Two Months

Excitement and happiness were evident on my face, taking long strides I walked towards the exit. The taxi driver was already waiting for me, as I walked near he rushed to take my luggage and placed it in the taxi. Few minutes later the wheels were rolling on the concrete roads of Bangalore. The cold wind hitting my face pushed my cheeks stretching my lips. A short trip to my hometown was energizing. As I closed my eyes resting my head back all the memories replenished. Homemade food, childhood friends and same old Mumbai streets, the feeling of nostalgia still lingered around me. Cell phone buzzed interrupting my thoughts as well as adding to my happiness, I knew who it was. My hands rushed to the pocket impatiently to read the text and reply.

‘When will you be here?’ she had texted.

‘Depends on the traffic’ I replied with a glee. For some reason her eagerness to meet me added on to my excitement. The amount of her sadness due to my absence was measurable on the basis of number of texts I had received. Though past 5 days were the one of the best days of my life, yet she was always there at the back of my mind.

The day it was finalized I would be residing in a hostel, all the known and unknown relatives popped out with their experiences of erratic roommates. Unfortunately I had believed them and planned to keep myself aloof. I still remember first meet vividly my first meet with her, I was lying on the bed and she had entered in the room discreetly, our eyes met and I greeted her with an awkward ‘Hi’. Later that evening we did fill in each other with our details, I figured out her capacity to talk and being an introvert the thought bolstered in my mind to keep my emotions to myself.

One morning, we were sitting in the cafeteria, having breakfast. It was unusual because she would usually wake up late since her office hours were later than my lecture timings. With the munching of her bread butter she broke the news about her marriage. It was the time I was still adjusting with the new environment, my raw experience placed me in dilemma about how to react. And I think I was taken aback by the whole situation, I mean she was just a year elder to me and had said yes for marriage. But masking my perplexed emotions I enquired about the groom and his family. As she recollected the whole incident about the meet of two families, what lured me about her was, the amount of respect she had for her parents.

Days passed, there were evenings when I felt low, wanted an emotional support but found none. The nights passed with dampened eyes, and the mornings never came with bright light. But the façade always helped to pass through. My greatest drawback being not able to express myself was getting hazardous each day, with my binge watching of web series as my coping mechanism. My roommate would pick the cues appropriately, but my wall of ego was too strong to melt with her sweet words.

One evening as I stood at the terrace, adoring the twinkling stars she came and stood beside me. As her usual nature she started with her story, sad part was my brain was already quite misty, I couldn’t pay attention to her talking. Finally unable to hold on, I confided in her my insecurities and how desperate I was to talk to someone. That was the night I filled her with the details of my life, it was the first time the role of listener and speaker got reversed.

After that there was no barrier. Had I not left my hometown and come here we would have never met, the thought entered my mind. It felt like I had a genuine smile on my face after a decade. Gradually the bond got stronger, so strong that I would never leave the room without disrupting her sleep in the morning, she would wait for me to return from college so that we could have tea together, we would have dinner together, go for random late night walks. I would make sure to irritate her when she would get a call from her fiancée, everything seemed great and perfect. Never had I imagined I would trust someone so much after Simran, my most reliable friend till now.

Sudden brake brought me out of my trance, I came to reality and saw I was at the doorstep of my hostel. Gathering my belongings I started climbing the stairs, due to luggage my pace was analogous to a sixty year old lady. But the minute I saw her standing at the terrace waiting for me, skipping the steps I jumped and ran into her arms. It all felt like a dream! It had been just 5 days but felt like 5 years. The hug was so tight that I could hear her heartbeat.

“Damn! I missed you so much!” she whispered in my ears, it broadened my smile

“Did you miss me?” she asked, I did not reply. The cold wind and her warm hug was a great combination and I was too busy enjoying that.

“Baby???” she probed, but her concern and warmth in her voice just made me smile more!

“It’s been only few days but so much has happened.” she said, I could hear her smile.

“Even I have a lot to tell you” my excitement echoes through my words as we separate from the hug, and we both start laughing.

As usual, ignoring my statement she started rambling about everything I had missed. But I loved this, her stupid laughs, her never ending stories and me irritating her. My cheeks ached due to the broad smile, but I couldn’t help but keep them stretched. I think she went on for half an hour about her fiancée and I was listening patiently to her with a stupid innocent smile on my face.

“What?” she finally asked addressing my smile, “Nothing” I gave her a big hug!

“If you love me so much, it will be difficult for me to leave this place after marriage” she uttered.

“Let’s not talk about it. Your marriage is in November, I have 2 whole months with you and I don’t want to go on that path at present” I declared stubbornly

“Errr… honey” she hesitated, “I’m planning to leave this place by next month…”

It felt like someone just cut off my oxygen supply. My cortex went numb, 15 years of education and yet I couldn’t find proper words to express myself. Scenarios of me going for dinner alone flashed in front of my eyes, I could actually hear the silence of the room. Pain in the centre of chest increased every second, my vision got blurry.

“Baby?” her voice brought me to the present, “are you crying?”

“No” I said gulping down my emotions. After returning from my trip this was our first meet and I didn’t wanted to give it such a negative start.

“You can come and stay at my place” she tried to console me, “LOL, your fiancée will kick both of us out” I tried lightening the situation and we shared a hearty laugh.

I knew her only for two months, and had only two more months with her. And now suddenly the news was given that I hardly had 15 days, yes it is difficult to digest. She was not only my roommate but my friend, my emotional support system, an elder sister. Having her made me feel secure, like rover suddenly found a shelter. Everything now seemed like collapsing.

That’s when I heard her voice echo in my mind, she had once said, ‘Don’t ruin your present thinking about your future instead make great memories now so that you can cherish them later…’