Life
Our Friendship
Snehal and me getting married was quite an unlikely event. Heck we were even unlikely friends.
Our paths first crossed when we were about 13 years old when we started going to Sinhal Classes at Andheri (Mumbai), a place where a lot of kids from ICSE schools (ie our respective schools) end up. We were in the same batch but never took any notice of each other she being a front-bencher and me a back-bencher. 2 years we went to those classes on the weekends and probably never spoke a word to each other.
School ended and junior college started in Ruparel for me. I was sitting as usual at the back of the class and looking around at the new people around me. Among them Snehal’s was one of the few I knew from earlier. She had however by now graduated to being a middle bencher. So as the year progressed we did eventually get talking and become part of a wider group of friends. It probably helped that we stayed about 10 minutes from each other and at times found ourselves chatting on the hour long commute to college. Still, we were barely acquaintances and lost touch during the long 6 month break between junior college and graduate college.
Snehal and I next met each other when we both coincidentally joined the same engineering drawing class in our neighbourhood. Tulpule’s class. We happened to be poles apart in our abilities at this. Drawing in 3d came quite naturally to me but was something completely arcane to her. Over a few classes I found that she would inevitably end up sitting right next me copying furiously from my drawing sheet. I never minded. By this time I was probably noticing that she was quite a good looking girl and fun to chat with as well. Back in those days I also rode a scooter to get between home and places close by. Snehal’s place was on the way and I’d often drop her home after class. Years later, she told me that she quite enjoyed those bike rides and was disappointed that I stopped taking her pillion after we became a thing.
A few months later in our second year of graduation, fairly late one night I got a frantic call from her asking me to come and pick her up from college. Curious, I did. Between sobs she told me about some teenage drama that occured during a fashion show that they had put up in college. I listened patiently making sympathetic noises and giving sage words of advice which she obviously didn’t want or heed. That night she probably figured out that I’m a good listener even if I’m not much of a talker.
Over the next few months and we gradually became closer as confidantes while maintaining otherwise independent lives going through college, friendships, relationships etc. We talked whenever the need arose when one of us had to unload about some fresh new angst in our lives. And I’d drop everything I was doing it and meet her whenever the intensity of the drama demanded it. Snehal later told me that my solution of “Chal daaru peete hein” (Let’s go get a drink) to most of her problems was exactly what she needed at the time. Through these excursions we went to out to some of the seedier watering holes in Mumbai. Shankari at Versova, Gokul in Town, Janata at Bandra come to mind. In later years Totos, Roadhouse Blues were some of our go to places.
Over the years this close confidante relationship of ours grew stronger even as others ebbed and flowed in our lives. It never faltered in the 2 years I was away from Mumbai studying in Jamshedpur. I’m not sure when but somewhere along the way we started describing each other as ‘best friend’. A status we maintained and cherished much later even above girlfriend/ boyfriend and husband/ wife.