WITHOUT THESE FOUR WOMEN! (3)

The third book was issued to me by Anitha ma’am to proceed further. As I already decided, this book should be recorded by a close one. Few people came to my mind. First, I approached Janet to record. She agreed to do without any hesitation. Her sister Benet also was willing to contribute. In fact, Benet said that she would come and collect the book from my home itself. Everything was ready. All of a sudden, Benet was hospitalized and Janet was forced to say no to the project reluctantly.

Jennet Christina!!!

In the beginning, I thought of giving all the 3 books to both Jennet and Janet. Then, I dropped the idea of giving it to Jennet as she was busy searching job. It was only then the first 2 books were dispatched to Sumathi. After I joined my job, Jennet’s father once told me,

“Do something for Jennet too.”

I don’t know how many of you would agree with me. It’s an inexplicable pain of confronting our job seeking friends when we are in a job. The mental affliction will be even worse when our close friend is jobless. I was also in a same set of mind. Jennet is one of my close friends. And, she was searching an apt job when I was moving towards my increment exams with books. She would not have minded if I had sought help from her at that time. But, I didn’t want to trouble her at that time.

Usually, I used to take time to mingle with girls. But, for me, it didn’t happen with her when we joined M.Phil. Jennet was my senior when I was doing my postgraduate which I never knew. I started talking to her in the very beginning after joining M.Phil. It was little easy for me to move with her since she had already been with visually challenged students. She behaves like a child with her friends and carries her maturity in public.

It was an educational trip to Mangalore. I forgot the name of the beach. She also would have forgotten I guess. Nearly 9 of us descended into the sea. We were all together in the beginning. Somehow we were parted. Jennet and I started walking in the water. We didn’t know how many kilometer we would have walked. But, we walked more than 40 minutes towards south. She turned back and could see none. Then only we realized the distance. I don’t know about her. But, for me, it was one of the cherishing moments with her. We shared a lot with each other, and our friendship grew and started sailing between the sea and the shore.

26^th September 2015.

Even after completing our masters in philosophy, we got chance to meet each other. In fact, we were the only two met occasionally after the course. After entering into my job, I could utilize only 2^nd and 4^th Saturdays to complete my certificate formalities. Fortunately, my college worked on Saturdays. We planned and applied our transfer certificate on 26-09-2015 which was the 4^th Saturday of September. I gave her slip to receive mine also when she was free. But, she waited for me to join her.

10^th October 2015.

The 2^nd Saturday of the month made us meet to get our transfer certificate together. I wanted to meet Kishore also. He came. We met some of his B.ED friends. Later, we three left everyone and engaged in a short conversation. The day ended with the sharing of my new joining experience.

After receiving the news of our provisional and consolidated mark sheets in the month of November, I sent her a message to get them and not to delay. I could get mine only on 9^th January 2016 I knew. Hence, I didn’t ask her to wait for me. Moreover, obtaining certificates was very important to her I thought.

Waiting for me for 2 months is too much I know. She received my message and simply replied after a few seconds.

‘I will wait. Let us collect them together.’

Both Jennet and I wanted Janet to join us. But, each and every attempt of ours ended in fiasco.

9th January 2016.

We got our provisional certificates. My consolidated has got some printing error. Hence, the in charge asked me to come again and get it. Fortunately, there was no such problem with her certificates. We met our professor and proceeded to lunch. The smallest treat of mine had got over in our college canteen. We called Kishore and chit-chatted for a while. She invited me to her home but I denied and told her that I would come next time. All the three knew that it was our last meeting. But, this life is filled with twists. I gave my provision certificates to her and, she took it her home!

13^th February 2016.

I got my consolidated mark sheet and left the college. As we already planned, she was waiting for me outside the college to take me to her home. I went, ate her preparation, played with the dog, got my provisional and came. Joni is her dog’s name. Such a wildest and naughtiest dog I’ve ever seen. It was not my first visit to her house. In fact, I have gone 5 times. As a result, Joni became close to me. First visit was to keep my mobile safe since it was our college cultural day. Second visit was to meet her father when he had met with an accident. Third one was to get my provisional certificate.

9^th April 2016.

My friend had got a job! I decided to give my third book for recording. She said yes and the fourth visit took place. Her father was there in the home. He’s such a wonderful and an optimistic man. I gave her the book, left the home and her father left me in the railway station. We planned to send those audio files through Whats App. But, her effort went in vain. Then, we created Dropbox for file transferring. She was supposed to join the college in June but, she was called even earlier for the admission process. Still, she completed the whole book and sent. Each chapter was separately recorded and sent. She was very consciously doing it. The time had come for me to get back the book. I decided to get the book and thank her in direct.

29th May 2016.

I informed her. She already sounded very tired. I reached her home after a few minutes with my brother. I felt like disturbing her. My brother pressed the calling bell. Her father opened the door. He said she was sleeping. I didn’t want to disturb her. He gave me the book. I left the home with my brother without even thanking her.

Getting a good friend is a gift of god I would say. Fortunately, I have got.

To be continued.