Holding hands, as we all try to hold back our tears on the first day at school, we never knew we would come so far, so strong.
Pre-school: I hardly remember anything except that her enemies were mine too and naturally enough, anyone I disliked was always out of her friends list. I and Baiju are chuddy-buddies in real tersm, because we've been together since as young as 4 or 5 year old's.
Grade 3: "Ma'am, can I borrow a pencil from Anshi?" and even before ma'am would say "Yes", I'd have one pencil on my desk and as I smile and loo up to say thanks, she frowns and say, "Don't tell me you forgot your pencil box even today Flora." and we both giggle.
Grade 4: "buck up Flora, buck up" I hear them scream as I continue with the game. Although we belonged to rival houses back in school, we never failed to cheer each other.
Grade 5: "Oye, take her along." shouts Baiju from a far end as they officially bunk a math class to paint for an upcoming event. "No, she doesn't colour well." slashed someone. "Than I don't tag along either." Said Baiju dominating. Who would dare paint without her? And so, finally the monitor enter the class and says, "Ma'am, we need Flora too for this project." And I happily skip the class.
Grade 6: "run before she comes in, quick!" squeaks Baiju. "No, not yet, I still want one more piece, its yummy, and it's my birthday" I retaliated just as I heard Anshi say "Urrghhh she never fails to land in trouble" And we hear the sound of her heels, we quickly stand up like good behaved kids and the moment she walks in, we say it with a smile, "Happy birthday ma'am" we came here to wish you. Overwhelmed she offers us some more cake. Ha ha ha haa
Grade 7: "Oh no! We're screwed flora." Shouts Baiju & Anshi as I stare at a broken white board. I just stare at it blankly and say, "but hey I was just testing if the Karate sir taught us the right moves, he really did. Look what I did to this new, first ever in school, white board" And the next I remember is standing in headmistress's office, head down, legs trembling and both my besties, still by my side, trying to defend me.
Grade 8: "No, no, no, please don't" I plead, as they continue bullying me for wearing that white laced top that wasn't any lesser than a wardrobe malfunction.
Grade 9: "Stop crying, it's okay. He wasn't your kind ever" said Baiju irritated as I continued to sob on the terrace of her apartment. Just as she paced up and down, Anshi added, "He stammers, is almost bald & ain't even tall flora." I still just keep drinking it neat, right from the bottle. That lime juice, I'll never forget as we share our first heart break stories.
Grade 10: "What? You are such a bitch. Why did you tell him I had a crush on him. I'm not talking to you" Anshi slashed back angrily as Baiju kept on giggling sitting in a corner. I could hear Anshi weep because I had "cheated" her.
And finally, everything seemed to have come to a halt when we had that "big" fight in grade 10 over why one of us had been rude to one of those guys who meant to be my bro. There were abuses, shouts, tears & finally, we three broke up.
Thankfully, it wasn't long before we again patched up. But, life had cruel plans for us. One of us shifted to Baroda by the time our sophomore year ended. Junior college split us completely and college still tore us apart.
First year of college: "Florieee where are you. I'm in Rajkot. It's beautiful outside, let's go out in rain"
First year of college: "Take your medicines and get up, I'm here to see you." I jump out of bed. I had heard this voice after 5 long years and I didn't take a second to realize who it was. "Anshi...!" I cried as I hugged her tight.
Third year of college: "hey I'm leaving for Bangalore for my PG. Let's catch up before I leave" And both my pals are there, we're at Big-Bite gorging our favorite food as we talk of "Good ol times"
Finally, for no apparent reasons, we caught up again in the name of good old times and surprisingly, the three of us literally became "Threesome", in all but dirty meanings :-) There was our gang back to rock.
Since then, there have been times when we haven't spoken to each other for months and it takes literally months before we catch up. But, whenever we do, we start right from the place we ended, not p
Today, as our hair turn grey, people are surprised at how have we managed to be friends for more than over a period of 25 years. We've known each other in and out, we know each other's past better than anyone else, we know each other's most annoying habits, we've been there and stayed during our first heart breaks, we've seen each other grow, fall, stand up again, learn, cry, laugh, smile, fight and play. we know People say 3 is a crowd, they haven't yet seen us! We have fought crazily but never let anyone else say a word against the other one. We've stood all rough times and went through the tough times.
i couldn't thank God enough ever to have put you guys in my life. Celebrating the dirty, flirty thirties as one of us is happily unmarried, One is happily married and the last one is happily single again!
Dedicated to my best friends, Anshi Sheth & Baiju Mandani (Now Ghelani) as we turn 30, me being the first to travel the path, as we celebrate our friendship every minute, every day, every year - all through these years!
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