Hello, Old Friend!

· by · in Fiction, Miscellaneous. ·

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Hello, Sanjukta, my oldest friend,

I still remember that day. That was my first day at school. I never went to any ‘tiny-tots’ or kindergarten, rather I was directly admitted to a High School which had a nursery division. I was sitting alone when a girl with chubby cheeks and a dangling ponytail entered and took her place just beside me. After a minute or two, as soon as she gathered herself, she smiled at me and from that very moment, I liked her.

Since then our journey started. We shared every trivial thing and also those girlish stories which we wanted to keep as secrets. We could confide everything to each other. It so happened that it became almost impossible for me to spend that drab and grey day when she was absent for some reasons. Once after her absence for three consecutive days, my despondency reached the maximum level and, my tantrums forced my ‘Maa’ to take the desperate decision of finding one’s house without any proper address or location. I only catered ‘Maa’ with the name of her father and the locality where they used to reside. After three wrong knock-knocks at three different houses ‘Maa’ sternly said that the fourth attempt would be the last and final one. I immediately prayed to all known Gods and Goddesses so that they would get aware of the bereavement of a little girl and could shower their blessings accordingly! And yes! The world was much cleaner and pollution free at that time and they did hear me! The fourth house ended our adventure and ‘kakima’ welcomed us with a big smile. My dearest friend was suffering from fever and so was unable to attend the classes. While I was babbling all the stories of the last three days to her, the two mums also got acquainted with each other.

From then the two families also came closer and the bonding of friendship  between us grew tighter. It happened many times that we quarrelled with each other, only to feel that none of us would be able to live without the other.

Gradually the innocence of childhood gave way to the chirpiness of adolescence and every secret wish and evil thought …every dream..we used to enjoy together. Strange enough, but when we studied together it took less time to remember and understand things. Life was a blessing….studying was fun.

It was one Sunday when Kaku, Kakima came to our house. It was a surprise visit and both of us were overwhelmed with getting a chance to chat. After they were gone, ‘Maa’ told me that her father had got a transfer notice and they had to shift to Pune. It took me some time to grasp the meaning. I was at a loss. ‘Maa’ also told me that she knew nothing about it yet. The realization that probably I would  never be able to see her again almost made me hysterical. I went to my room and, wept…and wept.

Next day, when she entered the class, I could clearly see traces of tears on her cheeks..they no more looked chubby. None of us uttered a single word. Intangible, invisible, thought waves rattled our minds. After the school was over she said: ”chithi likhbo” (I would write to you). That was the last time I saw her. That was not an age when mobile phones winked from everyone’s pocket. We exchanged letters several times but, somehow, as we both grew up and, got busy with other activities, the connection faded.

Sanjukta, I still miss you, and, I know it for sure that you still nurture the same feeling for me which you used to. Still, after so many years, memories of our friendship evokes emotional resonance. Friendship is a blessing, an unseen bonding between two  similar minds. God outdid all his creations by creating friends. Sanjukta, wherever you’re, stay happy, stay blessed.

Yours
Maniparna

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‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

60 responses to “Hello, Old Friend!”

  1. wonderfully expressed !..Talking of friends, I must tell you that I was really really reluctant to write my first blog but a very dear friend of mine pushed me to give it a go, it really clicked ..so much so that because of support of my fellow blogger friends here , my Facebook blog page stands at almost 2100 followers in just about months or so and hence recently, I posted this blog to specially thank them :

    Thank you for supporting Guys

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Maniparna you have written and depicted a very admirable, brilliant, superb, unforgettable experience of life especially of a friend Sanjukta whose memories are still fresh in your tender heart and in your searching, twinkling, and very deep eyes. A heartrending, melting, heartbreaking write up full of sweet and pleasant remembrances.

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  6. Lovely! This warmed my heart and my eyes are slightly hazy right now as I am typing this Mani. Such beautiful emotions, real friendships like these are a treasure that make our hearts rich with happiness and joy for ever.

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  8. मनिपर्णा, इंसान सबसे ज्यादा पुराने दोस्तों को मिस करता है। हमेशा लगता है कि काश, वो मिल जाएं और फिर से वो मस्ती…! खैर, बहुर सुंदर प्रस्तुति…

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  11. Having a father who had his jobs at various states, I had to cope up with this feeling of ‘letting go’ of a close friend after every two or three years. There are some with whom I have no connection at all and your blog brought back a rush of so many emotions…..! May your Sanjukta and her memories stay with you forever!

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  16. Your story brought my own emotions up from the deep Maniparna.. Such a wonderful tale of friendship between you and so sad that you were parted.. I hope some day you find her my friend and she you.. It is sometimes a small world.. And as our thoughts go out they are picked up and will be carried along.. I am sure she knows how much you missed her..
    You wrote this so very well my friend.. 🙂 Thank you for sharing..
    love Sue x

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  17. It’s a pity to lose contact with our friends, but it has happened to me too. Outside of my family members, there’s no one I’m still in contact with who knew me before I was in my twenties.

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  18. This is such a Wow post Maniparna. First friendship at school..the concept of a best friend in whom you could confide things. Yes connections do fade away with time but memories remain. Her surname would have changed, yet there’s still a hope that you may unexpectedly find her on facebook. I found mine a couple of years back. 🙂

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  31. Initially I thought it was just a short story only to be deluded by factual content progressively prevailing over the fictional overtones of your narrative. Some friends are like passing rains on arid days, staying for a while to pleasantly cool the environment and then abating. The El Niño in nature will suddenly take away the rains for a while too long but a La Niña event will usher it back in good time. In your case too, Mani, here is wishing your words to take the La Niña effect to bring your friend back to happily effuse over intervening years and reinforce old ties.

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  33. Such friends are always special. I miss my friends loads and it tears the heart to see us separated. It took me a year or two to come to terms with the fact that college ended. Love, love the post:)

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  34. This story of yours prods a half dozen similar memories. There were moments like these when I had to part with my friends and how we wept!?
    To remember all these and to know that the feeling still remains; it means the friendship is still intact with all the innocence and love.

    I don’t know if it has happened to you. But after I grew up, when we had to part with friends, it wasn’t very painful. Maybe because we learnt that life was such. But I’d prefer the former bond. Even if it was painful to part, the friendship was intense and innocent.

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  35. “Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.” Flavia Weedn

    I teared reading this and can relate to your sweet words. How lovely was that friendship that helped make you into the lovely person you are now! Blessings to you and your friend wherever she may be. ❤

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  37. Maniparna, it was so touching. You made me remember my old Friend, who is now busy and doesn’t bother much. I miss our childhood Friendship.

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  38. i can much relate to that..i also lost my close friend years back…due to some personal issues she didnt appear in any of the social medias.i have no means to contact her.. and recently from one of my earlier diaries, i got her residential address..i went back to 90s ..sent her a letter ..asking to reply in my email id..and to my surprise i got the reply many months back…infact her family had already relocated to some other location, so that letter was redirected to her new address. Then her parents handed over the letter to her once she was back from Dubai..and finally i got her back…
    maniparna, i wish you also will definitely get her back..

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  39. Friendship is a blessing, an unseen bonding between two similar minds. You said it Maniparna Ji. Very touching post indeed. Hearty thanks for sharing. Almost all of the readers must be able to relate to it in their individual ways. Hope, you are able to come across her again through FB or some other social media platform. Good luck.

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  43. Hi Mani,
    I appreciate the emotions that you have poured into this heart-warming story of childhood friendship…they possess a miraculous power of transporting us into those unforgettable times! I hope you would meet your childhood pal one day. 🙂
    I don’t have any such friend who has been with me since first grade but all those from high school are still in touch with me. Since I was an introvert and so choosy, I have just a few!

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  44. At lovely, lovely story. Thanks for the share.

    I too, share the same thoughts as Hariod Brawn. Sometimes, both parties are so near and yet so far.

    I have lived in different countries in the last couple of years due to a number of roads I once travelled.

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  46. Thats a very heart touching story. So nice of you to share these golden moments. I feel you should never give searching her. If you succeed ,it would be the happiest moment of your life.Nowadays almost everyone is on social media this makes her search more easy for you.

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  48. touchy yaar. people are never really lost.. you can try searching for her on fb and Google .. yes it takes effort to stay in touch, would be great if the effort is mutual

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  49. I sometimes wonder how many of us have contacts from the distant past that have affected us deeply in some way following our separation from them, and yet whilst such enduring effects are unbeknownst to those same past contacts. Sometimes the words we utter or the actions we perform reverberate down the years despite their seeming innocuousness at first appearance.

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