Proximate Reality Of The Day

I stumbled upon an old friend yesterday.
 "You? What a pleasant surprise!" I exclaimed.
He smiled and asked, "Where were you? It's been years. "
Reality stuck like Steel on bare skin.
I counted the years on my fingers
One. Two..Three..four..five
It had been five years since we hadn't seen each other. Yet, it felt like it was yesterday when we were sixth standard student, fighting over small issues like library books.
After asking about his whereabouts, family,  relationships, and life, we realised that apart from our appearances, a lot had actually changed.
His next question stung me too.
"Where is everyone these days?"
By everyone, he meant my best friends from school time, the people who were my lifeline.
I had no answer to his question.
I had isolated myself from everyone.
Even in the age of social networking, where we have been tied together under one platform, the dark reality is that we have never been so apart.
I had no idea about what was going on in the lives of people who once meant everything to me .
I felt sad.
His concluding lines were, "You were never like this. Then how did this happen?"
I chuckled. Waqt ne kiya kya hasin sitam.
That half and hour meet felt so contending, yet it remained in the core of my conscience throughout the day, disturbing me .
Was it just me?
Or life had brought these distances?
No matter how much I had tried, I couldn't stay in touch with my best of friends.
I know I wasn't busy.
I didn't have other priorities.
What had happened?
I guessed. It was L.I.F.E.
L = loneliness was comforting
I = even if you tried, you couldn't stay in touch with everyone.
F = only a few friends stayed in life, other in our memories.
E = everyone had their own struggles
Childhood was all about staying in touch,  talking everyday, sharing our momentary worries away.
Growing up had made us a tough nut.
We didn't talk with our old friends everyday.
We met them after ages.
We pasted a smile on our faces everyday when we faced the world.
Our struggles were entirely our own.
Our innocence had lost.
The innocence of sharing every single detail with friends had lost.
We had put the facades of reality and life around our ourselves.
Time hadn't given us time to think about how much we had lost.
Everyone had changed.
Everyone was trying to keep themselves busy.
And this is the proximate reality of the day.

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