As we walked on the sand, I looked over at my best friend and soul sister of 11 years. I followed her gaze to the group of 18-19 years old college girls who were splashing around in the water having a ball of a time. We had come to the dam with the intention of reliving our old days when we would sneak into the dam, scale fences and play in the deep water. We had gone to our favorite sneak route which no one knew about when we used to go to the dam regularly and realised that it had been fenced off completely with construction going everywhere in the area. It was no longer our secluded place of days gone by where we could sit by the water's edge, attempt at gymnastics and acrobatics, talk about our girly problems and have our much loved chocolates and snacks.
She and I had become friends under unusual circumstances when we were 13 or so. The first time I met her, I thought she was too prim and proper as she had worn a salwar kameez on that day and she, on the other hand, thought I was a bimbo as I was wearing a short skirt which she didn't know was actually a short with a flap of cloth in front to make it look like one. We decided to risk a chance at friendship and agreed to meet the following day. We hit it off immediately and were playing parkour at the top floor of our building within the hour and celebrated our friendship with masala pav and thums up. From then on, we were inseparable. We had our share of stupid spats and serious fights, crying over boys and laughing at our silliest of mistakes. We were there for each other at the darkest of hours and at the happiest of times.We would ride to all the adventure destinations together, sometimes on my motorcycle and sometimes on her activa. We never needed anyone else's company during such jaunts. We would climb mountains, cross mighty waterfalls, trek through slippery hills, climb to the top of under construction buildings with just the help of the bamboo frames around it, race and practise stunts on bikes together. I remember her saving my life from a precarious fall off a hill and I repaying her back after approximately two hours when she lost her grip in a fast flowing stream and almost flowed off the edge of a waterfall if I hadn't been there to break her fall.
We headed towards the opposite side of the lake which was a popular haunt for tourists and youngsters alike. We had not eaten anything as we were on a diet and upon that she was on a fast. After much contemplation and the tempting aroma of onion pakodas in the air, we bought a ton of pakodas, some vada pao not to forget the packet of chips and chocolates we already had and headed down to the beach.
Zooming back to staring at the group of 19 somethings, we had decided not to go into water for a number of foolish reasons such as our feet getting sandy and wet, the clothes getting dirty, feeling too lazy to take off our shoes and a subconscious, "We are too old for this kind of thing." So we ate our snacks and continued looking at the girls and laughing at their antics when it suddenly hit me that we were behaving the way we promised we never would. We had made each other swear that whatever age it may be and how many responsibilities we may bear, we would always remain young at heart and not let troubles bog us down.
We had many troubles going in our own separate lives, some of them too painful to think about and some too painful to forget. But we had sworn that it would never affect us and we would never turn into those people who forgot what fun and being happy-go-lucky was all about.
So, I shook her out of her reverie and told her, "No, get up right now and take off your shoes. We are getting into that lake right now and I don't care about the damn clothes or our feet getting muddy." And I didn't have to tell her twice. We took off our shoes, folded up our pants and held hands as we tread the cold water. All our memories of the days gone by flashed by us and didn't go away. Our faces lit up in smiles and I told her, "I know how old you felt as you sat by the water and so did I, but we aren't old and never will be. Promise me that we will never stop being ourselves and will always be as adventurous and fun-loving as we always were." My best friend pulled back the curly locks shielding her face, smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't ever forget."
"Don't ever forget who you are and never let other's decide what you are supposed to do. Your heart knows best for you."
She and I had become friends under unusual circumstances when we were 13 or so. The first time I met her, I thought she was too prim and proper as she had worn a salwar kameez on that day and she, on the other hand, thought I was a bimbo as I was wearing a short skirt which she didn't know was actually a short with a flap of cloth in front to make it look like one. We decided to risk a chance at friendship and agreed to meet the following day. We hit it off immediately and were playing parkour at the top floor of our building within the hour and celebrated our friendship with masala pav and thums up. From then on, we were inseparable. We had our share of stupid spats and serious fights, crying over boys and laughing at our silliest of mistakes. We were there for each other at the darkest of hours and at the happiest of times.We would ride to all the adventure destinations together, sometimes on my motorcycle and sometimes on her activa. We never needed anyone else's company during such jaunts. We would climb mountains, cross mighty waterfalls, trek through slippery hills, climb to the top of under construction buildings with just the help of the bamboo frames around it, race and practise stunts on bikes together. I remember her saving my life from a precarious fall off a hill and I repaying her back after approximately two hours when she lost her grip in a fast flowing stream and almost flowed off the edge of a waterfall if I hadn't been there to break her fall.
We headed towards the opposite side of the lake which was a popular haunt for tourists and youngsters alike. We had not eaten anything as we were on a diet and upon that she was on a fast. After much contemplation and the tempting aroma of onion pakodas in the air, we bought a ton of pakodas, some vada pao not to forget the packet of chips and chocolates we already had and headed down to the beach.
Zooming back to staring at the group of 19 somethings, we had decided not to go into water for a number of foolish reasons such as our feet getting sandy and wet, the clothes getting dirty, feeling too lazy to take off our shoes and a subconscious, "We are too old for this kind of thing." So we ate our snacks and continued looking at the girls and laughing at their antics when it suddenly hit me that we were behaving the way we promised we never would. We had made each other swear that whatever age it may be and how many responsibilities we may bear, we would always remain young at heart and not let troubles bog us down.
We had many troubles going in our own separate lives, some of them too painful to think about and some too painful to forget. But we had sworn that it would never affect us and we would never turn into those people who forgot what fun and being happy-go-lucky was all about.
So, I shook her out of her reverie and told her, "No, get up right now and take off your shoes. We are getting into that lake right now and I don't care about the damn clothes or our feet getting muddy." And I didn't have to tell her twice. We took off our shoes, folded up our pants and held hands as we tread the cold water. All our memories of the days gone by flashed by us and didn't go away. Our faces lit up in smiles and I told her, "I know how old you felt as you sat by the water and so did I, but we aren't old and never will be. Promise me that we will never stop being ourselves and will always be as adventurous and fun-loving as we always were." My best friend pulled back the curly locks shielding her face, smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't ever forget."
"Don't ever forget who you are and never let other's decide what you are supposed to do. Your heart knows best for you."
