Friendship

There was cantaloupe on the table today for breakfast. Along with guavas, apple and jackfruit. But the sight of the ripe pieces of melon that was introduced to me so many decades ago in another country brought back memories. And I smiled.

Poonam and I shared an apartment that summer in Delaware. We were at a summer job, a requirement of the Ph.D. program in which we worked side by side in the lab. We needed a place close to the company location and finalized a quaint house near the university. The old couple that lived there went fishing to Maine (or was it New Hampshire?) each summer, renting out their home for a few weeks. It rooms were cluttered with antique furniture, knick-knacks, books, clocks and curios. The common theme underlying their possessions was - birds. While they seemed to own bird-shaped, or bird-like items in every room (even the kitchen towels has bird prints), they seemed to have a preference for owls. And so we found ourselves being followed around the house by large eyes, whether it was the bird feeder in the yard or the mounted owl in the dining room. The rooms were dark and dusty. So we limited ourselves to the bedrooms and the kitchen area when we returned each evening from a long day "at the office".

It was a time of great adventure for me. I was being paid a decent salary for the first time in my life at what looked like a regular job (not counting the student stipend that the university paid). I reported to a great boss who mentored me and built my confidence. It was the first time I stayed with a room-mate. Poonam and I would drive from Baltimore to Delaware on Monday mornings and return on Friday evenings. We ate cereal or toasted English muffins and fresh fruit for breakfast - juicy summer berries, watermelon, bananas and one day Poonam picked up cantaloupe. I loved the soft texture and sweetness of each bite of this exotic fruit. And so we consumed large quantities of cantaloupe and had a great time that summer. We went to Atlantic City one weekend, to the famous Jersey shore on another. We shopped at the malls and visited some of the famous Dupont family museums.

I learnt other things from Poonam and about Poonam. We tried cooking with new ingredients and came up with recipes for mushroom curry and broccoli masala. I heard stories of Poonam's pen pals and her pet dog. All this came to me in a rush, propelled by the sight of a fruit. Something so simple has the capacity to evoke tastes, experiences and a stream of memories, like a magician looking into his hat for a coin and pulling out a long colorful ribbon. Friendship is a not just a special feeling of affection but an experience that forever brands you, with its own mark.

In Singapore, I find so many new things to compare to my days in the US and to my more recent years in India. But each place carries memories of people I met, friendships made and cemented with shared experiences. I am new here. No one yet to label as "friend". But I know that soon I will have another stash of experiences to recount at a later point and then the events won't simply be a narration but a story, one that includes friends.