It was one of the early days of my Anesthesia PG life in Delhi. I had gotten a roommate from Pondicherry before reaching Delhi, courtesy WhatsApp. It was the time we were planning to shift out of our first accommodation when we understood there were far more better options. We did find a flat, but we needed a third person to afford it. Since we didn’t have many friends in this new place, we put up a request for a roommate in our WhatsApp group. We got a quick response from a person belonging to UP. We were a little apprehensive, because both of us were from South India and let’s face it, there’s this stereotype about people from North India and vice versa. Since there was no other response, we thought we’ll come to a decision once we meet him. Since, relatively I was better at Hindi than my roommate, I called him up and told to meet us at Karol Bagh so that we can discuss and proceed further. So, one sunny dusty afternoon in the summer of 2018, near Pooja park in Karol Bagh, we met this person. First time I saw him, a no nonsense smart quick guy with a big bag. Talking fast pure Hindi. About the different houses he had seen nearby and why he couldn’t settle on one. Pretty confidently he started taking us around searching a few more places. We even whispered among ourselves if he was also a broker on the side because of his familiarity with the place. Finally, we decided on a place. He spoke with the owner and the broker and brought our upfront costs down less than what we had agreed upon. We were thinking wow, this guy is really good at this. That was the beginning of an unexpected and unlikely friendship which over my stay in Delhi of almost 5 years evolved into an unspoken bond of knowing there’s always someone who is unconditionally dependable.
It was unlikely and unexpected because what I had usually seen in Delhi is the formation of sub communities related to your native place or language or religion or drinking habits and mostly being within that. And as for us, we were from two totally different parts of our country, different backgrounds, different languages and different religions. Only thing in common was perhaps our open minds to accept one another and that we are both teetotallers.
For our first year, we were three people from three different places, speaking three different languages with three different beliefs, living, studying and working together. That was until we had to change living arrangements because my family had come to live with me. Then, although we were living apart, our bond remained.
Especially during and after what we had to endure of the Covid waves. Although in my specialty we do see people dying during our duty, seeing a lot of it while remaining helpless despite having a lot of gadgets and wondering if I would be next is something that changes your perspective in life. However, time has shown that people do tend to forget.
There are countless instances of his support, without any pretences or expectations, over the years for which words of gratitude won’t do justice.
It’s been a month since I left Delhi and frankly I’m happy overall that I’m back in my state, but one of the few things I miss is my friend. Although tech has decreased the distance between people, and there are no real goodbyes in this age of connectivity, there is that feeling of not being near. I only pray that the Almighty give him a worthy life partner, bless us and guide us all to the Straight path.
Bhai, aaj tumhara yaad aaya…
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