A phonecall

I got an unexpected phone call last night. It was from an old college friend, or rather friends.

Over the years, there is this one Bhutanese friend who has always included me in his happiness and sadness. It may be an exaggeration of sorts when I say this but I was indeed like a mother to him. There were parties we went to where he would end up sloshed and I would take him back to my flat and look after him like a mommy bear. I know what you must be thinking. Was there no romantic inclination? Well, I was seeing his close friend at that time and that is how we became such good friends ourselves. In the last ten years, we have maintained this healthy friendship. When his wife delivered their first baby, I went to Thimphu to meet the new parents. She mentioned that whenever her husband spoke about college days, one name always popped up - Cyden. Since that visit, we have welcomed new changes in our lives. He is a proud father of two children - a boy and a girl. He made it a point to meet me in Delhi some time last year. He said he had news for me and I could see that something was bothering him. However, he did not reveal much over dinner that night. It was only when he got back home that he mentioned about his divorce. I felt really sorry about the broken marriage but I told him to be strong and look ahead.

The call last night was from this very friend. He was catching up with two other friends from college. Once Delhi talk got underway, he said it would have been incomplete without speaking to me. So I got to speak to two long lost pals as well. One of them, Jamyang, showed me around the resort in Paro he was working in, back in 2008. Now he is working in Thimphu itself. The other, Wangda, was a person I met maybe a total of ten times in the five years of my stay in North Delhi. But those ten meetings were enough to establish a bond of mutual respect. In the last few years, we have kept in touch in bits and pieces. When I was in Great Britain, he even tried to come up to Deen to see me. Unfortunately the Schengen visa did not include the UK. Last night I came to know that all three of them were fathers now. Tenzin already has two kids, while the other two have a daughter and a son, respectively. I was very happy to know they were settled in life. And judging by the tone of their voices, I think they were excited to speak to me as well.

That one phone call brought my day to a happy end. It is such a wonderful feeling to know that you are remembered after all these years. My Bhutanese connection does not seem like it is going to fade away anytime soon.