The Girl Next Door

“There is no friend like someone who has known you since you were five.”

-Anne Stevenson

Our friends and siblings give meaning to our lives. We play, we fight, we laugh- we don’t realise we are making memories; we just think we are having fun.

But, some of them come with a special purpose…

2^nd Feb 1992.

It was a sunny winter morning. I was at home, when I heard some noise on the street. My curious 5-year-old self rushed to see what that was. 

“Mummy! That’s a big truck!!” I was astonished to see the truck in the narrow lanes of her colony. I was used to seeing two wheelers and sometimes a rare sight of cars. That was the first time I had seen a massive vehicle.

I was born and brought up in Karol Bagh, the heart of Delhi. Karol Bagh is a popular place in Delhi for shopping, food and Punjabis. I lived in a locality about 10 minutes from Gaffar Market. There were 2 lanes in the block, with a park in the middle and kothis on both sides of the lanes.

Some people lifted cartons and furniture from the truck and carried that to house no. 57.  

“Bhaiya, jaldi jaldi karo! (Finish the work fast!)”a man who looked my father’s age instructed them. I looked towards him and saw some 7-8 people standing with him- some men, some women, two little girls and a toddler. Mom told me that they had bought house no. 57 and were moving in that day.

A few days later…

The wind felt slightly warm, summer was coming. My brother and I came back from school. Our sweaters knotted around our waists.

“Mummmmyy…. Mummmmyy.,.!!!” I cried as I dropped my bag and mom came running.

Without saying a word she understood that Ishank and I had been fighting. We were in the same school and with the age gap of only 1 year we were both friends and enemies. He was chubby, cute and had bunny teeth. Being elder to me by a year, he would want to set the rules and I wouldn’t want to follow them. It was a task for mom to handle us together.

“I will lock both of you in the bathroom!!” Mom scolded us as Ishank pulled my pony tail again and ran inside.

Mom helped us change our uniforms and made us sit in the verandah as she prepared lunch for us. As we were having food, the two new neighbour girls passed by. They were wearing white shirts and green skirts and carried a backpack and water bottle. They were coming back from their school.

After some time, mom slept and I tip-toed out of the house. I saw the girls again, this time closely. They were dressed in floral frocks. One of them drew something like a fishbone on the road with a chalk. I leapt on a car and watched them.

Nariyal (Coconut)” One of them, may be the younger one, spoke as she threw a stone behind her, over her head.

I had never played this game and was naturally intrigued. The elder one then saw me and asked me if I wanted to play. Little did I know I would cherish and remember the friendship that was about to develop.

We introduced ourselves and I told them I stayed in house no. 55. They were cousins and the elder one was Vijeta, about my height, brown silky hair and a clear complexion. She was a year elder to me and was Ishank’s age. The younger one was Samiksha. She was my age, a little shorter than me, black hair, bright black eyes and clear complexion.

The friendship that started at 5 years of age only strengthened with time. I had friends at school, but Vijeta and Samiksha were my best friends in the locality.

Over time our parents also got to know each other and became friends. Soon they started going to each other’s place and play board games like Memory, Monopoly etc. We were inseparable, as they say- sisters from another mother. We used to look forward to evenings when they would play Nariyal, Hopscotch, chocolate and other games.

When it would be really hot we would play inside the house. They would have meals at each other’s place. With no cell phones available at that time, our Moms would know where to find us if we were not in the park or the locality.

We made an awesome gang, with my brother Ishank, cousin Manish, Vijeta, Samiksha, Sunny, Honey didi and some more kids. In the dark we would play hide and seek in the locality itself and hide behind cars, staircases of the kothis and sometimes even terraces.

“Jaldi ghar aao, subah school janaa hai!” my mother would scream and ask us to wind up, have dinner and sleep in time for school in the morning.

With best of times we had our own arguments too. The favourite topic would be school. Everything would lead to an argument- from mode of transport i.e. their Van or her auto rickshaw; whose school was better- Manav Sthali (their school) versus Cambridge (my brother and my school); uniforms- our blue versus their green. We would fight and want to prove our things were better than the others and sometimes not talk for days. I laugh when I recall all this today.

We used to look forward to our birthdays and wait for the gifts we would get and the games we would play. Birthday parties were always at home with our relatives and friends. Vijeta, Samiksha and I were so close that we treated each other’s relatives like our own. My mama, maasis and buas were theirs too and I would address their chachas and chachis like they would. I remember that Samiksha’s mom would dress her in beautiful frocks and she used to look like a doll. Everyone loved her a lot.

March 1996

We were friends for almost 4 years now and were inseparable. It was a part of our routine to meet each other. When one would go to Nani’s place the other would feel sad. But something happened in March 1996 that I wish I could change if I had the powers. Samiksha was not around for some days and they missed her in our games and park time. It doesn’t click you too much when you are just 9-years-old. You miss your best friend but then you have other friends, you start playing with them and it is easy to handle. You know she will be back in a few days.

But then I learnt that Samiksha was unwell and had high fever. She was in the hospital for some days. Mom assured me that she will be back soon. I didn’t quite understand at that time the severity of illness when someone is admitted in the hospital. I thought she had gone for a few days and will be back soon.

Our routine was going as it is, Vijeta was there and we were having a good time together.

27^th March 1996

It was Ashtami i.e. eighth day of Navratri- the 9 days of Goddess Durga. In North India, Poori, Chhole and Halwa are prepared and fed to small girls or kanjakein as prasad. Our gang of girls was roaming from one house to the other in our locality and collected our Ashtami Prasad and gifts. I used to be really excited for this day as the neighbours gave us gifts and money. We would eventually buy wafers and some small things from that money. Samiksha was missing from all these celebrations.

It was a weekday but a holiday for us. After the puja Ishank and I were in Vijeta’s room and playing Monopoly. Most people were not at home and hence her mother asked us to be with her and play inside the house. Something felt odd that day; something was not right. We were playing but mentally something was affecting the three of us.

And then we got to know why we felt that. We heard people crying. The three of us looked at each other not knowing what to do.

“I.. I.. can’t…play in this noi…” Vijeta stammered as Samiksha’s mother ran inside the room and hugged her. She was in a really bad shape. Tears flowed uncontrollably from her red eyes. We exchanged glances and our eyes spoke of our nervousness.

“Samiksha.. Samiksha…is no more….”

We were numb.

Vijeta’s mom came and asked us to take her along with us. My parents also rushed to their home. The ambulance arrived and brought Samiksha’s body. Tears didn’t flow for some time, the shock was too much for us to handle. Then the first tear dropped and the rest followed in an unbroken stream.

I had heard about other people’s deaths but I had never thought that as a 9-year-old kid I would have to deal with my best friend’s death. The next few days were difficult.

“As per Hindu religion the soul takes 13 days to leave this world and till then it keeps roaming around its loved ones.” I had heard someone say this and it stuck with me.

One evening mom told me to go to park and change my mind. There were beautiful flowers and I plucked a red one. Recalling those words and thinking that Samiksha’s soul may be around me, I placed that flower in one of the bushes.

“This is for you Samiksha. I love you a lot. I will miss you.”

When I reached the same spot after 5 minutes, the flower was not there. I smiled and looked at the sky.

“God, take her with you, give her home and bless her.” I kept giving her flowers and she kept accepting them. A few days later, I plucked another flower and kept it aside for her. This time, it hadn’t been taken. I was glad, for I knew she had moved on from this world into the world that belonged to her. She had finally rested in peace.

It’s been 24 years since Samiksha left us. I didn’t spend a lifetime with her, but the few years were enough to keep her in my heart for a lifetime. Her death made me learn something about life- ‘Life is unpredictable. It is breath that helps you cherish moments as well as material.'