I landed in New Delhi railway station in a hot and humid August morning all alone (1993 ) with the hope of becoming a successful “career woman” someday. At a first glance, the city seemed to be full of crowd – crowded railway station, crowded roads, over-crowded buses and everyone seem to be running towards some direction! ‘Surviving in this city amidst bursting crowd would certainly be difficult’ – was my first premonition. As I watched people running animatedly in all directions with no time to talk to anyone, my next worrying thought was, ‘’What if I do not get someone who loves to talk like me?” “I will die out of suffocation”, I exclaimed loudly to the auto rickshaw driver who was taking me to the Working Women hostel in South Delhi.
……. Life has always treated me fairly and this time around, I became doubly lucky as not only I was allotted a “double-seated” room in the ‘crowded hostel’ but also the room faced the main road and the entrance to the hostel! Within 10 days, my roommate arrived with lot of attitude in a jeans and tee but with a pleasant smile. At the first instance, her arrival gave me a feeling of depression as she was tall (my only weakness as I am not even 5 ft), fair complexioned with abundant curly hair and attractive with lovely smile. Sigh!!
I always believe that appearance does not say much about the person and contrary to her arrogant disposition, she was very sweet, simple (not from a metro city) and loved to talk. We got along very well in a matter of about 2/3 days and we set our shared kitchen with joint contribution the next Sunday. With each passing day, our friendship thickened and we shared minutest of secrets (past or current) about everything, even though, characteristically, we were way apart.
She was fun-loving (but knew her limits), very social (had lots of friends) and happy-go-lucky kind whereas I was quite a boring variety (my only activity during weekends and holidays being studying for my CA course). She used to poke me with all sorts of expletives but I was not the one to be distracted. ….. And on one such weekend, she could not find anyone to accompany her to PVR Anupam for a Hindi movie “Ishq” and came back to the room grudgingly, “I am so unfortunate that I have got a boring ‘Aunty’ type roommate. Wake up Minakshi, when r u going to enjoy life?”
I gave her a sheepish smile while continuing with my studies and that irritated her to no end. In a swing, she came near my chair, pulled me out and literally threw me inside the bathroom. “Take bath, get ready, we r going for the movie. If you do not study for few hours, the Institute is not going to close down,” she screamed furiously and exited the room for a cup of tea.
She turned back again, “and please do not stand in front of the cupboard for hours in an ‘Anarkali pose. Choose fast what you are going to wear. Don’t worry; boys do not go after old ladies”. Well, I take long even today to decide what to wear but I gulped my breath when she called me ‘old lady’. I got ready in record time of 15 minutes and we were off to PVR.
The show would start at 3 pm but we were obnoxiously early (12.30pm) and I asked, “Why so early Dubari? We could have taken lunch at the canteen and come”.
She snorted at me,” Normal tickets cost 125Rs which is unaffordable and we will buy those first two-row tickets paying only Rs6. The rush starts for those tickets quite early and we have to be amongst the first few. Understand?” I did but the size and type of crowd for those tickets were unnerving. I followed her blindly and stood in the queue. After about 1 1/2 hours in the sun, we got two tickets only to discover after few minutes that the tickets were for another movie!!
“Oh, God, what kind of an idiot is he”, she exasperated and pulled me with full force towards the ticket counter. By then, there was sort of a stampede with the Mall security person trying to handle the crowd. I clinged to her as she inched forward through the crowd and suddenly started behaving pretty much like a blacker,
“Who wants tickets for ‘Runaway Jury’, we want “Ishq”. Anyone?” flapping the tickets up in the air. Two boys came forward almost in a leap and said, “you want Ishq? We can give you. Tell us where and how?”
She did not get the hint probably and said,” here and now. At 3 pm. Hall no 4”. The two boys flashed a very nasty laugh and said,” So why are we waiting here? Let’s go”
Dubari talked like a seasoned businessman and said, “Let us first exchange the ticket and then we will move”. By then she had understood what they meant, alert as a tigress.
As soon as the tickets were exchanged, she pushed the crowd with both hands and pulled me by my saree pallu. The boys followed and she gave them a thunderous yell, “why are you following us? Go to your hall. I have given you the tickets.”
The boys tried to protest, “… but then how the ‘Ishq’ will be possible if we are in separate halls?”
They were coming dangerously close to us as if for an assault and she said with lot of authority,” We are resident in this neighborhood. Shall I call the police or you are leaving us alone”. They left spreading a fountain of abuses.
I was in a daze and followed her like her pet to Hall No 4 without a single word. She grinned like an ill-meaning villain and quizzed me, “Mazaa Aya? I was too exhausted to reply and tried to concentrate on the movie instead.
In retrospect, I must admit that was real fun and we made to PVR many times after that. Such was her zeal to enjoy life! But on some other occasions, she would behave so sensibly that she would be totally incomprehensible!
During those days, I was recovering from a serious heartbreak and I would shut myself out to everything and everybody for days together! She got frustrated and sad at the same time when I would behave like that. On one such night of loneliness, when I was crying silently, she sat up on her bed, switched on the light and came to my side.
“Are you going to waste your precious life crying like this for someone who does not deserve you? Don’t you think it is an injustice to all people who love you so much? I am one amongst them”, she said with tears in her eyes and went back to her bed.
I never cried after that day and tried to move on in life! She gave me my life back in those few seconds and in those few words!
In the four years that we spent together, we went to J Block market almost every evening for possible opportunities to flirt(opportunities were unlimited!), for shopping and bargaining, for panipuri, for window-shopping and the like with me trying really hard to look young and fashionable by her side!
….and we fought our irritating ‘next-door’ neighbor with me having taken the lead and Dubari hiding behind me! It used to be a complete role reversal on such occasions contrary to her expertise in ‘man-handling’.
She taught me the primary lesson that life is for living and I am now a staunch believer in that philosophy. When I try to think after so many years what connected us, I can only think of one quality in both of us – we were simple village girls with no pretence.
Before I conclude, Dubari is now married and settled in Mumbai and we pour on to each other with all our secrets even today on long distance phone calls only with a condition that I have to make the calls! After all, I am a fat rich NRI now (she only said that in her very own characteristic way with a throaty laugh) and do I mind that? Not at all………
It’s my “pay back” time now as she only showed me the light at the end of dark tunnel. Do we need a “Friendship Day” to commemorate our friendship? Not really, it’s beyond that!
FEW FRIENDS ARE FOREVER!!!!!!
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