When I was 10 years old,
my family shifted base from Dehradun to Mumbai. I was unrolled into a new
school and was asked to make new friends. I didn’t have much options to choose
from. However, I remember, it didn’t take me long to get accustomed with the
new environment. Mumbai was and still is very different from Dehradun and the
most striking difference is in the natural surroundings and the pace of life.
This was the major change that I had to grasp. In the new school, I soon found
new friends. It was rather difficult to make new friends in Dehradun, as most
of the faces were like eternal ones whom I had seen from birth! However, in
Mumbai, I had fun making fresh acquaintance. Among them, was Billu. Yes, Billu,
my friends used to study in the same class and in the same school as I.
I guess the fading
effect of my memory has already started, as the disease has begun to show its
real nature. I just cannot recall the actual good name of Billu! He was my
dearest friend and the closest confidante in school, yet his name has simply
vanished from my memory! The fond memories of our friendship had also taken a
backseat, over all these years, until last night. While I was cleaning up my
old closet, I discovered an old photograph. It was a picture of two young
teenage boys, a colored photograph, that had been stacked away carelessly
inside an old notebook. I looked at the picture closely. I could recognize
myself, but was unable to identify the other boy. Tonight, suddenly, like a
flash of lightning, the name grabbed my consciousness. I involuntarily uttered
the name “Billu”! Along with the name came gushes of fragmented memories about
him and the times I spent together with him.
In my new school, Billu
became my first friend and continued to hold the special place in my heart for
the next five years. For five years we have shared a lot of great moments and
he was one of the closest persons who had seen my personality grow from a child
to a teenage. Even though my parents were witness to it too, Billu knew about
my most intricate characters, that I could hide from my parents. Likewise, I was
witness to his story of life as well. When we were fifteen years old, Billu’s
father decided to shift his family to Gujarat. Billu told me that from Gujarat
they would soon travel to a foreign country. My heart felt pained but Billu
transformed it into a game. He knew how to cheer me up within moments, just as I
knew how to cheer him up.
Billu told me that we
make a promise to each other, like the ones written in books and shown in
movies. He told me that it is a broader game of hide and seek. Billu is hiding
(as he would leave along with his parents) and I would seek. But there is a
catch… we would have to wait for twenty years before we start the game! That
would make it more challenging and adventurous. I don’t remember anything else about Billu. When
I discovered the photograph after these memories came flashing past my eyes, I was
surprised to note that twenty-one years have already passed! If Billu still
remembers our promise, then I am pretty late at beginning my search.
This might seem like a
copy from a famous story or some movie, but it is actually happening in my
life. I want to find Billu, not only to keep my promise but also to find a man
who would be able to relate to me my adolescence. When my disease robs me off
my complete memory, he is the person who would be able to present me back my
teenage.
I must begin this
strange hide and seek and the picture of Billu would remain safe along with the
pages of this journal. The Hide and Seek of life is about to begin for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment