I never wrote about those friendships, but yesterday,
something hit me with a ton of nostalgia,
There was one story shared by my university,
from undergrad, and it shared a story,
About a life we all lived once in a desert state,
in a small city, might as well, could possibly call it a village, it was Pilani,
my undergrad, some of the roads are still broken,
And inside, there were these old whitewashed,
no creatively built buildings, like our dorms,
I never called it my dorm though it was always home, or as we called Meera,
Life was clearly not well crafted or written out there,
it had infinite intersections of possibilities and life choices,
You could do anything in any way you wanted,
there was no attendance requirement,
I remember a few of the evenings,
a few of the mornings, sometimes entire days and nights,
Working on an assignment, or my car project,
or just talking with one of my friends about
how they could implement this new program to help more kids get an education,

It felt nice to wake up,
Have some chai, a tiny achievement,
and if you can make it to that early morning class at 8 am,
It felt like a day of wins, it was a big campus,
and it had a temple with white walls and a whole lot of ancient around,
I remember just standing there hearing the birds fly,
and the calm, my favorite places on campus,
there was an old statue, surrounded by grass,
clearly deserted, and I used to sit there,
asking questions, figuring out life,
I felt being around a guardian, and these two places were my solace,
On days of worry, and anxiety, there were also all roofs,
which me and my another friend would just walk,

I just stumbled upon a thought, sometime during the day,
it was amazing because all those relationships,
all those bonds, we formed, living together,
with all these friends, I have now, I had then,
was for no reason, everyone was equal,
their standing being represented because of what they had done,
I know such a utopian world, my existence,
our co-existence, and our bonds,
were dependent on each other, not where we came from,
and all of us, now going in so many amazing directions,
places, and workplaces, and I feel calm,
we all know, we chose each other before,
without these decorated societal constraints,
we chose each other, because of the core we shared,
for the care, for good, and I feel happy to know,
that I will always have these,
Have this bond, with these people,
from when we were teenagers, dressed up in shorts,
wearing flip-flops, unbrushed teeth,
trying to run into the class, riding bicycles together,
Missing lunches and eating masala Maggi at redis,
to birthdays, and a life together,


It is a friendship, that seems like built purely on trying to be there
for each other, so many love stories,
So much pure, so much care, honest ones,
trying to figure out how it all works, foundations,
Whether they know it or not, maybe they stayed or not,
all of them, still, some of the closest friends,
figuring out ways, and lifestyles together, and being there for each other,
maybe a lot of them, just some far-away knowns,
unknowns now maybe, so many continents in between,
but still, somewhere, I know if I would meet a lot of them,
it would be that raw connection, that care, wherever,
whenever we would meet, we meet, it felt like a known,
and that new place, like a home, might be the first time you visit,
but there is this naive trust, care, and love, looking at the sky,
filling up buckets of water, or just being there with the usual lemon tea and smile,
I have these people, forever kind of people,
with bonds formed in their truest form, and hoping to maybe,
stumbling upon a few more of these friendships,
lives, souls who hopefully would make every new place feel like home :)!

Picture credits - The Clock Tower, BITS Pilani Facebook Page!s