It was 2010, I was in the ninth standard and a huge change had just kicked in and the transition was keeping me awake at nights; I just found that Facebook was better than Orkut. Yes, apparently my generation was really into social networking, well not actually; we just wanted to be a part of the change. Hanging out with older people was considered cool and having the opportunity to do it online turned out to be a revelation for us new teens. I mean, I was a small town 15-year old and social anxiety was our thing. So I thought talking to people online might be the perfect ice breaker as when we eventually meet, and that wasn’t a dating strategy, I actually used to chat to my classmates who used to sit on the adjacent bench.
For me, this was all very new, not because social networking just boomed, but because I had just switched schools. I had to start afresh with a whole lot of things and one of the self-assigned tasks was making friends. It took me almost a month and a half and I somehow managed to make some friends at school. But it wasn’t about these school friends who made a mark in my life but another stranger whom I met online. I had a friend in school and as we had this Facebook craze going over, we all used to go online together and with that I saw a name flash under the people you may know section. I knew the name, Rida, as she was my friend’s cousin. For the next few weeks, her name kept popping on my computer as many times I logged in and since I wanted to make friends, on one fine day I sent her a friend request and I guess it was within a few hours that she accepted the request and just like that we were declared “friends” by courtesy of Mark Zuckerberg. But were we actually friends?
In the days that followed, I knew Rida was on my friend list but I had never spoken to her ever. I guess there was no common topic which could have been an ice breaker for us. The only online activity that happened between us was liking status and photos. To be honest, as I was new on Facebook I wanted to talk to every single person and the same was for her. I guess a year after we became “Facebook friends”, I saw that she had moved to Assam. There was the ice breaker, I lived in Assam and now I started speaking to her. Initially, it was all hey, hi, ssup stuff that could fetch replies even in the case of strangers. Then I started talking about Assam and our conversations began. From what I knew, Rida was one of the cutest girls ever and she still is. Year after year, we started talking really frequently, but our friendship was still confined to Facebook. I remember, it was 2014 when I was going through some bad stuff and Facebook wasn’t fascinating to me anymore. So I decided to quit this huge chunk of my social life that was Facebook. While deactivating my account, I told Rida the same and took her number so we could chat on WhatsApp, which was again a new booming platform at that time, teenage is a really douchy time.
So, I got rid of Facebook but now kept Rida even closer. We started talking day and night, got to know each other even more and frankly I enjoyed a text conversation with her more than an actual conversation with anyone else who would be physically present around me. I came to college and honestly, the time wasn’t going that well. However, she brought a lot of cheer to my depressive mind and I got acquainted with the thought that her support would help me get through this time. Time flew faster and suddenly she was in 12th standard and our topic of conversation switched to her future plan. Despite being academically weak, I always tried to help her in the best possible way and I knew her calibre would yield great results. She always wanted to score well in her 12th boards and the way she used to panic during the exams was really annoying. I’d spend hours on the phone yelling at her just so that she could stop worrying and study.
Last month, her results were declared. However I knew she would score great, she never stopped panicking and took a shut down from everything. A few days later I saw her active and asked her result, it was mind blowing! She scored 90+ in everything and no one was more proud of her than me. She plans to pursue English literature and I couldn’t have been happier about this decision.
We talk every day, even after 6 years and the truth is I sometimes feel I’m a little dependent upon her existence in my life. We know each other so well that we never fall short of topics to discuss. No matter what, I have to talk to her at least once every single day. Sometimes,she gets really cranky and talks very rudely, but that never upsets me because I have known her as the sweetest soul on earth, I have spoken to her when she was all depressed and panicked and even then she used to say bye as if I gifted her a Swarovski and that one goodbye is my day changer. Although we are best friends, we have never met once and that has never been an obstacle between us. I feel blessed to have Rida in my life and I thank Mark Zuckerberg for it.
No matter how you meet a person, or in this case you don’t; the only thing that counts is how you treat them and how that turns out to be the best thing that could happen in your life.
IT'S PEN-DING! 