MEMORIES REKINDLED

 

‘Mother Mary, take care of all my needs. Please pray for us.’ I closed my eyes in prayers, standing infront of the grotto of the St. Michaels church in Sharjah. When I turned back to go, I heard someone calling my name. I was shocked to see the person who stood before me. My dear friend who was there in my school, in the same class, in the same bench, who was my co-partner in all the things, was standing infront of me with an air of surprise. We were meeting after a long period. I went back to some 10-15 years old memories, when we were in the school, wearing a white and green skirt and top. Our hair tied up in ponytails on both sides with green colour ribbons. We had a badge too, with the school’s emblem, which I used to forget all the time and incurred a fine regularly. It has been an unforgettable time which was filled with lots of fun and excitement. For a moment my heart urged to go back to those school days. My friend shook my hands. It took some time for me to wake from that shock. We greeted each other with a warm embrace.

It was really surprising to know that my friend had settled in the same city and had been coming to the same church for two years. Although, every week we came there to drop our children for the catechism classes, we didn’t meet until that day. However, that day was made for us. She made my day. She got that same old smile which she always possessed. Time has made no change. Though we got a very less time to express our shared emotions, we didn’t forget to take some pictures together and share our phone numbers. We parted in the hope that next time when we meet, we would get more time to spend.

I hurried to the car parking area where my husband was waiting. My husband was looking at me in a different way, that he saw me from a distance coming with a jubilant air and expected that I had something special to share with him. I was breathless in a hurry to narrate everything to him. Hearing my story he was very happy. It seemed he understood how much I valued that friendship. Within minutes I heard messages coming to my phone. I opened it. Good Gracious! A lot of messages. I saw that I was added to a new WhatsApp group. And those pictures we took a few minutes before were posted there. I saw many questions popping into my phone. ‘Where did you meet? Who saw first?’ and many more. It’s high time, I should say something here about my friends. We were not two. We were four. Four pairs of ponytails, walking together in the school ground hand in hand, smiling, chattering and fighting with each other. Ah, what a blissful time!

It’s a queer coincidence that I met my friend in the church itself. It reminds me of our old Sunday catechism classes where we cherished our companionship more than anything else. As far as I could recollect, many a day we decided to keep a dress code for us, which made us exclusive. Usually, we set a dress code like, wear any black colour dress. Those days I disqualify myself by wearing a black colour skirt with small white and red flowers on it. Those flowers stand out and it doesn’t adhere to our dress code. But my friends forgave me, saying that next time you should wear a plain black skirt. But then again, I would wear that same skirt, and my friends kept on forgiving me. Those days such trifles were big disgrace for us. But today it makes me laugh and laugh to think that we were such busy bodies. Our Christmas celebrations, Onam celebrations, 'Pookalam' competitions and the parties in the church along with gift exchange were all exiting events. Though we were shy in many things our adventures were enthralling and many of our secret funs always ended up in big blunders. Our childhood went like that. Each day was magical.

We named ourselves ‘REST Friends’, which we made by putting together the first letters of our names. I remember once my aunt said that it is so cute that we have a name to call us in school. I felt it’s true. Like the names, ‘The Famous five’ and, ‘The Secret Seven’, we too got a name to call us. The ‘REST Friends’. ‘One of the wonderful chapters of my life,' I reflected. When I checked my phone the first thing that caught my eyes was the name of the WhatsApp group. The REST Friends. When I heard that name after many years, I was so happy. But there was one thing that touched my heart and that was the only reason why I am writing this account of our friendship here. It was the icon picture which they had set for the group. It was an image of four angels. And the fourth angel was me! It made me spellbound. My eyes welled up. Till that day I was not there in the group. These many years they have been searching for me. As I was not active in the social media platforms like Face book, Instagram or any other, it was very difficult for them to find me out. The thought that they had left a space for me made me all the more passionate. I only need to fill that space. I realized that they were friends who would remain so for my entire lifetime.

It’s really nice to think about those old days. After that we started meeting every week in the church. My other two friends were in India. I chatted with them through WhatsApp. One year went like that. And that December when I came home for the vacation, we all met. It was the day we were waiting for. As I said before, time has made no change. In fact, time has failed to make a change. Everyone looked the same. In the place of four girls with ponytails, there stood four women with long hair. We celebrated our meeting by cutting a cake. It was an elegant red velvet cake with cherries on top and in the center, with a beautiful pink colour, was written our name, the REST Friends. It was a wonderful day.

Everyone has friends in their childhood. Everyone has friends in their adulthood. But lucky are those who have the same friends throughout their life. I feel it’s so special. One more year passed by. It’s already December. As usual we are hurrying for our vacation. Ready and set to celebrate the Christmas and with all expectations to meet my friends. There is a wonderful thing that makes this Christmas all the more warm. We have a special guest, a new born baby added to our friend circle. Wish you all a warm and loving Merry Christmas.