Two True Wanderers

"I do not like travelling, I do not like noise, Italian food, crowd, crabs, honking, spontaneous plans at midnight, people on social media, selfies, people getting married."

"What do you like?"

"I like mountains, chocolates, bikes, beaches, Mughlai Chicken, the smell of coffee, picking up a nice shirt to wear in the morning and I like you."

The conversations between June & Sydney never stopped. They meet to talk and talk about almost everything under the sun. They were friends, more than friends and less than what people usually loved to term them as. They never cared what others thought, except for the times when they had to lie, a rare for them.

Life has changed quite a lot between them in all these years, ten to be precise. They studied together, started working together and then moved cities, separately. But the chemistry never died. They always started from where they have left. It has been close to a year they are in the same city again, but there was something they were searching.

June always had been the most adventurous one. She has been independent, self reliant and lived a life on her terms. Sydney is more cautious, thinks twice before holding her hands and ensures they have a proper place to sit at a café if they planned to meet. But these differences made them meet each other without any agendas and future thoughts.

"A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved”, her boss once told her when he found her not able to concentrate at work. She, even being the stronger one at fighting the life battles, is more vulnerable to emotions compared to Sydney. Few understand that, even fewer making any effort to help.  

His friends always knew a rebel was born when he wrote C for Curious when his teacher told him to scribble Cat. He was known for his humility, his strive to be successful, to be known. He also had his ego, which kept coming in between the reality and the aspirations. He kept it aside for most times except for certain moments when emotions took control.

It is not that they do not meet or talk anymore, they are searching that spark which used to lit up with their conversations. They are searching for a right time or place to meet up. They are searching why the grey tick is now taking more time to turn blue. May be they are searching for all wrong things, they are putting terms & conditions to their meetings. They should only search for themselves.

Sometimes, on his bed, wide awake at night, he wonders whether he has lived at all. Is it the same for everybody? Do some people have a greater talent for living than others or do some people never live, but just exist?

He once saw her in the dreams, “breath and don’t try to be perfect”, she told him from the back. He wished it was real. Because it was her who breathed enough life to his days, once.