There may be so many different ways to say 'goodbye', but saying it to someone who is dear to you is quite tough.
It's not that it is a new concept to me; I have said many 'goodbyes' before, but I guess there was always the assurance that it was temporary, and that we would meet again one day.
In about three weeks, I will have to utter those dreaded two syllables yet again. It's not something that was out of the blue, it has been coming for a while, and yet, I find myself breaking down multiple times because of that thought.
Said recipient of a farewell is someone who I met close to four years ago now, on a hot April evening at a fest at my college. It happened to be a spontaneous meeting, without anyone introducing one to the other. With exams just a week away, and really just looking for an excuse to leave my room and de-stress, I volunteered to help set up a stall that our community was in charge of. I had been helping with the preparations that week, and one of the very few (at the time) first year students to as well; some seniors can be quite intimidating! :P
I was pinning up decorations to the stall, when I heard someone say 'So you're Priya?'
I responded, with an astonished look,'yes, and you are?'
He smiled and replied,' I have heard a lot about you! I am K, nice to meet you! I'm two years senior to you, and my batchmates have told me that you have helped out a lot. Thank you!'
I had asked him to help me pin up some more stuff onto the stall, all the while conversing with each other (I can't really remember what we talked about), before I ran back to the room to change into a more traditional outfit (the theme of the fest demanded it of me, really :P). When I got back, he was in a veshti, and I wore the traditional dhavani or half-sari, commonly seen in Tamil Nadu. By the time the fest was in full swing, most of my friends had left, and I was roaming about, looking quite lost and not really knowing people around me. I went back to our stall, and he was there. He struck up a conversation with me, that went on for hours. We helped take down the stall at the end of the night, and he helped me take back some of the decorations back to my room. To be very honest, it was one of the very few times that I have ever been that comfortable talking to someone I had just met. To the best of my knowledge, whenever that happened, the next time I met the same person, conversation would never be the same, or we just wouldn't talk.
I didn't meet him again after that night, at least until my first year was over. It was a stressful two months, filled with exams, and not knowing if I was capable of passing the first hurdle that medschool threw at me, and so I didn't really give a second thought about that one April night.
This is where social media came in and twisted the story :P.
I ended up finding him on Facebook, and then he struck up a conversation with me once I had started my second year. And the rest, as they say, is his story :P (There are at least two versions of the same story, so I am quite curious to hear his perspective of it anyway :P )
He has become one of the very few people I trust, and a great friend. I wish I didn't have to say goodbye to him. He leaves this collegetown to study and take greater leaps in his career, and I am really happy that he is moving forward. Maybe I wish that I was moving forward with him? Or that there is some reassurance that I will meet him again one day?
I know for a fact that thanks to modern mobile technology, we will be in touch, for as long as we can, but I will still wish to see his lanky frame lurking about the hospital or library, hear the random poor jokes that he would crack whenever we met up, listen to his thoughts on current political situations and just knowing that he is nearby, which oddly enough is reassuring enough, to help me get through stressful times.
He has made me the editor of a book he plans to write sometime in the next 3-4 decades, I have made him promise to send me an audio clip when he learns to play the violin, and I know that one day, his kids will be a lot like him, and will tail him like little ducklings.
But we don't always know what tomorrow brings, so I just hope I have the strength to take it one day at a time.
K, I will miss you incredibly, and I pray that you work hard and strive to achieve your dream. The next year is a gruelling one, but I have faith that you will get what you have wanted for so long. I wish I was there every step of the way, but I suppose something is better than nothing.
This place won't be the same without you, and as I enter the toughest stretch of my medical career so far, I will miss you more. Your random quizzing, which may annoy me but help me learn and remember that concept better, advice on how to go about studying and reassurance that it will all be ok were what got me through the last few years. I hope that it will still continue, despite the distance.
So long.. Farewell.. Auf Wiedersehen.. Goodbye.. Until we meet again. :)
