Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Serendipity!

Yes, that is the first word that came to my mind when I thought of a term to describe what happened recently.

There is a very dear friend of mine, who I knew when I was in primary school. She left Delhi at the end of class 5 and we managed to keep in touch by writing letters. Believe me, no technology can ever match the great feeling of writing letters, posting them, and waiting eagerly for the reply! Such was our friendship, that through the years we kept in touch. Her father was posted in Delhi, and she had some relatives here, so whenever she came to Delhi, we met up. I also remember I took a few trips to Chandigarh, just so I could meet her. In fact, my first time travelling alone was when I went to meet her! We were just not about to let distance come between us friends, we always found a way to meet, talk and write!

And then school finished and she came to Delhi for her Engineering. Strange as it was, but we couldnt meet as often as we would have liked to, given that we lived far apart, even our colleges were far away. Our schedule was hectic, and we hardly ever met. But we still stayed in touch. Then college got over, we started to work. Again ife was very busy. And then, in 2005, I came to IIMA. I dont think I got to meet her in these 2 years that I spent here. But I knew where she was and what she was upto in life.

Soon, about a year back, I came to know she is going back to Chandigarh, with her family, and is teaching in a local college. And soon after that, I got another sms from her: She was getting married in October!

My happiness knew no bounds: They were a cute couple so much in love! They had anticipated refusal from parents etc. But as luck would have it, parents happily agreed! Nothing could be better than the victory of love, and that too with everyone in the picture happy! I was really looking forward to her wedding.

And then it happened. I got busy with life at IIMA and forgot about teh wedding. Soon October came and I waited for her call. I got none. My parents were not contacted by her. I called her repeatedly on her cellphone, but got no replies. I did not have her home address or phone number. For the first time I wish I had emailed her instead of writing letters, for I did not even have her email ID! I felt so lost, my friend was out there somewhere, and I could not find her! October went, then November, December, January, February...

I wondered what happened... Did they cancel/postpone the marriage? Was everything ok? Maybe she lost her cellphone! To top it all, my parents shifted to a new house, and she had no idea about my new address or phone number at Delhi!

So now that my MBA got over, and I was free, I was thinking about her, and decided it was tiem to do something. Time to locate her, no matter how! Try to find her home address in Chandigarh, and subsequently her phone number... Rohit suggested trying out the internet, as all our names and adresses appear in the Electoral Voting list available online!

And so I began to search for my long-lost friend! And guess what happened? I happened to come across a site of a college which had a CV with her name and birthdate! I immediately opened it up, and there it was: all her information, from her name to qualifications to work experience.... to her email ID and home address at Chandigarh! I was so pleasantly surprised! Imagine, thsi information was sitting on the internet for god knows how long! If only I had thought of using it before, I would have got it long back!

Anyway so last night, I excitedly jotted down her details, and mailed her immediately, hoping that the CV was not very old, and she still checked her email on that ID. And guess what? I got a reply this morning! She told me that she got married in November, and she came to look for my house but was not sure of the address and got lost. Before she could confirm the address, she lost her cellphone in all the travelling while she was distributing her wedding invitation! Poor she, wandering about, trying to remember where I lived! And even if she did make it, My parents would not have been there! Finally she gave up with a heavy heart. She missed me, just as I missed being there for her wedding. Even if she had contacted me, in all probability, I would not have been able to attend the wedding in the middle of my semester, but I would have atleast gotten the invite and a chance to talk to her and congratulate her and wish her luck!

Never mind now, I accidetally discovered her whereabouts and now we are back in touch, mailing each other, having exchanged our new phone numbers and home addresses! Her In-laws live in Delhi, and soon I will be seeing my 'all-married-n-all' friend of mine, after soooo long! Looking forward to that! :D