I can never thank her enough. She did so much for me that her helping me out became a way of life. She held me when I cried. Made me laugh when everything in life seemed down. She made me think of life in a very different way, one I never knew could exist. She scolded me when I did something wrong and then told me how I should have gone about the situation. I remember those late night talks; each one of them and I don’t think that I will ever be to forget them. I never knew what a friend really was until she came along and until she befriended me. I can never forget our first and last talk and all the ones in between. She was God’s gift to me and I will never ever let go of our friendship.
Living in a boarding school and staying in the same dormitory really made us close. I remember pouring myself out to her. I remember telling her how scared I was about shifting to a new school and how I wished that I had made the right decision. She’d listen and then she’d try and understand what I was so scared and nervous about exactly. Surprisingly, she had a solution for anything and everything. I remember crying in front of her, something I was very afraid to do in front of others; not wanting them to see my weak side but with her it was never like that. I remember all those times that after lights out, we’d talk till late and in those few hours we’d discuss the world. We’d discuss the day’s events in the news and debate on the outcomes of the following day’s cricket and football matches. We’d gossip about everyone in our grade and share pieces of information that a certain ‘someone’ had told us during Sports or Break. We’d talk about different teachers and imitate almost all of them.
There were nights that when our dorm parent would take rounds and catch us and believe me, if you were caught by her, you wouldn’t be let off easy, but that never stopped us. Day after day, night after night we spoke and our friendship grew from a mere ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ in the hallways to actually stopping and talking until we’d realise how late we were for class. In the cafeteria, we had assigned seats and fortunately, we were made to sit right by each other. I remember how our table was the most noisiest of the lot and how teachers would always pick on us; as far as I can remember, one had pinpointed at our table and screamed, how our table always ‘dialled the wrong number during meal times,’ and instead of putting our heads down and nodding our heads like obedient children, we’d turn around and talk even more.
No, it wasn’t our ignorance and our own way of irritating that particular teacher because she hadn’t marked us fairly in a test but it was just that we had so much to talk about. I remember going for tennis together and how we’d take ‘walking rounds’ of the field, just talking. It was actually surprising how I had so much to say to someone I had just talked to about an hour ago in class.
Our late night talks became like a tradition and the days felt empty without them...and yes, we did have the bad days when we’d have fights and not speak to each other but they’d all end with both of us saying sorry a few days into the fight. My day ended with her saying ‘Good Night Luke’ and me wishing back, ‘Good Night Luke.’ And no, it is not just you, but everyone around us found it pretty weird as well, but that didn’t matter. The ‘Luke’ phase started when we were watching ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ together and then I remember how she had gushed about Luke Brandon. And then just as we were about to go to bed, I noticed an England one day match going on, on television. That was the time that I had told her, how much I had liked Luke James Wright as a cricket player and since then the names just stuck. Sounds weird, I know, but it was our tradition and ‘Good Night Luke’ officially ended mine and her day.
I remember the ending days that I spent in school. I was so scared, nervous, excited, happy all at the same time and it was she who kept me sane. I remember the last night I spent at school before leaving. We didn’t talk much that night, because on the inside both of us were grieving of the many nights to come that we would not talk. But, in a way we had communicated in silence and we had cried silently, each of us not saying anything to comfort the other because we both knew that the day that we both had been dreading had finally arrived. 2nd April 2010, was just a few hours away and that was the first night when we were afraid to say ‘Good Night Luke’ because that would mark the ending of the day and turn our grievances to reality and we weren’t ready to part...not just yet.
However, 2nd April came and I left. We are still as close and we always will be. Even though, I have no one to talk about my day with at night, even though I don’t ‘dial the wrong number’ at the table anymore. I really, really miss her and no matter where I go and what turns out of our friendship, she’ll always remain an integral part of my life. And no day will be complete, until I say ‘Good Night Luke’ because I know that all those miles away in the very same dormitory that we had talked in at nights, she’ll be repeating the same words and then we’ll sleep getting ready for a brand new day and when that one would end as well, we’d say what marked the ending of our day, everyday...
Good Night Luke.