Friend's whom I don't talk everyday

To the friends I don't talk every day,

Life is a long journey, that I can't forget, and don't want to. And in this journey, if there were some people I loved to hate, it was you guys. I mean, sure, it's been years now, but there was a time when we were inseparable, and you, all of you intolerable. If one of us wasn't making lame jokes, it was because we were too busy laughing at the last one (which was funny because it was always embarrassing some other). I've met friends before, some while I was only four, and we learnt to play badminton together. One of them taught me how to ride bikes, another taught me how to love. At some point, you were my 7th standard's best friend, and my 10-year-old neighbor, or 17-year-old smoking partner. And we just never thought anyone could come our way. Well, life did.

Really, it's surprising how much I tend to think about those hot summer afternoons and evenings, as we played barefooted on pavement yet to be cemented, as our mothers' calls at the stroke of dawn brought us running back to homes, and all the troubles I had forgotten, returned.

We swore at each other, called each other names, and then, as we hugged, ate our evening chai and papad at the roadside.

I remember we sat beside each other in our coaching class, helping each other out in studies, and you crying besides me. By pouring out life's secrets and insecurities out to you as we talk for hours on end.

No matter how hard life gets, I understood it couldn't get as simple as those times. But I never thought it would be this silent. We always came back. We always had a second inning. Another ride. Another test. Another call.

And I never had to worry about winning, coming first, scoring more, because I had you. My best friend.

But I kept losing you.

One of us kept getting busy. Exams. Relations. Stress. Jobs. I still think there's a lot of friendship left in us. It's just hidden under a layer everyday life.