Some dreams do come true

Earlier this week, out of the blue I got a voicemail at work. Thought it must be my daughter who was at home (allergies) or my mother. But the voice belonged to someone from another time in my life.....a voice I had longed to hear for over 20 years. It was my best friend from high school!

I was wonderstruck....Couldn't believe my luck. Felt like I was blessed by a higher power suddenly and unexpectedly. It was like walking home on a muggy day and the heavens opening up, sending welcome showers and a gentle breeze my way.

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We lost touch right after our college years. I have tried to find S in so many ways. Over the years, I used to get recurrent dreams: meeting her on the street, meeting her at a park, running into her here and there....The dreams were so vivid; and in each dream, I would narrate to her all my other dreams of finding her. I'd hold her hands and tell her "Please tell me this is not a dream. I keep having these dreams and think I've found you. Then I wake up. I am SO GLAD to finally see you".

Guess what? I would wake up and realize this was one more dream. Even last month I dreamt I was on a bus in India, enroute to her place. I was wondering if her place was different now, if the streets had changed....whether I'd even recognize her house.

After each dream, I would email some random stranger on Hotmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc., and ask if they were by any chance my long-lost friend. Would go about Googling every possible woman with her name. Trouble with women friends is, last name changes after marriage - and having lost touch with her long before the years of marriage, I had no chance of knowing that part of her name. So the dreams and the subsequent efforts to find her would end in frustration.

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S meant a lot to me. We vibed very well, and got along like air and fire. She was very easygoing, had a great sense of humor and an innate sense of style. We just felt happy to see each other in school everyday. There was never any competitiveness: she was cool as a cucumber, very bindaas, and fashionable. I didn't care two hoots for fashion, rebelliously wore jasmine flowers in my hair to school (when the nuns in the convent banned flowers and adornments of any kind), and was keen on getting the best grades.

But we laughed a lot; we shared tiffin boxes, and rushed to buy the awesome Channa Chat before it got sold out in the school canteen. One stormy day when school let out early due to the impending storm I decided to hang out at her house that was 5 miles from mine - it sounded good at the time, but was a stupid idea of two teenagers - when parents were getting worried about the big storm coming. And another day, when there was a HUGE political rally and we couldn't get home, we both walked to my father's office and the three of us - Appa, me and my friend - with stalled traffic everywhere, we walked to a movie theater. The film was incredibly bad, despite having the most popular stars in it - but I still remember the plot.

I remembered the names of all her sisters, and recited to her word by word over the phone. Even recited her last known address - her college hostel. S couldn't believe it - teased me saying "If I ever forget my address I'll give you a call!".

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Those days, all we had after leaving high school, were letters. She was lazy about answering my letters and we lost touch. The intervening years were busy with realizing other dreams - of love, marriage, higher education and motherhood.

We don't realize how valuable some relationships are in the busy teens and twenties. Like first love, S was my first real friend....with a special place in my heart.

Many years ago, when I mentioned any friend of mine, my (now-ex)husband would ask "What has he/she achieved? Are they good at something? How come you call them your friend?". I was stumped for an answer. I did not see it that way, but was too young to stand my ground. The ex would call them "time-wasters" and our meetings "useless chitchat". Never mind that he had his own chat sessions with friends, and all of his friends adored me - treated me like a younger sister.

Now, after all these years, I can answer the ex's question. What has S achieved? She is an accomplished entrepreneur who has owned her own company for the last decade. I am proud of her. People look up to S; her style hasn't diminished one bit, and she is still gorgeous.

But none of that matters to me: just seeing S makes me happy....it has always been that way, from the day I ever set eyes on her. I could never explain why - but she brightened my day just by being in it. That is more than enough qualification for friendship, and achievement enough for me.