Roommates and such

10 years of hostel life comes with its own set of doings, wrong doings, learnings, un-learnings and unforgettable memories, of great friends and sworn enemies.
I look back at all these years and I am quite amazed at the number of friends I have made, though not surprised at the number of enemies /or people I would not even want to know they exist [sic], I have ran into. Enemies are easier to be found than good friends. And if a friend still cares to enquire about your health and well being, after you haven’t called her/him in ages, then that friend has to be cherished truly.

This is about two very different girls who were my roommate at different points in time and shared very important part of my life. I met G on a hot summer day of June in 1997 in Allahabad, and K, in 2001 in BIT Mesra, sometime in November-December.

Interestingly when I met them, I was living alone in a shared room (actually it looks like a déjà-vu now). I am usually a friendly person, but tend to put my guards on only when someone has been very nasty. Immediately before I met these girls, I have had some very B*T*H kind of people around me, and hence my guards were intact. Needless to say, I was rude, direct, and not the usual self.
I don’t know what prompted them to stay with me (I would never know). I can only hope it was something more than the issue of unavailability of rooms other than mine. Over the year and half I spent with G and approximately an year with K , our relationship blossomed. With both these fabulous girls, I rediscovered friendship and learnt to trust people. We laughed, cried, ate, sang and danced, shared secrets, advised, and had lot of fun together. Those were indeed the unforgettable days, which I have spent with G and K respectively.


After coming to Bangalore, I got out of touch with these gals within couple of years (lost mobile story). It is a long story of how we came in touch again. But we did, and I learnt that just as I was eager to reconnect with them, and tried getting in touch with someone-who-might-have-her –number, to googling the name, and school details in sheer anticipation that google/orkut/facebook might link us up again; they also tried as much.

I cringe at times when I think of how terse and rude I had been to them initially for no fault of theirs, while they defined the meaning of friendship for me, and they still do. I feel like a mean person and I wish I could say sorry. I try but cannot bring myself to it, and I don’t know why.

I do thank God for blessing me with such people. I don’t even know if I deserve them, but I certainly know that I cherish them.