#Together with my best friend

Many say that the sort of friends you make in childhood, you never make again. And I agree with that. That is not to say that we cannot make amazing friends after we have grown up; but just that there is a special bond with friends you make in your childhood :-)

We are so innocent as children, and our friendships are just as innocent then. And if you continue to be in touch with your childhood friends (which in itself is a big deal), some of that innocence remains in that friendship. And that's what makes childhood friendships very special to me.

I met my best friend (Seema) when we were in Standard 4. Gradually we became friends, had some great times and were best friends by the time we passed out of school. We joined the same college after school and had 5 more years of fun :-) After college, we continued to be in touch, but both were busy with our respective pursuits. I was studying for my B-school entrance exams and she was studying for CPA.

A side note here - She and I had made plans of how I would run away and where I would hide if my mom forced me to get married before I could do my MBA ;-) That's what best friends do, don't they? :-D Just like with this, in every other problem that I faced, she was always there - to give advice, to help out or to just listen.


I moved to Gurgaon for my MBA, but we continued to remain in touch. Then, while I was still doing my MBA, she got married. I could not attend her marriage as I had my exams then, and she moved to the US. This was in 2005. I was really sad that I could not meet her before she left the country :-(

With her settled in the US and me being busy with MBA and then a demanding finance career, our interactions became less. Also, whenever she visited Mumbai, I was either out of the city or out of the country. And whenever I made plans to visit the US, it went awry at the last moment. And this is how it continued to be till 2013.

In November 2013, I changed teams in my company, and was told that I would be going to the US for training. And the first thought that came to my mind was - I can meet Seema! So plans were made for my visit to New York (Seema lives in New Jersey) in December 2013. But of course things are never easy. I told her I am coming in the second week of December for 2 weeks and she replied that she is coming to Mumbai in that same week for 2 weeks! :-O But after taking stock of our plans, I extended my stay for another week so that we could meet up. 

And so on December 25, 2013, I met Seema after 9 long years! I had apprehensions of whether we would be comfortable with each other after such a long hiatus. But you know what, it was just the same. We met, we clicked and we chatted almost non-stop for 4 days :-D It did not feel as if we had not seen each other for 9 years. We could still laugh at the silliest things, we could still understand what the other meant without having to explain; we could even complete each other's thoughts. 

One thing I should tell you about Seema - she is the most optimistic person I have ever known. Being with her makes me optimistic as well. Everything seems achievable when I am speaking with her and she always supports whatever I want to do. After talking to her, I became excited about the new work I had taken up in my company and looked forward to the challenges. She always makes look up and dream :-)

In the same way, housing.com believes in the power of optimism. And its not always the advice that matters, but the company. That is the power of being #together.

Seema's hubby was sweet enough to give us all this time together. There were so many times that we were giggling like kids on things that made no sense to him. Or we would be yakking away to glory while he was trying to watch TV. But he was so patient and just gave us the time we needed. A big Thank you to you, Shankar!

I am waiting for the next time Seema and I will meet. Till then, we have the phone, facebook, whatsapp and Viber. But nothing compares to the real thing :-)