Mon ami

I guess you can call me a friend if you can wake me up at 3am in the morning and tell me about your breakup. If I listen to what you have to say and then tell you what I think about it, don’t ever think that I am being patient with you. Just know that I care. You can even demand that I drop my plans of going shopping to listen to you talk. Don’t worry that I am missing out on an important thing to do. You are more important than that. Call me a friend if you had a secret that you wanted to hide from the world but were dying to tell me. You know I will never tell anybody else about it. You know I’d feel proud that you trusted me. Or if you bought the latest best seller at a great bargain price and wanted me to know about it…right NOW. I am listening. Or if you spelt your innermost desires and wished there would be someone who made a flying dive across the field to catch them and fulfill them. I suppose you think I am friend enough that I pushed myself from my famous inertia to cook your favorite dishes just because you were visiting us. Because you had fought with your parents and wanted a place to stay. But I never thought that I was doing you a favour. I cooked for you because I wanted you to know that you are not alone. You can call me a friend.


And when would I call you a friend? When I’d think of you every time I could not open a new bottle of tomato sauce - only you know how to do it. Or when you’d send chocolates across three time zones just because I might be in a new place and nobody would know that its my birthday. When you came shopping with me and walked the whole day across the mall even though you did not have anything in particular to buy. When you could drive across the speed limits just in time that I may watch the sunset. Or when you’d call thrice a day inspite of your busy schedule to know if my health was any better. Couldn’t I call you a friend? If I thought of you every time I saw a soft toy dog, I nearly bought one for you that day, but your pet passed away and I could not bear to give it to you. Because you took me to a movie, treated me to lunch and even gave me a gift after waiting for three hours for me while I had nothing to give you but my company. Because I know, you would come running if ever I told you that my bathroom floor was flooded and I did not know what to do about it. Because you could do anything just to make me smile. Make a fool of yourself, sing and make me sing along, listen to me patiently when I told you about my invisible relationships with men and then hold me tight and let me know that things would be alright.

For all the things that you made right…here’s to friendship.