Family

My friend stands solemnly in the middle of the room, readying for his speech. It's a difficult thing this; doing what he has to do now, but do he has to. And so, he clears his throat, and calls upon all. "Dear mates. I know you all have been living comfortably in the pitiful surroundings I've made. With great regret in my heart, I have to ask you to pack your belongings and leave. The act I am going to embark upon now, is something that's not wanted by me, nevertheless, I presume it's for the good of all." And so saying, he starts cleaning the room. No sooner he does the first sweep, that lizards and roaches run hither-and-thither from-and-to every nook and corner of the room. "Bloody d***heads... Didn't I ask you all to leave?"

After 3 years of our stay here; dunno what's got into our owner's head. All of a sudden, the bathroom floors are being tiled; the leaking faucets are being fixed; the floors are being scrubbed; the house is being painted, and we have been burdened with the task of cleaning up after them. No one will need a landmark to reach our house anymore. It itself has become a landmark. "Oh.. The house where the 4 sweet boys stay? Its the one that's painted flourescent yellow, with dashes of orange... You won't miss it even if you have your eyes wide shut..." I sometimes stand in our balcony, and the girls from the PG opposite, keep staring at me gawky-eyed. It took a while for me to register that they weren't admiring me, but the way our house stood out amongst the rest. Like bold dashes of paint on a clean canvas.

It's been close to 7 years that I have been living with my friends. They have been my family outside home; and have come to become an integral part of me. One left to the US today; and the other will journey to London in a couple of days. And as I ready myself to disembark from this stage and step into another, I find myself becoming a loner. Someone told me once, "I think your friends make you so complete that you have never found the necessity for a companion in your life." Maybe its rightly so... That I should journey these few days alone. Maybe its rightly so... That I should learn to live a life without them... to give up this life of noncommitance...

As I part, I have this memory of us sitting on the stone steps of the stadium; eyeing the doe-eyed high-jumper. Its twilight and the moon is bright, glistening on our sweaty foreheads... There is a calm breeze, that feels like the touch of an angel... Everyone laughs... and I have a wide smile on my face... wide as the valley of Leh.