My Best Friend..

Our school tours kept happening year after year. It was the year 1997, if I remember it correctly, Jurassic Park 2- The Lost World was released. In the heat of the moment, there was some show organized at Pragati Maidan. Huge Dinosaur statues were displayed and all the school kids were sent to attend it as if these dinosaurs will get extinct again. LMAO.

Like other school kids, we also were sent to see how these ugly, humongous, carnivores looked like. As, I was the class monitor, teachers asked me to maintain the queue of hooligans who might run here and there and create ruckus. I was a responsible and teacher’s favourite student so was always very sincere and obedient. I shouted at a group of classmates as they broke the queue trying to move forward.

Amongst them was this most notorious yet charming, tom boyish yet attractive girl. She always hung around with a group of boys and thought girls were just a waste of time to be friends with though she had a very close friend Shivali who was usually not seen with her most of the times. And it was Sugandh, Ankit Gudwani, Sunny Phogat, Ashish Kathuria and Shikha Rana trying to jump the line. I called her and asked very politely as to what the matter was. She hated me because I was teacher’s pet. She thought she’s next; I am going to complain about to the teachers. However, my old memories with her just stopped me and I allowed only her to move forward and stand in front of some girl.

I was in second standard, PTA (Parent Teacher Meet) was happening. I was out playing in the ground near the stage. My eyes only looked at this beautiful lady who was playing with her kids. At the first glance, I thought she’s the strictest mother I have ever seen but as years passed my perception about her completely changed. There was a li’l boy and a girl playing with her on one of our favourite swings, slide with the hut. I was standing in one corner when this lady called and asked me to join her kids. I loved that moment and quickly ran and joined them. After few hours we all left and I kept thinking about them the entire time. I felt I knew them for years now. This lady was none but Shikha’s mother, Usha aunty. The li’l boy was Nakul, her brother and the girl of course was Rana, Shikha Rana. (She’s James bond’s relative)

It was from then; I secretly admired her for years. From 1992 to 1997, we were in same classes with different sections but we never could become friends. We were poles apart, forget the poles; if I was Mars then she was Pluto. I liked her because she was very naughty, bindaas, chilled out and mast unlike other girls who just bitched and cribbed about other girls and the length of their skirts getting shorter each day. She did not bother about anything. She did what she wanted to do. And somewhere I feel we had a long lost connection. One just cannot like an individual so intensely from childhood without knowing that person.

I felt so happy after we reached school from that Dinosaur show not because I liked the show but Shikha and I spoke and I could help her at that time. You know what, I always wanted to change her perception about me and that day I moved one step ahead. Like everyone else, she disliked me due to my behaviour of complaining and being too obedient to suit my age. But I did it; she did appreciate the fact that I am not as bad as I act. Hurray!!

Our journey of being thick friends started from that day. We love each other as much as we hate. We grew together sharing a lot of phases of life. It has been 13 years now that we still fight, argue, curse yet love each other more than anyone else around us.

Lots of love and some beeps..... Mwaaaaah

(Shikha will hate me for posting this pic but I could not resist as this is one amongst many that I love and adore. Not to worry though, the other best will be posted too.)