Parting gift

Shilpa Reddy, a neighbour of Emily Anderson had a story to tell. Emily loved playing with Shilpa and wanted to be like Shilpa when she grew up. She was a tall girl with long straight hair and sharp facial features. She was currently doing 2^nd year in B.A. Literature and loved narrating stories. This is one such story which was from her experience. Shilpa takes us back to when she was seven and stayed in Pune.

Zach Wilson, a smart young boy went to Pune during his summer vacation to visit his dad who worked there. He and his mom used to go to the nearby park almost every day when his dad used to go to the office. After walking for a while, they used to visit the grocery shop. Like every kid, Zach used to run to the chocolate section to search for dairy milk. It was his favourite chocolate and they both used to share that one chocolate. One day when he ran to the chocolate section, he saw a girl of his age standing in that aisle. But, she was crying looking at the stack of chocolates. Zach was concerned and went to ask the girl what was wrong. He didn’t know Hindi, so he showed some action to ask her what had happened. She pointed to the top shelf. The dairy milk was usually kept on the 2^nd shelf, so Zach climbed and took two chocolates. He took her hand and placed one in her hand. She looked up at him with her wide eyes, shocked.  She gave him a big toothless smile which was contagious and he smiled back.

Zach was elated that he made her happy and asked her name. She introduced herself as Shilpa, grade 2F. He introduced himself as Zach, grade 2C. By the time their introductions got over, Shilpa’s mom entered to the sight of these two kids giggling. Soon Zach’s mom came and both mothers started talking. Zach and his mom were new to the place and didn’t know many people in the neighbourhood. So they were happy they made new friends.

After that, Zach and his mom visited Shilpa’s house often and soon they became family friends. They visited the park together during weekends and played together. They also went to summer music classes together. The vacation got over in a flash and soon it was time for Zach to go back to Chennai. He cried like a baby when he went to say goodbye to Shilpa. She stood in front of him, slowly took out a dairy milk from her tiny bag and placed it between his small fingers. She gave a kiss on his cheek and waved goodbye, hoping she would see him again.

Zach was upset during his journey home. Soon he had to get back to his old routine of going to school, so he got busy. He had Shilpa in the back of his mind and often asked his mom about her. However, it soon became a memory.

Fast forward to when teenagers started using Facebook. Zach made his new account when he was in grade 10 and after a few days decided to search for Shilpa. He typed her name in the search box. His network was bad and it was taking so much time to load. He was growing impatient. Finally, the list came and the first Shilpa Reddy had a childhood display picture from which he easily identified her. He sent her a friend request hoping she remembered him.

Two weeks went by and she still didn’t accept her request. First, he thought she might have not come online but then she changed her display picture. He messaged her about their memory when they were seven and the dairy milk they exchanged. She took another 2 weeks to come across the message request. She had a faint memory of that vacation and immediately accepted his request. They both started chatting and recollecting those 2 months. He got to know that she had shifted to Chennai in grade 8. They used to chat about anything and everything. Soon they exchanged numbers and called each other whenever they could. One day they planned to meet up at some mall. Their friends came with them but once they met, they went off separately. It was awkward in the beginning but they started laughing at each other’s jokes and the atmosphere lightened up. They both had so much fun that day.

Their friendship was strong and they became best friends eventually. In school, her friends started teasing her with him and she slowly developed feelings for him. She was really confused if she should confess or not. She finally blurted it out to him because she couldn’t hide anything from him. Zach got the shock of his life. He was not ready for this. He was a goal oriented person and didn’t like relationships. He valued his friendship with her and said no.

That was the beginning of the downfall of two best friends. He wanted to remain friends but she imagined that it was awkward and stops talking slowly. Shilpa goes into depression and her friends can see that she has changed. They insisted that she should talk to Zach but she was worried if he would get annoyed. He was clueless about what was happening but later suspected that something was wrong. Exams commenced and he got busy with that for a while. All that ran in Shilpa’s mind was him and her friends got worried. They went and talked to him about the issue. He instantly felt bad about all that had happened and decided to talk to her. He was also a little annoyed because she didn’t come and say it herself.

Zach was Shilpa’s world for a year and she used to run to him when she was happy, sad or annoyed. However, she knows it’s best to just cherish what they had. In their minds, they were once best friends. It affects both of their studies, so they mutually decide to stop talking. She wanted to meet him one last time before they parted ways.

They both met in the same mall they first met in Chennai. She looked at him with tears in her eyes, the same innocent wide eye look. She slowly took out a dairy milk from her bag and placed it in his hand. She turned and walked away.

(Based on an imaginary story created for a real person)