Friendship Band

They were the best of buddies and classmates. Both belonged to the same village. When they walked hand in hand to the village U.P. school, they were the butt of criticism.

Their pure innocent souls could not perhaps comprehend the reason behind the prying eyes.

Both were too immature to understand the ways of the world and did not bother much.

Time rolled by. Both the girl and the boy entered adulthood and pursued different streams of academics.

Both exuded excellence and secured jobs of their choice.

They hardly met after leaving the school. Years after years passed and they remained incommunicado, busy in their lives.

But, she had a strange premonition about meeting her long lost friend in a short span.

How and where?

Perhaps, she had no inkling.

As fate conspired ...that day, they bumped into each other in a cafeteria in Delhi where Anu, the girl had a job.

Abhi, the boy, had a white collar job in a reputed firm and was placed in Mumbai.

He was on a business trip to Delhi for a couple of days.

Anu's purse fell to the ground as a repercussion of the collision. Abhi lifted the same and handed it to her after begging for an apology for the not intended act. But Anu was in no mood to listen as the strap of her favorite purse was displaced.

Her stern look forced him to take a seat farther from her. He did not want to spoil his mood on this trivia.

He gulped down the food as he was in a hurry to meet a client.

Anu looked up and tried hard to find where she came across, this tall dark bearded handsome gentleman before!!!

But no!

Her memory failed.

Yet, the lingering sense of groping, to find the identity did not leave her.

She finished her burger and coffee and waited to pay off for the food and beverage that she had consumed. The gentleman too was readying himself to pay. As he swiped his card to settle the bill, she noticed his friendship band. The pattern and the design is very different from what is currently available in the market. The band had become old, the thread wore a faded look. The shells and beads were broken and had lost their luster due to persistent use. Yet it stood unique. 

Underneath the pleats and folds of her memory lane, she could sense a subtle hunch.

“Has she been privy to the pattern?”

Perhaps yes.

She had tied a replica of this friendship band to her best friend decades ago.

The band was made by her mother.

To impart an unique look, she had carefully stitched colored beads and seashells to it. The motif too bore intricate design.

Could this man be him? A man looks so different with moustache and beard-she thought.

She had no idea as to how he would look now and whether he would recognise her.

But a strange sense started bothering her...she could not comprehend why she got goosebumps! 

Perhaps, the gentleman, who just now left after settling bills, was her best friend Abhi.

Omg! She almost ran to the main door ...only to find him speeding away in his chauffeur-driven mercedes.

Destiny gave her sufficient hint to renew her long lost friendship and she could not encash it.

Only if she had listened to her inner voice!!!

Had she followed and acted accordingly!!!

It was too late by then.