Lost and found

In his speech recently, Dada spoke about friendship. He said that one friend is not enough for one’s lifetime and the more friends one has the more enriched life one will lead. Well, I have been really fortunate with my friends; all my friends are my best friends.

This post is about my first best friend.

The day we met first in our first standard class we became best friends. We shared our lunch boxes, color pencils, story-books, and other small things which children are interested in. We gave each other hand-made greeting cards and did not tire talking to each other.

G had a lovely, fair complexion, silky brown hair, and amber eyes. And she was tall for her age. Her house was just opposite to our school and many evenings after school were spent at her place playing snakes and ladders. I still remember the taste of the rice and peas-daal her mother used to make. We both loved drawing and enjoyed participating in drawing competitions. Sometime she bagged a prize sometimes, I did. Even in our class we used to come 1st-2nd. In a way we were competing with each other but that never changed our friendship; it was as sweet and innocent as any 6 year old girl.

I was a happy kid and loved my school. Because of G I loved it even more. For 3 years, my parents got bored of me saying “G likes this, G likes that”. So did G’s parents hear her saying “K likes this, K likes that” more than anything else.

And then one day, we had to move. My Dad got transferred from Pune. I was leaving the city I loved dearly and I dreaded the thought of not meeting G again. On my last day there, I tried extremely hard to not cry. I did something really strong for an 8 year old; I smiled and said “Goodbye” to my friends and G. The memory is still so vivid and the pain fresh. “Pain” might sound an extreme word but that’s the word here.

When my first post-card letter to G was not answered, I tried not to lose heart. And I kept sending her letters for some time. Then time flew, new friends came, there were new things to learn and study. But G was never forgotten.

Last year I tried searching G on Google, orkut, and whichever other source I could think of. In vain.

I was in for a pleasant surprise. My parents and sisters had gone shopping in Pune during Diwali last year. My dad thought he saw a lady who looked just like G’s mom. And guess what! She indeed was. G was standing next to her. They just had to hear my name and there were shrieks of joyous surprise. Wish I were there to see the surprise on their faces.

Calling up G after 18 years, I imagined how the conversation would go. The lost time, the friendship that could have seen years of familiarity, the new friends and different lives we led, what were we going to talk about…I didn’t know. I need not have worried. Once we started talking it was like a torrent. We had so much to talk about, so much to update each other with. For the first few minutes, both of us kept talking at the same time, then kept laughing and then came the questions…too many of them. And then we both were so overcome with emotion that we could hardly talk.

All in all, it was amazing talking to her, and I think I seriously underestimated the happiness a long-lost friend can bring. And all the wonderful exchange of emails, phone calls…There’s so much that I want to write here, but I will keep that till the time we meet each other.

Back!

Hi all! Coming back to blog after a while I feel sorry for my blog.
I also feel sorry for myself and my New Year resolution of blogging at least once a month. :-(

Well, oh well! I was busy!! I won’t talk about office and work. But I will only say it was crazy!

In the last few of weeks, I attended 2 weddings, met old friends (such a relief) and went for A's team outing. Yeah, it was his team's outing and family was invited. I am glad I went...not only did A enjoy himself, I also had a great time. We participated enthusiastically in all those games and cheered like school-kids when our team won.

The new house now feels old. Not looks-wise, but strangely enough we feel as if we have been staying here for a long time already.

Now, I yearn for a dog. But I have been told by A last year to wait for another 40 years before I can even ask for a dog. Hmmmphf.
Almost 12 years ago, my dad faced this dilemma. His 3 daughters were begging, pleading and threatening him to take in a sad looking pup. My usually practical mom even had a name ready. My dad looked at the pup and then looked at us and said "I am telling you, he's going to be a big liability! Who will look after him? Who will take him for walks?"
“We will we will!!” 3 of us in unison.
My dad just shook his head.
So that was it. We got King at the most inappropriate of times. I, the eldest kid was in 10th. Our house was extremely tiny, the land-lord and his wife were forever scheming how to make things difficult for us and to top all the woes we got a dog. But, without a shred of doubt, those were the happiest days. I can’t say the same for my dad though! King became his responsibility from day one!

King, who came into our lives as a tiny, timid, confused looking pup with huge eyes soon over-grew us. At 6 months when Kingu, as we called him, stood on his hind-limbs he could hold my shoulders. And he was as naughty as a 6-7 year-old kid.
And finicky about food too! Mom had to literally feed him the first bite before he would devour from his dish. He would wake me up every morning scratching my face with his paws. Imagine, I used to get up seeing his black nose sniffing away at my face every morning for a couple of years!
Having him was like having a baby in the house. K3 would play tug-of-war with him and we used to roll with laughter watching them! And like any attention crazy child he would love us talking to him. But how long could we do that, with our school, college and studies? K3 soon came up with an idea which worked like charm. She used to study sitting in front of him and read aloud her lessons. After every 3-4 sentences, she would take his name. So it sounded like, "You know what Newton did, King? He not only found out gravity, he also wrote 3 laws." After about a page of K3's lesson, King would promptly fall asleep. Poor thing!

Our lives revolved around him, he ruled our lives in true sense. It was so much fun to come home from college/school and to find him waiting for you with his tail wagging like crazy. It was such an ego-boost to see some one so happy to see you back!!

Every day was some new King story. How he was scared of the sun beam that fell on him from the window, how he got K2's hair band stuck around his neck, how much he loved his collar with bells on it, how he enjoyed eating upma and noodles, and how this ferocious looking dog was the most gentle creature we knew...It used to be a funny sight to see him looking at the kitten licking away the milk from his plate and then whining for food!

I know when I start talking about King, memories just keep pouring and it's difficult to keep my eyes dry. There’s so much more to write about our beloved dog, but the way he has touched our lives can’t be put in words. I can see those who have had or have pets nodding their heads in agreement.