Some relationships seem natural!

Ask any random collection of strangers what they look for in a friend, and odds are you’ll get pretty similar answers across the world: someone who’s fun to be around. Someone who shares your sense of humor. Someone you can trust.

But often, friendship begins long before any of those things can come to light in any meaningful way.

That being said, whether I will turn out to be a successful person or will stay mediocre ,these few lines must show.My real life began from one of those buildings: a government school in poor India.Meant for families that are: poor, where importance of good schools don’t matter much.Negligence of a good school’s roles in a child’s life can be decisive and is greatly dismissed by many.

I was a highly privileged child otherwise ,in every regard.When it came to love and care,I was the only daughter among three loving big brothers.Life couldn’t get better than this.

For some reason changing my current high profile school was necessary. Unfortunately I was admitted to one of those government schools. I was merely 9 years old.My certificate age was changed to 11 years old .

Finally the first day of school arrived.School had a huge main iron gate that was locked.A faint scratchy sound came when I opened the small gate, cut open in that big gate.I was scared, unsure and sad when I set my foot inside.Little did I know ,I am in for a bigger shock.

As I was trying to open the door to the 6th grade classroom, the handle turned but the door would not budge.

“It’s locked.”

I spun around ,surprised with this sudden voice.

She was “Sumona.”

I remember seeing this one girl at school for the first time; it changed my life.There was something unusual about her “look”, that instantly caught my attention.It was the same look that my siblings, my parents and myself have.The look of a girl whose mindset is just a tad bit unusual ,but is very down to earth, despite an intimidating gaze.I guess she saw the “look” in me as well.

“Let’s knock at the door and the teacher will open it.”

We entered the classroom and sat ; she pulled her chair next to mine.

We stared at each other in silence. It must have been a full one minute. It was very unusual, I’ll tell you that. I’ve never met someone like that, who I felt like, I didn’t have to try to act normal around, or respect their space, or respect their boundaries. I felt like she had as little boundaries as I did. Which is to say, none at all. I didn’t feel uncomfortable looking into this strange girl’s eyes, I didn’t feel like I had to talk to get to know her. After that, we became friends, or what I suppose you could call friends. It happened in just a small handful of seconds.

“There was an instant connection between us that was easy and made the relationship seem natural.”

I can say that you experience that moment when you meet someone new and feel the friendship blooming in your gut — you just understand, instinctively, that a bond is about to form.I felt that when I saw Sumona.

In the classroom though ,my sense of foreboding grew, the moment I noticed things written on the black board.I could not understand most of the things because of the medium of language.Everything was written in “HINDI”. A language which is otherwise my mother tongue, but I just had a basic understanding of hindi only for speaking ,not in vast subjects like math and science.

A kind of fear surged, I felt so perturbed by the surrounding.I was already 2 grades ahead here, to top it off, the medium of teaching was almost foreign to me.

I sunk into great depression.The irony was ,I did not know how to express it.I could not figure out what my real problem was, let alone the solution.

That was the time when Sumona came to my rescue.She was not much older than me ,however she was very accustomed to the rules, regulations, and above all the language of the school. Every time she sensed me struggling, she was there for me, entirely.Her "non-judgmental" approach made me a fan of her. Sumona never tried to convince me that there is a right or wrong way, she just helped me .This one thing turned my life around.

Sumona taught me how to proceed with difficult subjects, how to take notes and how to assimilate in the new school .There was a completely new subject “SANSKRIT”.I had never learnt Sanskrit before this. Sumona on the other hand ,had a rudimentary knowledge of Sanskrit from 5th grade.The day our school started ,there was an announcement that we are going to have a Sanskrit test in three days.

My eyes welled up with tears.I did not know how to approach this subject at all and I hated to see myself fail. Sumona was there for me again .Until the test day she sat with me after school to teach me Sanskrit, so much that I scored fairly well considering it was a new subject for me.

Very soon I became very confident in the school, the subjects and above all in my overall personality.All credit goes to my best friend Sumona. The emotional and social support I needed at that time, always came from her without actually judging me.

We stayed together for the next 4 years till 10th grade. By this time our bond was so strong that nothing could depart us.We chose different paths in our lives but still friends.My relationship with her is eternal—even if we go months or years without hanging out, nothing changes when we find ourselves together again.Physical distance means very little to us.She lives in India as a doctor where as I am in the US as a software developer.We never feel resentment ,jealousy or competition with each other.

Summer months are our favorite months because we get to see each other.Even though not a day goes by when we don't call each other- even if it is just for few minutes and about mundane things ,we still long to see each other .