It was a cold windy day in January 2009. Germany was experiencing its normal quota of excess winter weather conditions and the temperatures are freezing.
Frankfurt Airport Terminal 1.
7:21 AM
Raghav just finished checking in his luggage. He was booked on a Lufthansa flight to Chicago. As is routine in his Sales Development job at Google, he has to regularly fly to meet potential customers all over the world. In tune with the hectic travel schedules, Raghav has always been a true Indian IT professional - he always keeps work first and family next :)
Nearly 12 hours ago, he was bidding farewell to his wife and son in Chennai. Nothing dramatically emotional at the airport, it was only a short visit of a few days! Couple of visits from the Sun and the Moon would ensure that he returned back home.
Waiting at gate 32, he was left all to himself. No one to talk to, no topic to think of.
There was an hour to kill. The flight to Chicago was delayed because of the bad weather.
"A brief stroll in the terminal - some window shopping" or "finding a good corner to snooze with a bit of snore" he thought. Finally he decided he would go for a walk.
Known as one of the busiest airport terminals in the world, the place was buzzing. Though it was early in the morning, one could see passengers of different sizes and genders walking keenly to different corners of the terminal - making sure they have all their bags intact. One elderly old man was trying hard to keep pace with what seemed like his 10 year old grandson. A baby, on the other side, was desperately waiting for the morning quota of milk, while her mother was doing the routine of mixing milk powder and water, in the next seat.
Having seen his wife Kavitha do these routines every day in the morning, he could understand how delicate the situation was. Babies, like managers only want results. They have their own deadlines and will create enough problems if things are not delivered on time!
Deep in this thought, he was walking ahead, when something caught his eye. At a distance, a young girl, in her twenties, was holding on to a heavy trolley, stuffed with suitcases. She seemed to be having a lot of difficulty in keeping them all from falling down. Dressed in proper winter wear, and a scarf to go with it, the young girl was of Indian origin. Bumping into Indians in foreign airports is nothing new in 2009 - he thought. The Indian had arrived on the world scene with the stupendous success of the IT firms some 'many years' ago!
There was something a bit familiar about this person, more than the normal. All of a sudden, it struck him like a lightning bolt. He knew this person!!
Straining his eyes, he tried to catch a proper glimpse of her face. With the scarf hiding it, it was a tough proposition, but he finally made it happen. Was it Shruthi?!?!
Years seemed to rewind in seconds. The scene was changing.
Pondicherry, April 1995.
6:10 AM
The town was just about waking up, the odd dog barking down the lane. April is a horrible month in Pondicherry, only second in intensity to May. The Kathri Sun would literally come outside the homes and watch intently at what we were doing inside. Sweat, sweat and more sweat was the order of the day. Nights tend to be a bit better with dry winds, completing the equation.
Raghav was getting out of his home, on the main road. On his Kinetic Honda, he sped, as usual, like it was a F1 track. Luckily for the others, it was early in the morning and the roads were nearly deserted.
The road to the Mathematics tuition class, was just about 5 mins away. Raghu always made it in 3.
Parking it outside, he took the stairs to reach the class. It always started at 6:30. He was early and sat down at the last row. Unlike the early birds, he preferred the last seat, for unknown reasons. Looking around, he noticed that there were some girls seating across the class, in the last row. Little did he know, he would become very good friends with them, in the days to come.
Unlike in the movies, its hard to remember how the initial introductions are made. In the next 12 months or so, he would know the 4 of them very well. Cometh the 12th std exams, cometh the results.
Life started spanning out into different directions. As is common with most 'school friend groups', it was time to move on to new places, meet new people and keep the past archived! All went in different directions and no formal communication channels existed.. for unknown reasons!
Raghav came to his senses again. Shruthi had just passed him at the airport terminal lounge. She hardly noticed him!
Before trying to stop her - he rewinded again in his thoughts.
It was nearly 15 years since they had first met. 15 years since they first spoke in that tuition class. How many new people would have come in her life, since then, she must be married too.. would she even remember the good old tuition mate? Would she take him seriously? Raghav had certain bad experiences earlier on with some of his college friends. One of them, who was really close to him - he had tracked her down to her home in California. After a brief phone call, she promised to mail him back.
Yeah, that was more than 2 years now! - He thought. Would it be a repeat of that? Anyway, its worth a try - he muttered.
Shruthi was now far ahead and was moving towards gate 50.
Raghav had to act quick and smartly. He rushed towards her, while avoiding other passengers walking in the opposite direction. Finally, as he was nearly there, one of her bags fell down. As she stopped abruptly, Raghav was standing just behind her.. and bent down to pick it up for her.
Shruthi was too keen to pick her stuff, she gave a simple glance at the stranger helping her. Raghav started the conversation - Hi!
The sudden glance turned into surprise and from nowhere - the face beamed with a smile. She managed to recognize him. With the bag restored to its original place in the trolley.. the conversation started - exactly where it stopped 15 years ago!
How are you? Fine - And you? Where have you been? - What a "Super" surprise?! Meeting in the middle of nowhere? - Laughter interspersed the words.
Shruthi seemed to have caught on with the word "Super". She used it more frequently than the verbs and nouns - surely this would disappoint her English teacher at school!
Having helped her go to Gate 50 and check-in her bags, Raghav took her to the nearest coffee shop at the terminal. Both of them, have seen umpteen people in their lives in the past 15 years, some close, some closer and others - in general. But there was something truly genuine between them, something which stood the test of time. Its called friendship - the most ancient of gifts, given by King God Himself.
There are moments when you let someone take you for granted, pull your leg as you discuss your mistakes openly and voluntarily. This was just that - Raghav and Shruthi had a funny conversation of what happened, what did not, what should have and what could not!
With the multiple rounds of 'catch-up' conversations over, they walked back to the Gate 50. Shruthi's flight was to take off earlier. When she was leaving, she looked back at Raghav. Not a word was said, the silence was still and yet stirring.
In a matter of a few minutes, someone had come from the past, knocked at the present and was leaving away again into the unknown future. How time plays with our emotions! - Raghav thought.
Emails were exchanged this time - not to repeat the mistakes 15 years hence. The link was re-inked.
This incident could have happened to several of you, reading this blog. While you could manage to retain the old friendships going with some of your schoolmates, years apart, there would surely be others who have moved on and do not have time for you anymore. Such is today's fast paced life with totally re-organized priorities.
And yeah, if you ever want to know how deep your friendship is - its not the words which are spoken - its those that aren't that matters. Silence - is the language of the eyes. The language of truth!
