Tuesday, March 3, 2015, 1:53 AM
The Icfai Guest House,
Chaltlang, Aizawl
Dear Pranjal,
It’s been more than a week that
you have moved on to your new life. I still remember when you said that it
is only one person that we are going to miss but for you it’s an entire world
with so many persons that you are going to miss. I hope you have slowly but
surely adjusted to your new surroundings. The news of you leaving came all of a
too sudden that I couldn't really feel its true magnitude at that point. And
that’s kind of strange because no one was perhaps more aware than me about how
things were gradually proceeding to one particular direction. Besides, the
busiest last few days had hardly offered me any opportunity to think about the future
empty sofa in our living room which we often used to share while watching those
noisy prime time television debates. It was only during our last dine out
together with Taslima and Co at Floria where I started to realize that once you
will not be there, things are going to change forever.
So what has changed…? First of
all I have started to miss the office bus a little too frequently and that is
bad considering the fact that Tim has almost stopped bringing his car to Aizawl,
ruling out the luxury of my second option. I had earlier realized that there
won’t be any fighting for front seat when you won’t be there but that you can
see is not even among the least that I have gained from the situation. Now me
and Tim are in a “consideration phase” of reviving my vintage motor bike for
the purpose. The emptiness that you have left inside our guest house had become
so annoying that one day we replaced our giant dining table with a small study
table. This may sound stupid but it somehow helped by cutting short the
unoccupied space between us when only three of us are now eating together. Among all
these the only thing that I couldn't replace is perhaps the times when you and
me used to come out from our respective rooms after our failed attempts to
sleep and sat together to discuss on and on about life, career, politics, culture,
girls, marriage, dreams….yes, those unending sagas of frustrations and hopes.
I don’t know how often we will be
able to meet in future. I don’t know how often we will be able to call each
other… As from my own experiences, I have came to know that the occasions of
physical, telephonic and electronic contacts tends to become less frequent with
passing time and growing distance. However, my optimism about our friendship is
strengthened by the sincere hope that you, me and Manjit might have a very
common connection in near future.
And lastly one thing that I want
to remind both of us is that we have too many unfinished tasks at hand. I
remember you often used to say that we keep talking but never do. Now since we
will have less chance to talk, may be we should focus more on doing.
I wish you all
the best and I know you will be the best in whatever you do…
Shamim
