Happy Friendship Day

Hey guys wishing you all a very happy friendship day.

Friendship Days always reminds me of a particular friend of mine-- Jessie. He was my pen friend. Remember at one time during teenage people are gripped by the idea of pen friends? I had a similar longing, so in our school library there was some magazine called Target which used to have a list of potential pen pals, I jotted some names down and started off in search of a pen pal. I wrote to a couple, some answered back, some did not. One boy from Punjab did reply back, found him interesting so I also replied. But then this guy did not reply back. I waited and waited, then one day I got furious and wrote a stingy letter to him in the lines of "who the hell do you think you are, not even bothering to reply....".

I still remember it was the day after Saraswati pujo, a big courier came in my name. It was perhaps the first courier I recieved. I was excited beyond words. Inside there was a long letter and a couple of cards saying how sorry he was and why he had not written for such a long time etc.

That started off our friendship. We mostly communicated through letters once or twice a month. I was still in senior school while Jessie was in Punjab Engineering College. I got to know about his latest crushes, the movies he watched, what he did in college or rather did not do, what was happening in his hostel, upcoming fests etc. His letters opened up the joys of college life to me.

We shared other things as well like the personal tragedies which struck his family, his uncle and aunt were killed by terrosits, joys his sisters marriages. I would always recieve an invitation card and feel important to be invited.

He was someone who would never forget my birthday or friendship day. On Val Day I knew I would be getting a card from Jessie even if no other guy gave me one.

Soon I got into college. Whatever problems I faced in the bewildering adult world Jessie was the guy I turned to. I would send SOS letters to Punjab and he would send SOS solutions to Kolkata. He had already been there and done that, so worldly wise and ready with surivival tips. His tips almost, always worked like charm.

Once he wrote to me saying that he had been caught cheating during his exams, expelled from college and disowned by parents, so he requested me whether he could come and live with me for sometime and look for a job. I was aghast. I read and reread the letter and eventually figured out that it had an April date, so it must be a joke. I wrote back equallt solemnly saying that of course he was welcome, I had spoken to my dad and uncle and pleaded with them, so they had fixed a clerk's job for him in Kolkata, do I need to send him money for his train ticket etc etc. Soon an appologetic letter came saying he was sorry if I had got into so much trouble for him, but it was a joke and he was fine.

Sometimes our letters would dry off depending on the exam cycle, but would soon revive once exams were done with. Jessia would joke with me that he dared not write to me, cos he was scared that I would dash off another menancing letter and one such letter is enough for one life.

Somewhere along the line Jessie which was his pet name anyways changed to Jaggu and he started signing Jaggu. But I didnot know any Jaggu, I knew Jessie so I persisted with Jessie. I think I am the only person who persists in calling him by that nickname.

Before long it was time for him to join work. Even though I have never put my foot inside Wipro/Infosys/IBM offices, every office that Jessie worked in I knew the layout by heart, which girl sits where (depending on who his crush was at that point), how far he sits, where the rivals sit, all of it. I got to know about the picnics, the parites, the intranet chat and flirting.

He would be troubled with questions like when do you tell a girl that you like her? Like when you have a crush on her or when you are in love with her? I would try and ernestly decipher women's mind for him.

When the movie 'My Best Friend's Wedding' came, Jessie floated the idea that if by 30 neither one of us were married, we should marry each other. Marry my best friend? Not really a good option, but I kept it stores for future deliberation and willingly agreed.

Once Jessie got into job, he used to send me gifts from where ever he used to be-- Pune/Bangalore/Hyderabad through colleagues/friends who were visiting Kolkata.

I met him only once in Delhi when I was in JNU. And I gave him saving kit and he kept teasing me about it later "yaar how can you gift a shaving kit to a sardar?".

Jessie got married in 2004. His matchmaking was an agonizing ordeal. The girl his mother had fixed up was a beaty and Jessie was feeling that she deserved a more handsome man than himself. So he got into strict diet and excercising regime and we used to have roaring fights over him giving physical beauty more importance.

I was very proud of the way Jessie got married, even though I could not attend it. He refused all gifts from his in-laws, when they insisted on the grounds of their prestige being punctured in society, he borrowed some furniture/tv etc from one of his friends' who had a showroom, displayed those in his house as gifts from the bride's house and then after relatives left returned them all.

After his marraige we drifted apart, he got busy juggling wife and career and me with my career. Sometimes I think he is scared of introducing me to his wife cos I know all his ex crushes.

Right now we have no contact, he emerged briefly in Orkut but soon again disappeared.

I am confident that where ever he is, he is happy, he is too sweet a guy not to be happy and keep his wife happy.

Maybe we will meet again along life's way. Till then. Au revoir.