Grown-up?

Hello people! Yes, the Procrastinator of the Century is back. I have not stopped writing, there simply wasn't enough time to write everything I felt. However, today I am writing this because, while I was speaking to my childhood friend, a family member, (I know you are smiling, now climb down cloud 9), there were quite a few things I realized. 

You know when we were kids, we used to go near the window of our friend and yell "Tu khelne aa rahi hai kya?", in that peak voice, with that scorching sun over our head. Everyone used to play cricket or were forced to play and after a game, you used to go with your friends to that nearby shop and buy a Rs. 2 worth of Pepsi, which held memories of a lifetime. After going home, you used to get the taunt "Pura din niche hee raho! Upar aayi hee kyu?". No matter what day of summer vacations, your eyes used to open at 9 am, so that after eating breakfast and drinking milk, you could go down and spend time with those friends. 

The friends at school, with whom, you used to share that thandi tiffin maggi or with whom you bought that canteen ka vadapav. The whole reason to go to school was those friends, who taught you all kinds of nonsense and shared the seat and exchanged tiffins. Then the college friends, who shared a little more mature bond than the other, even though, they hadn't known you since childhood, there was something that just clicked, that went ahead to them being a part of your family, while I am still making memories with my college friends, there are many of you, who have passed college and working.

In a single snap, it all changed, we grew up, and instead of meeting and talking every day, we call and plan on a meeting once a year. From coming down to play, to taking ages to plan a single lunch, from asking, "Maths ka woh sum solve kiya?", to asking, "Is life treating you well?", from getting taunted to being with them all day, to being asked, "why don't you meet them". The friendships, where you know about every single favorite teacher, actor, actress, movie, gossip, and crush, now, there needs to be a conversation, just to know about their life. 

Oh! how we all wish we realized the happiness of those days so much sooner, instead we hope to just relive that time, just once. This is when you know, that the ones who stayed are the ones to be treasured forever. They are the people you rely on when everything feels like a change but that friend is a sense of comfort. While everything is hurting you, they are the source of peace. Some may leave, they were not bad friends, just a few life lessons. These grown-up friendships, which I am still learning about, are not about talking every day, it is about talking effortlessly, the one time you meet in a year, it is feeling that sense of home, despite being away from it. It is living and cherishing over the old memories, while you are making new ones with that same one.