling jet lag and homesickness, she realized that she
was alone most of the times work did not occupy her. Her fellow interns were
yet to arrive and the other girls in the residence kept to themselves, studying
hard to get out to their much awaited summer breaks. Brave as she was, she held
on to hope. She had realized long ago that it was one of those beautiful
emotions which can keep someone going, no matter how difficult the times.
And lo and
behold! Hope made a silent entry for her as she struggled with the exit system
at the university’s library one evening. Her hope’s form was tall but slightly
bent and clad in a smart tweed jacket over a sweater and khaki pants with big
leather shoes to go. He seemed like another one of those busy, old Canadian
professors that roamed the campus. Except that he, unlike others, stopped to
gently correct and not patronize. He patiently explained the right way to swipe
the ID to get out of the building. The girl’s fiasco with the mechanism was a
sure show of her newness to the place. Hope’s keen eyes from behind his big
spectacles sensed it immediately,
“Would you
mind if I walked you till the bus stop?”
All worldly
warnings about strangers began reeling in the girl’s mind as she regarded his
request. She also had in mind the rude albeit funny labels that accompanied conversation
with senior citizens, like any other of her age. She was just about to make a polite
excuse and go on when she got a proper look at his eyes. Sitting behind glasses
placed on the bridge of a long and crooked nose, they radiated such warmth and
kindness, that she agreed on with a smile.
“So tell me
how did you come about here in Windsor?”
Then
quickly added, “Are you liking it here?”
The girl
smiled to herself on his keen sense of observation and began to wonder if her
manner gave away too much of her loneliness. Though she was ready to pour her
heart out, she started with the usual,
“The weather
is too finicky for my liking! And that has made me a little sick.”
“But you’re
a long way from home isn’t it? And I’ve heard that being homesick makes you
real sick, real fast.”
The girl
was skeptical about this and both of them shared a laugh as her eyebrows bolted
up at the statement. But he insisted and said there was a scientifically proven
nexus between homesickness and low immunity. The girl then proceeded to tell
him all about her application to several international internships, the many
initial disappointments and rejections and the final joy after being selected
for the program that got her there.
He played
the perfect listener and was thoroughly engaged and fascinated by whatever she
had to tell him. Despite not knowing much about her country, he bravely
ventured with questions to gain more knowledge,
“Where do
you stay in India?”
Is that
close to New Delhi?”
And she
laughed secretly knowing for a fact that it was probably the only place in
India he knew about. He never let in a lull moment in their talk and after a
long time in the age of e-communication, the girl sensed the pleasure of
listening to and being listened to. He praised her achievements as if she were
his very own granddaughter. He also told her about his experiences as an
independent researcher in history, the time of life that he had in Los Angeles
long back and his present work. Despite being years apart and far more erudite,
he treated her as his equal and that set the factor of comfort in her demeanour
with this apparent stranger. When they finally came to the bus stop, the girl
pointed in the direction of the shiny, new engineering building and proudly
told him that she had an office all to herself there. He smiled at her and
confidently said before getting on the bus,
“I bet you’ll
be seeing much more grander offices up ahead in your life.” And left off with a
smile. For the first time in many days, the girl’s loneliness did not bother
her.
As days
passed and the girl started putting more hours into work, she never got home
till late evening. She became very preoccupied with her project and loved her
job. Eventually, with the arrival of other interns, she had a group of “conventional”
friends. A thorough e-age person, she didn’t frequent the library either and so
she and hope were apart for almost all of her time there.
But she
found out to her delight that hope could sense a particularly depressing day and
be there to “chat” her out of it. His next appearance was on a day in which
none of her lab trails were working. She spotted him at the bus stop and nearly
sloshed down her coffee to get there before he went away.
“Hello
Aru-pama! How have you been?”
She gently
corrected her name out and began venting out everything since their last
encounter. They argued a little on how cold salads and simple sandwiches passed
around for lunch there (her point) and why make food such a hassle (his point).
When she told him all about her experiments along the restaurant street of the
city, he was amazed that despite being a vegetarian, she had seen more of the
gastronomy of his city than him. He jotted down all of “her recommendations” in
“his city” and pledged to try them. The solemnity he associated with this
promise made the girl laugh out loud and he left with a puzzled look on his
face.
With just
two days left for her departure from Canada, she was hoping for a real-life
serendipity. Since hope neither owned a telephone nor believed in e-mail, she had
no way to reach him. Also, she was too busy jostling between one send-off to
another farewell meet to take out time to seek him out at the library. Her
disappointment peaked on the penultimate day since she had somehow managed to
be at the library for a printing errand and still could not find him. She was
leaving sallow-faced and hating her shoes as she walked downcast. And then, she
spotted those large leather shoes she was so desperately hoping for. Never had
a pair of shoes held such beauty to her as those on that day.
“Aru-pama,
you should try and keep a smile on your face – you will use much less muscles
that way!”
And with
this much needed quirky opening line, the girl cracked into a hysterical laugh.
He was amazed at her reaction and asked if she felt alright looking around for
help, the care-bear that he was. She giggled and said,
“Sir, you
have given me my own serendipity moment.”
When she
elucidated, he too shared her moment of hysteria and on-lookers spared looks
for the crazed girl and old man outside the library.
The girl
had always feared that due to his old age he would not be able to place her
face from one meeting to another. She swelled with a selfish pride when she saw
another young student approach hope and he tactfully deferred him and then
confided to her in guffaws,
“I frankly
don’t remember who that is and what conversation he was referring to. I’ll have
to use some speech queues with that one,” and winked!
The girl
had never before seen such an innocent attempt at winking in her life. That is
how she promised herself she will remember her hope, her friend, Mr Glenn
Campbell. A permanent smile on his spotted and wrinkled face and an infectious
energy within his being much more powerful than any other “highs” people resort
to for warding off loneliness. He re-instilled in her a belief that someone
watches above us all and sends a medium to light a candle of happiness in the
ephemeral dark and gloomy corner of life that chances to come along once in a
while.
The girl
sincerely hopes that her “hope” will read this, somewhere, sometime and
remember her.
-
Aru-pama
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