An Etched Memory

“Mom, I am going out for a walk. Will be back in an hour or so”, saying this I rushed out, closing the main entrance gate behind me. I plugged in my headphones and tuned in to my favourite FM channel.
“The next song I’m going to play for all of you is the dedication to all those BFFs out there!! This song perfectly reflects the spirit of friendship. This kind of friendship is hard to find these days, so if you do find such a friend, treasure him/her for life. So here we go with this song. It’s my personal favourite…” the RJ’s voice resonated in my ears and as the song “I’ll be alright” from the movie Dostana followed thereafter, the images from my memories flashed back in front of my eyes.

I completed the multiple rounds of the park and then decided to sit on a bench there. The multiple songs about friendship had made me nostalgic. I missed my BFF more now. Even this park reminded me of the times when we used to go for walks every morning and evening without fail. There wasn’t any health consciousness behind this but only the daily reminder that our days together were numbered as we were to leave town for  higher studies. We knew our lives will change for the better and we wanted to make the best memories before the time ran out. It was one such evening walk that I clearly remember.

I remember, I was going through a bad day and nothing was going in my favour since the morning. Well, may be I’m exaggerating but that was surely not my day. I can’t pinpoint the days event as they unfolded but the bomb exploded when the result was out for one of the entrance exam and I had missed it by just a mark. The news exploded the volcano I was not letting to erupt since morning. I called her instantly when the results were announced. She reached my home within a few minutes. She took me out for a walk against my reluctance to step out. 
Nobody spoke a word since we walked out of the house, yet silence spoke everything. I broke the silence with my rant. “I failed. I am good for nothing…”, I said as we sat on the bench near the fountain in the park.
“N, calm down. This is not end of the world. You can always start afresh. Right??”
“But all those efforts R, how… why…”, my mind was full of self-doubt and questions with no answers in reach. 
She didn’t say anything. She just sat there holding my hand as I blabbered every stupid depressing thought that crossed my mind. She knew, that though I had questions but I didn’t need answers. I just needed to let everything out. I just needed a listener at that moment, and she was best choice for that. After the storm had gone, silent tears rolled down and then she hugged me tight. And I knew, that the broken pieces can be picked up, you just need to have the right support. Sometimes, it’s the company that matters not the advice.
Later she cheered me with my favourite Chocolate Fudge Pastry and her favourite Chinese dinner at our usual hangout restaurant. Yes, chocolates are the best solutions at times but at that moment it was her presence soothed my heart more than anything else. Finally succeeding to make me smile with her stupid efforts she dropped me at home, as we called it a day.

I missed my BFF. It had been days that I had met her. Our separate fields of career sent us to different cities and we created another world of ourselves. But we are always connected, no matter how busy our lives get, and we make sure that we meet once a year for sure. She has always been by my side whenever I found myself in the situation that I didn’t like. She is the pillar of my strength. And our memories together are my treasure, perfectly etched in my heart.

Thank you Housing.com for giving me an opportunity to pick up a memory from my treasure box and share it with the world.