I'm Waiting

The tale of friendship... with a strange and unusual twist.

“For everything you have missed, you have you gained something else,

  and for everything you gain, you lose something else”

                                                                                                        -         Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

These lines are not a paradox.

It may seem so.

But trust me…its not…

I realized it today…

 

Some times – for it happens only sometimes, that you realize that your friend is drifting apart and then you realize that there’s nothing that can be done now. Nothing…other than just say goodbye…

 

But who is it that you should blame???

 

The friend or…yourself???

 

I don’t know the answer…

 

He met me in the third standard. Yes, it was he who met me for I remember that I never spoke to him otherwise.

 

Me.

 

I was an introvert…or should I say that I was too arrogant to talk with anyone. They called me "the snob".

 

But he spoke to me. In spite of the fact that people called me proud and an egoistic bloke. He came to me and said ‘hello’. Asked me if I would be his friend? And what did I say? Huh! All I did was look at him and smile.

 

Was that smile supposed to mock him?

 

I didn’t know.

 

But then it was friendship day which came some days later. And what did I do? I tied friendship band to just two people. They were the boy whom I took as my best friend and…the boy who wanted to be my best friend… I don’t know what made me do it. But I took him as a friend that day.

 

Everyone saw. Nobody said a thing. And why should they?

 

Life passed by. We grew up. Boys we were. From the innocence of the childhood to the rawness of teenage. We saw it all together. Everyone saw. And do you what they said?

They called him my tail. Heavens knows how angry I used to get when I heard them tell so. I felt like throwing them down from the Olympus.

 

But did I do so?

 

No.

 

My ego came in the way.

 

Among the two of us, I was the one who was interested in girls. The flirtatious one. And he was the sober one. He treated girls as something to be respected.

 

So unlike and yet we were best friends.

 

He used to look way better than me. He could have got any girl if he just tried. But he never tried. Do you know what he used to tell me?

He said, “that’s a job for you buddy.”

 

And we grew up…

 

I was better in studies. Way better.

My orkut profile had a better display picture.

I had “the personality.”

I had a girlfriend.

 

But he seemed not to care…  But was it really so???

 

And then it came…

 

Have u seen a glass shatter? It happens so quickly. And it leaves a mark forever. The pieces can’t be joined anymore…

 

He came to me and said, “I hate you.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I just can’t stand you.”

 

“Are you gonna tell me why?”

 

“What’s with ya? The arrogance. The pride. Who do you think you are?”

 

I looked into his eyes and answered:

“The best”.

 

“I’m jealous of you. I am. And one day I’ll break this pride of yours. Your ego will be shattered.  That’s a promise. You just watch. I’m gonna beat you. And when that happens, I’ll be your best friend that day.”

 

And he went away.

But not forever…

He spoke to me after this and so did I.

But something was missing.

The feeling perhaps.

 

But I knew I had lost him.

 

And how did I behave after that incident?

I was sad. Yes, I was depressed. I cried when I was alone.

But I didn’t show it.

 

Why?

My ego.

 

I made new friends. New company. They were great. They praised me. They pointed out my mistakes sometimes. They were… FLATTERERS.

But they were my friends. I used to stay happy in their company. I enjoyed Being with them.

 

But I missed him you know…

 

I was waiting for the day he would “beat me”, the day when he would shatter my pride, my ego.

 

Know why?

 

Because that day I would get my friend back.

 

I’m still waiting… 

Author's Note

Just tell me how you feel.