My Best Pal

My mind rewinds to the first day in office. I entered office and saw a smiling girl whom I didn’t know. I smiled at her in turn and went back to my cubicle.

Kerala – God’s own country!! The freshness, the beauty, the bloom, the charm – can be extended on and on. The trip to God’s own country for my dear friend Lisha’s engagement gifted me the scenic views, above all the time to understand my colleague Divya.

Divya – As the name indicates, she is of divine nature. A soft, tender girl who is always seen with a warm smile. Though I had worked with her for 2 years prior to this trip together, I had never got a chance to speak a lot to her. It was later that we started chatting a lot, expressing and sharing our thoughts. Late office hours never seemed late to us. The rest rooms, the cafeteria, our cubicles were all the silent spectators of our talks. Her favorite Mangalore Bhaji, my favorite samosas were waiting to be finished but we never did as our chats extended at the late office hours.

We speak a lot about our families, college days, kids, responsibilities and of course office talks too! Never felt our talks were too long! Until I met her, I always felt that talking to others in our regional language was the reason of longer talks. Nevertheless, I haven’t felt that we are conversing in English. Language, culture has never been a barrier between us. I went to Udupi to meet her and her lovely Angel Sannidhi. I was greeted and treated warmly by her family. I understood where her caring, loving nature came from. We had spoken a lot about our families earlier that I never felt that was the first time I met her parents. I felt like my home indeed. Her family is not different from mine. We found similarities in most of our talks about our families. Our families had lot in common. The love, affection, care for each other, hospitality and much more. We found similarities in smaller things too 😀 Her sister and I share almost the same name but with a minor difference in spelling 😉 Her sister Shubha and Harshu share something in common – both are Surya fans 😀

There were number of instances when we try to convey the same thing to each other at the same time. I always had the telepathy when it comes to her and she too does read my mind.

It was not only the happiness that we have shared but also our short comings. My mind reminds to call her during any of my difficult times and I indeed knew, I would always feel better after talking to her. Our husbands respect our love and friendship and always support us. In fact there are times, when Guna asks “Is that Divya you’re chatting with?” when I look at my chat window and smile. Her lovely daughter Sannidhi is as sweet as her. Hope as time flies, Harshu and Sannidhi become closer to each other like us.

Maybe, another reason about looking at IBM as my second home is Divya. There are no words to express how great I feel about this sweet, lovely woman!! The smiling girl whom I met 6 years back when I entered my office continues smiling at me as always!!