A Journey To Remember

How does an 11 year girl feel when the annual exam is finally over? All her efforts of the whole year to secure at least 95% for getting a laptop from her Dad is now finally on a bunch of papers but she gets the laptop or not is a mystery till the results are out. Now is the time of celebration; with the exams over and results not yet out and her 12^th birthday just a few days away. 

As per the plan, Ashika and her family were on their way to the railway station to catch the evening Intercity express which would take them to Bhubaneswar, Ashika’s maternal grandparents‘home. As soon as she stepped in the parking area of the railway station she heard a familiar voice calling her name. As she turned around, she saw Sandhya; her last year’s benchmate cum a very good friend, waving at her. Ashika ran to her and found out that she along with her family was going to Bhubaneswar by the same train and she was happy that she would have a friend in this journey and she would not be bored. But did she know that this journey would be her journey to remember?

As soon as the train arrived, both the families rushed towards the empty compartments to grab seats. They found seats in the same compartment but not together and Ashika made her way to Sandhya’s family and spent the most of the time of journey with her.  Their brothers were in the same class too but may be wanted to spend time alone and as far as Ashika’s brother was concerned- she thought of him as a super introvert, completely opposite of what she was. Ashika and Sandhya spent the whole evening chatting, playing antakshari and word games, eating the famous Jhalmudi and Angul’s samosas, reading the train’s safety rules and acting like freaks. Ashika considered Sandhya as her kind of best Friend since past few months but for Sandhya, Ashika was just a good friend whom she knew since kindergarten. But then none of them knew how their lives would change after this train journey!

When the train travelled over River Naraaj, Sandhya expressed how great she felt whenever she was on the train crossing this river. Ashika was just overwhelmed to see Sandhya so happy and god alone knows what struck her mind that she opened the little purse she was carrying which contained a children’s version of ‘The tale of two cities’ by Charles Dickens, few Éclairs and two ribbon roses, one white and the other purple in color. She gave one of the roses to Sandhya and both of them were happy beyond imagination, as if it was not just a little rose but something even more important, something very precious, something none of them would forget and then a moment of silence. Finally, when the train halted at Mancheswar, Ashika returned to her family as BBSR would be arriving soon.  They bid good bye to each other in the BBSR station with the hope that they would return back to Sambalpur on the same day in the same train and have a lovely journey together again.

And of course, they did return the same day in the same train but in compartments away from each other. Then back in school, results were out, new session started and they were back to their friends circle and everything seemed normal till next 2 years and their friendship seemed to strengthen a little bit. When they were close enough to each other that they shared almost every secret but not all, Ashika went away because of some medical problems and no matter how much she wanted but she could not come back. She had to undergo a long term treatment and she missed her school, her teachers, her friends and sandhya. But Sandhya made it easy for her, she called her everyday to know how she was doing with the treatments and kept her updated about everything and anything at school, may it be about some function or a new teacher or students. For ashika, Sandhya was a link between her and Samblapur. And when Ashika returned nothing seemed new to her, it was as if she was in the school all the time yet invisible and now Sandhya and Ashika were completely inseparable.  

Every day phone calls, break times spent together, no secrets to keep even if it is something that embarrassed them. Both of them had become each other’s personal diary. Sandhya became Ashika’s Twin Soul and Ashika became Sandhya’s Sweet Angel. But they never had another train journey together- not till today at least. But whenever one of them is in the train crossing Naraaj, they would message the other about their journey together and about the roses and each of them would smile remembering their journey together.

That journey which is now about 6years old marked the beginning of their journey of friendship which would last forever no matter if they are together or not- distance can never part them and if it does their parents just have to worry about the phone bills ;-). For both of them it was surely A Journey To Remember. And if Sandhya is reading this, then she is surely smiling.

PS: If you paid a little bit of attention towards the laptop thing, Ashika did not get it. She could not get 95% but yes see improved a lot. From the 10^th position she was on the 4^th position in her class that year. Not bad. Thanks to her craze for having the laptop. I know she wants that craze back but it’s not there anymore, not after 6years. Time changes, people change, priorities change!