I’ll Be There For You (The Childhood Series #3)

The clock strikes 9 a.m. I make my way into the classroom and head straight to my desk. As I settle down, my eyes dart in the same direction each day. To find my best friend. There she is! She sees me, does her customary wave. We stand near the same spot and exchange words. As the bell rings, it signals us to part ways and go back to our assigned seats.

The morning speeds by and it’s time for lunch break! The most awaited time of the day. We gather at our usual spot, open our tiffin boxes and eagerly pour over what the other is having for lunch that day.

The next 30 minutes or so passes by with eating, laughing, and sometimes arguing. As I open my snack box, my best friends pounce on them and finish off the banana chips my mother packs for me each day.

As the day ends, we pick up our unusually heavy school bags and make our way out of the building. After a short goodbye conversation, we part ways and go home.

Only to call each other back through the landline phones and talk for hours together. We never run out of topics to talk about. We talk about music, movies, games, homework and so many more. Sometimes the call duration goes beyond an hour. But we seem to care less about it. We are inseparable and nothing can come our way.

Ah! The joys of having a childhood friendship!

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Hello readers!

This blog post is a part of The Childhood Series. Read the first two parts here:
1. Nostalgia (The Childhood Series #1)
2. Where Learning Meets Fun (The Childhood Series #2)

School days are the golden period of our lives. I’m sure we all have had the most adorable friendships back in school.

There’s something beautiful about the friendships that happen in school. You grow up together, have your share of silly quarrels and misunderstandings. But you also have a lot more memories of all the good times. The days spent talking endlessly, the days when you were sick and your friends helped you out with the lessons that you missed, the days you spent teasing each other to bits. Indeed, friendships nurtured in your childhood days are special.

Not many childhood friendships manage to survive beyond school days. We all grow up, become adults, and get busy in our own lives. And sadly, lose touch with the same people whom you couldn’t spend a day without talking to.

I am extremely fortunate to have my two childhood best friends in my life till date, our bond stronger than ever before. We three were in the same class ever since kindergarten. As we jumped from kindergarten to lower primary school, our friendship strengthened too.

Of course, the innocence that accompanied it was endearing. I clearly remember this one incident that happened when I was in the first standard (when I was 6 years old). My best friend’s sister and my brother were classmates and both of them owned the same kind of wooden scale. Being the younger siblings, we had a fetish for all the things owned by our elder siblings. And so we ended up “borrowing” these scales and proudly showed it off to our classmates.

But then, one day, my best friend and I had a fight over one of those scales, each of us claiming that it belonged to our respective siblings. The fight went to such an extent, my brother had to intervene and stop the quarrel. 😆 I remember crying like a baby and still arguing that it was my brother’s scale and that my best friend wrongly claimed it as her sister’s. My wiser-than-his-age brother calmly took me home that evening after school. And lo and behold! His scale was very much in the wooden cupboard at home. I felt so embarrassed and had to sheepishly apologise to her the next day.

There is another best friend whose family has close ties with my extended family. Any function or celebration in the house would mean that she too would be invited. It is so much fun to spend time together at such functions.

We were famous as the “three musketeers” back in school. Our friendship was the talk of the school and us three couldn’t have been prouder.

I still have the “slam books” they filled up for me with all sorts of nonsense. Yet, they are the most cherished possessions.

As we grew up, the bond that we shared only got stronger. And today, it has been close to 20 years. We three are still inseparable. Each of us is pursuing different career paths. We do not meet or talk as often as we would like. But we still know that we can count on each other for anything. From silly talks about school, we now talk about philosophy, books, writing, music and all other “grown-up” topics.

One of them is a fellow blogger at Another One Of Those Pensive Pieces and we couldn’t be happier when we discovered the same passion for writing.

Another is getting married soon. It all feels surreal. It was just the other day that we were in our school uniforms, sporting two braids. My heart bursts with joy on seeing how lovely these two girls look now. We three have together transformed into ladies from girls.

Nothing makes me happier to see all of us progress in our lives. We’ve been through thick and thin together. I can easily proclaim that they will be the first persons to be by my side whenever I need them, and I’ll be there for them likewise.
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This blog post is a part of ‘The Childhood Series’. A string of blog posts about childhood. This Children’s Day, reminisce about your own childhood, the things you loved and enjoyed, the school days, the carefree holidays, the silly quarrels, and a lot more.

Until next time, stay blessed!

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