Spaces
Ok, so this happened a few days ago. I had taken a couple of days from work. Remembered a letter that i had long received from Rahul Gandhi.Felt like reading it once more. Problem was, I had no clue where i had kept it. You know sometimes we keep important stuff in such a secure place and completely forget its whereabouts.
Long story short, the letter remains untraceable — i have a faint recollection now that i put it in a book in my library. Anyway, in my great hunt i found a bunch of letters written to my better half, along with a whole lot of other notes.
Letters written when we were courting, some post marriage, some birthday cards, some just saying “I miss you” — written on long road trips back in the day i roamed the countryside of Maharashtra selling washing machines or convincing some service provider to tie up for bill payments. A note written in a train, some on hotel stationery, some on papers provided in a training program and a few scribbles as i waited for her in the reception area of a company she worked in. That she has preserved all of them so carefully continues to be a bit of a surprise; she is generally not given to such things.
Relationships are based on certain principles — always good to get a sense of what these were. How true we stay to these, I believe determines how long we last. We are different, my better half and I; have always been — I am more of an idiot romantic and she is much more pragmatic. I dream and she gets to the task of figuring out which of these dreams we can realistically hope to achieve. There is a common ground though that we had and continue to meet at despite all the “shut the door properly”, “why all these shoes” — kind of conversations. That common ground is of just letting each other be and of trust in our friendship. That’s it, friendship.
What else did i find:
- Tickets to one day matches and also the last Tendulkar match at Wankhede. Purchased in black at a time i had no job. Friends paid for the same and i repaid out of a dividend i received. So disappointing to see the man send out those tweets. Tickets still remain.
- A “contractor pass” to that match against England. Flintoff had that victory lap waving his shirt about. I was in the stands pouring Pepsi out for some really thirsty spectators.
- Tickets to a few concerts
- Some stubs of airline tickets
- Birthday cards given by teams i worked in — Some names have now gone clean out of memory. The thing about corporate life is “one makes many acquaintances and very few friends” — generally limited to the time one spends in any assignment.
- A letter from Ratan Tata
- A card from our good friend Mahesh — his attempt at doing a Pu La.
- Invitations to functions for announcing the first bill payment tie up, the first online renewal service, launches of some super projects that i have had the privilege of being part of.
- Resignation letter from my first job — truly heartfelt
- A fraying fax from a good friend
I guess all of us create some spaces to store the good memories, something to fall back upon in times of despair and i daresay joy. Something to remind us of who we were, who we promised to be. A space where we can just sit down and check how far we have come and how far we still need to go. Hold onto those spaces. Take some time out and revisit them. Find out how that playground is doing. Dust it, repair it, keep it ready for the next time.
And now to find that letter from RG…
