When two old friends meet...

Their story dated way back to the 90’s.
They started off with a bang in the last year of school.
They soon became inseparable while in college.

Through those early woman years, they dreamt together, shared, laughed and cried.
Through crushes and similar love interests, they revel.
Attending tuitions together, added the fizz in their academic pursuits.
In their clumsy grown up years, they tried to live ‘beyond their ages’ for each other; counseling, reprimanding, tried to give each other the wisdom that can only come with age. So in this endearing comedy of ‘being there for each other’, they flourished.

Two girls, both the youngest in their respective khasi*- families, fed with similar values and principles, schooled in the same institution, reservoirs of big dreams: one wanted to be a doctor , a good daughter and wife , while the other wanted to be an engineer, gain wealth, power and fame.

In their similar attributes they relish and in their differences, they grew in respect.


College years drew to a closed. It was time to go in pursuit of your dreams. While one went off to a different state to learn what it takes to become an engineer, the other stayed back in Shillong, hoping to get a foothold in the medical field.

They parted but of-course, never said good-bye. In course of time, the frequent letters became infrequent, till there were none. The holidays were re-union time-sharing, bonding, laughing on lost times. Soon changes in lifestyles, thinking, people, priorities, experiences, did not bring them together on holidays. It was such that, one was unaware of the other’s presence in the same city. None was to be blame. Time just had its cards to play.


But lo and behold, on one fine Friday noon, the 2nd of March, 2007…while she was passing through a busy shopping area in Shillong, she saw a pretty petite lady in jainsem.
‘Jenny!’ she shouted in pleasant disbelief.
Stunned, the petite lady shouted back ‘Yet, is it really you!’.
In seconds and in smiles, they were hugging each other.
It took less than a mili-second for that old feeling of warm, camaraderie, loving friendship to overwhelm them.

The more bubbly and vivacious of them both, Jenny was ecstatically shouting ‘We need to meet now! We have a lot of catching up to do. I have so much to tell you. Let’s have coffee somewhere. Yet, today, tonight, now…we need to talk’.

Bemused but wonderfully touched by Jenny’s warm and lovable nature (something Yet always cherishes about Jenny), Yet could not say no.

In a matter of 30 mins later, the two old friends met up at New Hope Centre restaurant.


Jenny, has come a long way. With honors in MSc, she is now a distinguished lecturer in Martin Luther’s University, Shillong. She is a gem of a lady, well-loved by many (especially counting by the line of suitors she has), a well-deserved princess in her family, highly responsible and dutiful. And oh yes, as lively and so ‘full of stories’ as ever.

The highly ambitious Yet, is in the rat race of climbing the corporate ladder, working in an American IT company. She is forever in the battle of trying to bring a balance between her professional duties and the call of duty at home- for her parents.

So it was inevitably that when the two old friends got together, they set the house on fire, in no time.

After 7 years of being in and out of touch with each other, they sure do have a lot to catch up on. Through two rounds of coffee, they went through the bits and pieces of each others work lives, family lives and of-course, their rollercoaster love lives.
They have been tried and tested in similar yet, unrelated ways. It amazes them that at 26, they were single, almost committed and still so confused.
They have not done so badly with their lives. They have worn the ‘mantel of responsibility’ for their parents and siblings with grace and élan. But they still marvel at the fact that even-though they are now well accomplished, financially independent and secured, they have still to find that ‘magic formula’(if there was any) to make the men in their lives as comfortable as they felt. As loving and giving as they both are, they felt bereft of the same.
Thus, they concluded that if you are a woman who is of 25 years, still not married or hitched, you will soon be at the crossroads of the most tumultuous, tear jerking, complex phase of your life; where even if you have carved a niche for yourself , you would still be left wondering, where the hell is your life heading!

The non-stop chattering, sobs, smiles, comforting words between two friends had to end, as the noon turned into night, and as the Shillong night air turned cooler. They hugged, provided each other with comforting words and advices, promised to be in touch with the exchange of email-ids and phone numbers, bid good-bye till…time favors their meeting again.

They parted as friends, as kindred-souls, as two girls each living a woman’s life….

Their innocence and sincerity is there for every living soul to see and feel.