A tribute to a friend whom I shall meet only in spirit

As I signed in, my FB page listed today’s birthday but the birthday girl left us for her heavenly abode, leaving fond memories behind. No wall updates, no HB messages. My mind raced to so many birthday wishes and calls as we cherished the decade long friendship.

A casual meeting in the corridor on the first day of senior college had transformed into a formidable bond irrespective of the distance and time. She truly epitomised the phrase ‘friend in need is a friend indeed’ when I banked on her for notes during exams. Asking for her History notes was my birth right! The nervousness of appearing for exam disappeared with her assurance that I will do well. Remember the late evening when we both decided to visit the Kalina campus on knowing our graduation results were out. This was when results were not announced online, but pasted on a notice board in building somewhere in the corner of that deadly campus. We checked our results under a dim tube light accompanied by couple of other friends.

I enjoyed her company on the same campus when we both enrolled for post graduation. She failed to quell my restlessness to sit quietly and study in the library, surrounded by thick books on political science and economics. Hard to believe it’s the same me who prefers quite study zone to work on assignments at my university in London. That friendly pestering for missing lectures was not new. I was used to it since college as I visited cyber cafe in the days when personal computers were not so commonly owned. She introduced me to the world of making friends online when Orkut, Facebook were unheard of. Thanks to that I made some amazing friends through the Internet. I always admired her courage and positive attitude to face adversities with a smiling face.

Out of sight is not out of mind is so true for some relationships. Our friendship was one of them. Those long on-line chats were our focal connecting point when both of us were in different cities. The short mail with birthday wishes when we were across time zones meant a lot in the age of on-line wishes. It was yet another chat that turned to be our last meeting until the angels decided to choose my friend whom I shall only meet in spirit.