Letter to Someone I Love [Letter Two]

I don’t recall the precise date, but I know it was March, like it is now, of 2006. That’s 12 years ago.

People say anyone who’s been a friend for longer than seven years is family. But, I’ve been friends with about 100-odd humans for 7-odd years now. I don’t think time alone makes someone family. How those years were lived is the defining factor. How two hearts interacted is the only thing that matters.

You’re family & 12 goddamn years we’ve been together - bloody colossal. I reckon I wouldn’t be wrong in pronouncing ‘You & I’ are the only person with we both call family who wasn’t pre-decided by 'blood' or formed by 'making love'. 

You & I love our blood families in our own ways. You & I have fallen in love with a girl with intensity fiercer than 2008 stock market crash. You & I have loved - You & I have been destroyed by its fire. You & I are still here. Far away & together. You have no idea how much I want the darn teleportation to become a reality. 

When I talk with you - everything - all of me - speaks with all of you. I’m not scared of losing you - I’m not scared of telling you the truth. And we both know the thing about truth - it almost never tastes like chocolate.

From our ‘home’ [Kundan Park - Ahmedabad], you & Lal are the two people I’m still in touch with. I respect Lal. You, I fucking love you.

12 years ago, I was to be married in Toronto in March. Now, you’re in Toronto in March. 

Talk about darn serendipity. Talk about damn destiny.

I’ve written a letter to you earlier. About 3 years ago.  As I woke up today, I knew it was time to write to you.

Let’s roll back the clock.

One afternoon, when you were attending classes in college, I wrote my first words [as a writer] on the desktop computer in your living room. That started it all. I don’t remember what was the moment ‘we’ clicked. I think there wasn’t a magic moment - our friendship isn’t breathtaking as The Dark Knight - our friendship is like Shawshank Redemption. Our friendship is a tortoise - Our friendship is a mountain. It stays when everyone is gone.

I recall that night when we were on the roof of ‘our home’ - it was towards the time when I was about to leave Ahmedabad. We spoke a lot that night. I think I spoke & you absorbed. You’ve always been the sponge - spectacular listening machine [you’re the Silent Bob, aren’t ya :)]. I think that night sub-consciously started 'us'. 

It’s incredible how our friendship, which was latent the whole 3-odd months I shared that 2nd floor with you, began to thicken when I left Ahmedabad. We never rushed anything - We let it all hit us at a leisurely pace - like sitting on a shore & letting the waves come to us. In this age when everyone wants to be CEO at 27, we’ve shown the patience of Shawshank Redemption’s protagonist. 

I never forget when you first disappeared [I wish I had known that was the beginning of a long series of disappearances] right before you left for the US. 6-7 months later you called & told me why. It was a such a life-altering episode you two had gone through & I did admonish you for not dealing with it better, but at the end of the day, I was relieved to know that I hadn’t lost you forever. That was like a decade ago. Whoa!

To me, it’s unimaginable that we’ve come so far. To put things in context, I’ve met about 110-120 girls on dates over the past 2.5 years of my online dating tenure. The most I’ve met someone is 4 times. Even staggering is the fact that about 75% of the times I just met them once. And if I go macro, over the conscious friend-making of 25 years, the closeness I feel towards you is exponentially higher than any other individual I’ve ever met. And to put things into crystal perspective - I’ve spent much more time with 100s of other individuals in person, yet none of them come close. Even more remarkable is that we didn’t click instantaneously, we’re bloody Scotch - we take time. We’re Randall & Dante; We're Danny Crane & Alan Shore; we’re soul mates who like making love with women who are into us.

We did have the 'time of our lives' in Bombay in 2013. Those five days are engraved in me. And I remember walking aimlessly in the streets of Bombay & talking about things only we can talk about.

I’ve been writing for 12 years & yet I will not even endeavour to explain in words what you mean to me. If I did, I will fail miserably. But, I will say this - if I were to 'flip burgers' at Burger King for the rest of my life & you were with me, I would not want to do anything else. And I mean that as much as I meant when I asked 'her' to marry me on 29 June 2005. 

I want you to read Sapiens. The book is literally written for science nerds like you. 71% of the science I know has come from Sapiens. The other 29% has from you :) [That really makes me wonder what the fuck my science teachers & I were up to in school :)]

And let’s not discount the significance of both the Clerks films to our friendship. I don’t think I can ever like anyone who doesn’t like Clerks - those people are the scum of the society. And I’d totally love to spit & pee in their burgers & colas :)

I think every time we will ever be in Ahmedabad, we will always end up eating breakfast at Homely. Long Live Homely or shall I say May the Force be with You, Homely :)

I recall when I saw you the last time or ‘didn’t’ see you the last time two years ago. We missed saying our goodbyes at the Ahmedabad train station.

Ahmedabad - where it all started - that’s where we departed.

You know I hate airports. I hate train stations. I hate goodbyes. They all are thieves. They snatch away those you love & sometimes they take them away for forever. The last time I saw you was at a station. The last time I saw 'her' was at an airport. The next time I will see you will be in Toronto. And she lives there. Our lives feel like Ocean’s Eleven - Imperfectly Perfect.

So, I will say this again - I’ve said this 100s of times now - don’t get hit by a monster truck. And don’t fucking die. If you die, I don’t know what I will do. I haven’t a fucking clue. 

I do not know what tomorrow will bring. And I don’t want to know. I want it to happen to me. It was destiny that we met, but after that we made it happen. And of all the things - honesty - is the reason we’re still solid as a rock. Whatever happens in the future, I want you to know that I will always love you.

Aussie