FRIENDSHIP: THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT ALL
It started off as a way to fill vacuous hours during long summer breaks, when the temperature outside would make it impossible to climb trees, pluck fruits or even play hide and seek. (Millennials, please note I am talking of a time when internet and television had still not found its way to my town.) My father had just returned from one of his business trips with a newsletter that had addresses of kids in Finland in search of pen friends. While flipping through it, I came across Janet. She was 12 and did not have many friends.
The fact that her name was the same as my favourite Secret Seven character; she and I were the same age; the fact that I loved making new friends and most importantly, the fact that at that age and time, Finland sounded like a place on another planet, sealed the deal for me.
Janet from Finland was going to be my new friend, I resolved.
I tore a leaf out of my favourite notepad, the kind that is made of recycled paper embedded with dried petals, and sat down to write a long letter introducing myself. Was I truthful? To be honest, not entirely. Blame it on love for mystery and adventure, I was sure at the time my life lacked the necessary hooks to keep Janet interested.
Thus started a relationship that witnessed many highs – academic achievements and first loves included – and several lows of personal losses, heart breaks, and its-end -of-the-world moments. Janet was my co-passenger on the adolescence train and it helped knowing we were not alone.
As I read the feature about kids from varied backgrounds forming friendships that is blind to constricting stencils of culture or colour (page 18), I am reminded of Janet and of all that we had in common. Two teenaged girls
I tore a leaf out of my favourite notepad to write a letter introducing myself to Janet, my pen friend. Was I truthful? Not entirely
separated not just by thousands of miles of land and water but by the chasm of ethnicity too, who still bonded over home cures for embarrassing spots, how to deal with pesky siblings and why it was okay to have a crush over a teacher. (Please don’t judge us, we were teenagers after all.)
Like many other things in life, our friendship could not withstand the pressures of commitments, priorities and everything else in between, but Janet will always be my gateway to universalism. The girl who expanded my horizon beyond the pond I belonged to.
I guess that’s what friendships are all about.