How I Met My Best Friend

It was an exam day I saw her. One white fair girl who walked towards me as she looks into her notebook. Her expression appeared to be so tensed,though it was just enough to make me see her continuously.

My college life was so much memorable like any other student. I relished every ups and downs it gave me. There are some deplorable things, some good things and few best Things as well. Series Exams were nothing but a time pass for me. I was such an exam day when i met her. That particular day I came little earlier to the exam hall.Not because I was thus keen to write the exam But I dint have anything to do.

After looking into my exam hall number, I hit the corridor close to my exam hall. My eyes were looking for someone from my class so that I could learn something from them,But I didn't get anyone. So I was simply drifting around the classroom and a little after I found a seat for myself near to the steps.I saw each person coming through  the stairs.Most of them were so engaged with their studies. And it was then I saw her. One face that was quite good  to impress me. There she was, a cute, good looking girl walking towards my direction by reading her notebook.I have seen a  lot of girls before, but this was something 'new' to spend those precious 'last Minutes before the exam' by looking at her. She reached the corridor and looked round for her classmates to substantiate  whether the room she reached is right one or not. She then found herself a calm place and began reading her note book again.

I was visually examining her closely and at the same time i wondered why i could not  study like her. While She reads the book, her short hair was hanging in her face, which earns her more pretty.

Her presence caused me perform some unwanted show off (like walking near to her, speaking aloud, pretending to be a 'cool person' who does not even hold a notebook in the exam day, etc ).My intention was to capture her attention. But she not even noticed me. Nothing great happened that day except  one more bad exam   gets added to  my list.I did what i could ,to find her after the exam. But i couldn't.

I was guessing about her while I went back to the hostel. Her tensed face made me think about her an abundance of times. The one vital information I Amassed from that exam incident was about her branch. She was from civil engineering dept.So I commenced Making new friends from civil department and started probing her name among my civil friends.I tried to describe her in my own words like 'small eyes','tall enough', etc., but that wasn't enough For them to identify her from 70 -80 girls of whole civil department. Of course I can't incorporate Them, every one was behind some other girls. So no one took my request in solemn. But that was not a reason for me to quit from the mission.

I continued my works in my own ways. most of my efforts were failures. conspicuously! You can't facilely identify a girl from a college of more than 2300 students. In my case I dint have a single detail of the person I wanted to know about, Plus the label of a first year student made the things more arduous. then too, I strived even though the results were negative. I reiterate the same process in the next exam days as well,but I couldn't find her.

But trust me.our efforts comes true one day. The day was a nebulous afternoon, My friends and I were standing near to an ATM machine proximate to my college. we were hashing out about something, but I was silently thinking about the current on going class which we skipped from. one of our friend made us to skip the class because he wasn't in an earnest mood to sit in the class. initially I wasn't delighted about his decision because I had already lost some attendance because of my 'interests' in lectures. But now I have to verbalize thanks to him. because that was the second time I have seen her.

while we were talking with each other, through the gap between friends standing in front of me, I realized the girl I'm probing is getting towards our way.I don't know what she is doing here in this class time.Did she skip the class like we did.?  Whatever it may be, she is coming towards our direction. She was in a black T-shirt and jeans which makes me consider whether she belonged to a kung-fu class or something.

I got exhilarated in front of ma fiends and they coughed purposefully when she was more closer.'MARIYA'!. One of my friend said her name aloud.He recognized her name. He was likewise a 'researcher' like me,more efficient than me of course. whatever it may be, I got her name. one more step closer now I am. 'MARIYA' ...'MARIYA'..,i repeated the name again and again in my mind.

Since all this went on in real life,not in the movie, it got a great deal of time.Approximately one year, that Is my first year of graduation. I couldn't do anything outstanding in the past one year. I wanted to talk with her but I didn't have the bravery to talk. It was time to change to the new second year hostel which was more 

smaller than the old hostel.

From the second day onwards, I commenced my spy work. I asked my friends about her. They agreed to help me but i didn't want her to know about me. So i requested them to keep the matter in secret. Everyday,my hobby was to ask them about her ,like her nature,native place, her approach to boys ,etc. I learnt everything they know about her,and they were so  adept at sharing their information too.

One night, they offered me her phone number and inspirited me to call her. Every boy like such things. They always relish to help in constructing these kinds of 'Bridges' in between girls and boys. My friends also did the same. But I wasn't bold enough to call her in the night. So I postponed the plan to call her, but I never 

called her.They compelled me agian .But i didn't.Then they started saying that old-famous dialogue "If I was there in your place, I would have...... ". But those things were not a problem for me. I wanted to call her but I didn't.Simply didn't. But I did something incipient.

I planned to commence a facebook account,so that i can gradually get in touch with her through facebook. That was the time facebook began to attact people to it. But the problem was, how she is going to accept my friend request without knowing me.? Especially when i dont have enough number of mutual friends. I was cerebrating to find a solution to fix that trouble. Finally I found one and it was simple. First step was to make a large number of friends. Once I carried through that job, there is a high probability to make a high number of mutual friends with her. Then in the second step, I can send her a request . At least by  examining the number of mutual friends, she might accept the request.

The plan was good. I decided to do that. I created a new account and i sat 3 hours in front of Facebook that day.I sent proximately 300 requests that day (most of them was two boys). within the next The few days I accomplished the first step. Most of them accepted my request. in an interval of 10 days I became a Facebook utilizer with around 250 friends. So the very next Saturday I took net connection and send her a request. sending request was tenser than guessing an answer on an entrance question with five options. I waited Minutes, hours for her reply. but nothing transpired that day.

Tomorrow morning I heated up earlier as I had to get to church.Just afore leaving the room, I did an expeditious check in my account and I saw one red symbol at the right top of my account which verbalizes that she has accepted that request.Two seconds I stood straight without knowing what to do further, and then I couldn't hold.

I looked around.I saw my roommate is enjoying his sleep in his bed. He was with me throughout the process. He encouraged me to send her the request. But now he is sleeping.How could he sleep without knowing his effort's result.I called him.No..No response.Called agian...Same result...No other option,I took my steel plate which i used to eat,and throw that towards his brain.Good throws.It hit where i wanted to hit.I received immediate results. I saw some unknown expression on his face as he removed his bed sheet from his face. I told him the result,he nodded and exited back to sleep.I got back from church around 8am, i went through her profile.her photos,friend lists,etc.

I still can recall how I entered Into my classroom the next day.I arrived at the college around 8:50.Class was supposed to be at 9 am.But a few were there so far.they were sitting on the desks.I entered into the class with a 'closeup' smile and I Described everything transpired during past 2 days.They didn't asked anything but I pushed them to hear my success level. After that Incident, I practiced to take internet connection so often,but I never ever noticed her as online.My intention was to get going with messaging but nothing was on my path. She was offline all the time.

As days pass by, My concerns over her decreased gradually. None of my circumstances give me a green signal.Those were the days second year students brought more freedom In the college, hence I became involved in several natural processes which draw me so busy and kept me off from her.Fun with friends, hostel life, football plays in the evenings, weekend cricket matches, it led me to another world. we became more closer with classmates, more good friends everything erase her image from my intellect. 

But for an action, there must be a reaction. I got an opportunity 14 months afterwards.

The whole college was quick to welcome the second day of arts.But I wasn't. Last day's programs made me so decrepit. I wanted a long deep sleep.

My second day started with a phone call from my classmate requesting us to give some laptops for the smooth operation of the program committee.I attended his call with an unpleasant face. While answering his call, I was not at all Pleased. I served him in a somewhat negative way. But he forced us to go there.I didn't have any other option than obeying him.He asked me to take my room mate with me.We both started out ready to get to college.We reached there around 8.30.I looked around. Preparations are going well.

My cellphone is rangand just checked it.The same person again,but this time he desires something more. He wanted us to help the program committee. Our job was to sit in a small room adjacent to the stage and avail contestants to play their musical compositions while they performing on the stage.That was little hard for me actually. 

I wanted to see all the Programs but this guy asking me to spend my whole day in that small room for some stupid work.I couldn't accept that at any cost. But what to do. The person who asking me the help is the third year coordinator of the arts. so without saying anything back to him, I reached the room adjacent to the stage.

Only a few were there in that room. Two or three. I noticed one chair and a little table located at the far 

recess of the room.i kept my laptop over the table.My friend made a cunning move.He jumped into the only remaining chair in the room and smiled at me like a winner. 

'Go and find Another chair'  he told me in Thrissur slang.I saw around. not even a single person was there in the room now. I wanted a junior to give these laptops and works. but the room was empty.I felt myself becoming irritated.What ever encountered so far was not at all impressive.I had to wake up from my incomplete sleep and he asked me to sit in this horrible room for the next 6-7 hours!. I desperately wanted to get out from there. My eyes were searching for someone.

'This The table is dusty'.   My friend said himself, looks too much concern about his laptop. I looked at him. He seems happy with the current work.He was looking for something to clean the dusty surface.He asked me to pass  some paper Sheets from the nearby shelf.I took some papers and handed it to him. he arranged those papers above the dusty table and put his laptop above that.He seems gratified himself by making his laptop liberate from dusty surface.The programs haven't started yet. I decided there to wait until more people reach the room. I took one chair and found myself a seat. I began gaming on my mobile.

                        " Oh, You took my seat. where should I sit now ". 

One clear voice along with a chuckle made me look straight.In my first sight I witnessed a young woman sticking out right in front of him and demanding about the chair he is currently sitting. I didn't require much time for me to realize who that girl was.The one with whom I wanted to speak is doing the same thing in front of my friend.I don't remember what I did for the next 30 seconds. She turned right and gazed in my direction.She Is looking towards my way, I just tilted my head and acted like I am engaged with something else.I wanted to give her a smile. But I didn't have the courage, or my mind forced me to pretend like a tough one. she got near to shelf. I adjusted my chair in order to get her work easier, she was searching for something. I turned back to my work, watching her out of the corner of my eye.It didn't contain even 30 minutes to understand what she is looking for.  

                                     "Have You seen some papers I kept here?" 

She asked him as she turned over in his direction.He threw back a doubt look.But I didn't have any doubt.I answered her question in my head,"Ha.i saw those papers, in fact, I know where they are too".

" Papers ? " He replied as he raised his laptop in order to Make the papers visible to her.Now her reaction was something unexpected.

                                  " This is the list of Participants for the very first program"

she screamed.He looked at me, I just stood from my seat and readied for a foot race.He leaned closer to me and whispered something.She looked at me. "I didn't.." .I whispered.She took those papers and examined it. White coloured paper became brown now.

"Ah. . sorry.. actually I was...."          my friend started replying here.  She didn't say anything for a while but then said   "It's OK. Can you give me a paper?"   

   She asked by creating an artificial smile on her face.We went over our bag for papers even though we knew the zero possibility of producing a paper from our bag.She ran away and found some papers and continued her work.For the next 10-15 minutes we didn't speak to her.Not a word.

Some junior volunteers came to the room little latter and my frined sighed in relief.

"Come.. We will go. They will take care of this... We can go". He said

He stated as he pointed to sthe juniors.An hour earlier, I wanted to come out of the room. But now something has changed.I struggled to reply.                

  " How can we!. He told us to sit here na..so better not to go, "     

  I said. His reply came immediately.

               "They don't need us.Many are here".          

 We started to argue with each other.finally he decided to go and I choose the opposite alternative.'Let him go'. I thought. I shifted to his chair which was More closer to her.Nothing took place for the next few minutes. program started. she was announcing the chest numbers and details of the coming programs. I waited her to come and ask me something. Whenever she works over my direction I pretended as I am loving the ongoing boring program.

The clock is ticking........................................................................................... I don't remember the correct time. The moment she talked to me for the very first time. the moment I tried to acheive for the past 3 years.

 "iyalde  peru entha ?".

She asked me my name in pure crystal clear Malayalam.  "Is Malayalam this much beautiful to hear?". I intended as I lifted my head to her.She is standing right in front of me.

  'Bibin Thomas'. I replied.Oh my god.she is smiling at me.It was too good to feel such a situation.Obviously. The person who you wanted to talk for the past 3 years is asking you the name. of course the best of moments.I wanted to ask her something. what to ask.......

"your name?". I made a safe move. 

"Maria " she said.And so it was like a slowly accelerating vehicle.'Native place, family, studies, GPA..........'I covered nearly all the topics I could cross in first Meeting.

Talking to un unknown girli is like performing a program on the stage.Tensions, worries, everything are only up to the stage.Once you started the first line of your song or the first step of your program, everything bothering you disappears.We hardly spoke for 30 minutes. some times she went, for announcing the names.

I went out a little later and got back within an hour.This time she was sitting on my chair,

"Oh... You had food right. See i didn't have anything." She said as if she knows for a long time. I didn't say anything but gave her a smile.

"Do you have water with you?".

She demanded once more.This time I nodded my head with a 'no chance' expression.

 "At least they could provide some water here. Fed up with This announcement and all" she whispered.

I accepted the job of getting some water for her. I stared around. no way. No other option than buying a 

bottle from the store..I purchased one bottle from the shop and gave her. I never behaved like this before. this is the first time I'm making out something nifty for an unknown person, I thought in my mind.She took it and sipped from it."

"How do you arrange this water ?" she asked me "i bought it from the store". I replied.

"You bought it?why " .She said with an unknown expression.I didn't say anything clearly, said something incomplete.I sat there for 30 more minutes.After that I decided to endure out. I gave my number to her and said her to inform me for whatever urgent demand. That was a clever move. 

She never called me in my mobile. I waited for her call but didn't get anything. I went there last day  but i couldn't talk to her a word as she was so busy with her work. We didn't talk a word that day. But i got a message from her next week.

I was having tea with my friends when i saw her walking infront of us. We were sitting under the mango tree and she was coming through the corridor. She smiled at me when she reached me. I asked some casual talks and offered her a tea when she prepared to leave. She didn't accept it first but i forced her and finally she had to accept.  When i reached my hostel that day, my phone rang i saw a message from an unknown number. The message was a bible verse and i didn't know who it was. So I asked who it was and i got my reply from Maria. I saved her number. She said thanks for my coffee and that was how it started, How i met my best friend.

Now, As i look back i could recollect all the beutiful moments i spent with my friend. Its been 3 years i first talked to my friend. She was my first crush. And when I told her that few months ago, she was laughing. But now we are best friends and neither of us want to changes the status of our relation. 

She is the best thing happened to me in my college life. We are miles apart now. We fight each other as if we are enemys. But at the end of the day, She makes me laugh till i feel my stomach aching.  Its amazing how much i learned from her. She fight with me at the same time she considers me as her own brother. I didn't see her for the past 18 months. I don't know how much fat she became. She might  be a grown  up woman now. but one thing i know. My decision to go to that room in that day was absolutely right.