Bench Partner

The pendulum had just struck four.

For last few months around the clock depression engulfs me as a best friend. The medicines didn’t work for last two nights. With sleepless eyes and a dejected mood was resting on the long bed side pillow. Was blankly looking at the playground in front of the house, right through the window. The old cotton curtains were tugged to the window grills which made the view to the barren field more vivid. The goal posts stood out, waiting for the neighbourhood boys to turn up in the evening. In the stillness of the surrounding I kept self-healing a painful headache.

Silent afternoon broke into pieces as the phone started ringing.

“Can I speak to Kushal Basu?”, a distant voice asked politely.

“Speaking. Who are you?”, I hesitantly asked as no one other than Tiklu calls these days.

“Roll Number 16.”, prompt came the reply. 

It took a while to reassemble from long lost past. Memory card that we move with is also strange. Even without use for years it is indexed all well for recollection.

“Lily, is that you?”, I asked bit nervous.

“How are you?”, she asked firmly. The same voice of the class monitor made me alert.

“Where are you?”, Instead of answer I questioned. Not many in the class had courage to interrogate her. She was too firm to be faced. I had a special gate pass.

“I never left Kolkata.” After a second’s pause she continued – “I need a help. Can we meet?”. Some relations stand like the old black telephone, left unused mostly but ready to respond anytime.

 “Where? When?” – I was hesitant to begin with. She coaxed just as in school. With still some doubts in my mind we settled for a tea-meet the following Sunday afternoon.

As usual, Tiklu called me up towards the evening. Most days these calls end with casual health updates and my kitchen status. The length of the long-distance call was turning shorter. Tiklu can hear the silence that often spills over the old telephone. He patiently shares news of sports and politics desperately trying to keep me connected to the world that is fast changing. The earth is spinning faster than I was taught in school. I often feel scared and compress my presence.

That day, I spoke about my school friend’s call and our impending meet. With age, I tend to have become a natural child and keep posting every little happening to Tiklu. Disclosure gives comfort.

“Are you sure you want to meet someone after so many years?” Tiklu sounded worried.

I sensed it and tried to dissolve the disturbance that started brewing.  “Don’t worry. I will think over and may not even go.” We disconnected amicably.

On a second thought felt Tiklu may be right. Who knows, the caller can be an impostor! May be some motif. It is so common these days to fool senior citizens in the city. Too many murder cases get reported. Amidst all doubts for some reason I was slowly preparing for the Sunday afternoon. Tiklu also missed asking and I kept silent on this subject.

It was Sunday. After a long time, felt the sticky melancholy have taken a day-off. Excitement was the taste of the day. I reached the shopping mall ahead of time. Unsure of what she may like, looked at the lady in the retail store for suggestion.

She helped me inhale a few tester strips and the coffee beans in between. She soon realized I have no choice and my dilemma was leading nowhere. Pointing to the turquoise blue glass bottle the young lady suggested – “This has a mild smell, she will certainly like this one”. I got convinced.

With a branded paper bag in hand I stepped out of the lift to the food court on the top floor of the shopping center. A usual weekend afternoon. Families, young college goer, couple now and to-be, reunited friends and casual ones all added to the hustle-bustle in the court. Occasional noise of the fruit crusher and the coffee maker blew up the decibels a few notches higher. I kept walking and my eyes kept rolling in search of someone. I was not conditioned to the surroundings and for a moment wondered if I did the right thing.

After several years, even beneath the shadows of uncertainty was experiencing an unknown pleasure. Realized at some corner of the almost finished life still I had some urge remaining. Cusp of childhood turning teenage had a different taste altogether. Lily summed it up all for me. Strange that the school parting day was when we last met. We exchanged a few letters and midway it was lost.

Paused by the cake shop. The smell of the confectionery was hard to ignore. I took a long breath to consume the aroma in the air. Just when I started thinking what next, felt a warm hand patting my shoulder on the right. Turned back to see her after decades. My teenage memories greeted me with a brilliant smile. I wish I could turn back the clock and bring the wheels of time to a stop. 

“Lily” – I could only say this much. 

I had to run my imagination to equate the girl I last saw in black school uniform with the one in a white cotton saree in front of me. She had the mauve colour pallu tightly held onto her hand covering her back. A fancy bag with historic paintings on it, hung from her right shoulder.

Her aging face had a few wrinkles on the forehead. With a golden bangle on one hand and a wrist watch on the other, she looked as strong as ever. Life may have offered pains to her more than pleasure, some which she shared on the phone and some later, but her youthful smile stood still.

It was the first day in secondary school; students had huddled around the notice board to check on the section allocation. Lily Sen, was the name following mine on the roll register.

… We shared the status quo all by luck for rest five years of school. ‘K’ to ‘L’ was a thin zone as far as first initials of names were considered. This half a dozen years had accrued lot of fortune over the lost years of connect. It was a treasured possession.

It was not all well to begin with, we took a while to adjust and then bonded. We stepped out of childhood and marched through the deadly corridors of adolescence together. There was no formal coaching, no special guidance but we learned to co-exist, compete, respect and above all connect. Just as much as we did today.

Breaking my thoughts, she said - “You still look so handsome Kushal!” – I heard this adjective after ages. Her expressive eyes remained as energetic as in school.

“How did you recognize me?” – I asked her out of utter curiosity.

With a teenage smile, she looked at me and said – “Didn’t see anyone as old in the food court!” Saying so she broke into her signature laughter. I stood embarrassed. Her overflowing amusement was infectious.

We took a table in the center of the court. Sat face to face, may be for the first time. We were used to sitting side by side for six long years in the two and half feet wooden bench. We followed each other better that way. This was fairly new, but we started conversing once more.

With a shy look asked her – “How are you Lily?”

Her grey plaited hair had a few black streaks. Through an ordinary glass pairs, she looked straight into my eyes. Her eyes said it all – a warrior of many battles. It had depth of pain within but her tears may have lost its ways as the magic of her sparkling smile overshadowed all.

“Kushal, how do you spend your day usually?” – She always caught me on my weakness. But I never had to pretend. It was an unsaid understanding.

“Sitting Idle, at home!” – I replied promptly and continued – “Took retirement almost five years back. Had kept buying big fat novels all through my work life. Planned to read them when I get out of the nine to six rigors!”

“But now you don’t love to read anymore.” She said with extreme sense of predictability.

“Exactly.” I wondered how she guessed it right. We continued knowing more about each other’s life.

“How about you?”

In a sweet but sarcastic tone, she narrated. “My husband was in a tearing hurry to reach the heaven and the hell broke on me. I was thirty.”

We exchanged silent looks. She resumed.

“With our baby in my arms, I started a marathon.” It reminded me my bench partner never missed a trophy in school sports. I always stood in the common line clapping for her, often happy at times jealous. Life prepared her for the battles destined.

It was getting very heavy for me. Though unfamiliar with the norms of the food court, I asked – “Lily what would you like to have?” My intent was genuine but my looks revealed my experience.

My class monitor took the lead once more. She came back with two cups of hot coffee. I kept stirring the sugar powder while she sipped the hot black bitter coffee as is.

“Who stood by you in those difficult times?” – I asked feeling sorry for reasons unknown.

“My little son!” – She smiled.

“Where is your son these days?”, I asked her very naturally.

But I regretted later. With a bleak smile the seasoned fighter replied – “Not sure why it happened with me once again. He gifted me a grandson and left without any notice.”

I was shocked. Tiklu’s face had just bubbled up in my mind, that she asked – “How old is your son?”

“Forty!” – I replied in a low tone. Not sure what this fact would do to her. But I continued as I wanted her to feel at home with me. “He works for an IT company. Stays in Texas with his wife and daughter.”

I started sharing my little world with her.

“Tiklu, hijacked me to Texas, after his mother passed away. That was a different school. I returned back as a failed student but a free man.”

On my self-proclaimed failure, once more Lily poured into her signature laughter that was full of life. It was so refreshing. Most smiles are crafted these days and it hardly touches mind.

“So, after so many decades what made you call me last week?” I switched the topic. I was enjoying the new me inside that was trying to wake up and drink the unfinished enthusiasm buried for long. 

“A dream!” It sounded crazy. She took the baton back from me.

“Last Wednesday, after lunch had fallen asleep. Eyes painted a wonderful picture. The wooden plate boldly held ‘Class V Section B’. Mrs. Menon, entered the class room. Her serene look was very prominent. Some unsolved maths on the black board. I completed the classwork and rushed to get it ticked. You kept chewing the cap of a fountain pen.”

I started feeling the classroom. The wooden bench, smell of the chalk stick, the unsolved problem and the inspiring lectures of Mrs. Menon. Lily the front runner and I the laggard balancing the wooden bench with uneven knowledge.

“And just that I was about to show you the perfect score of ten that I bagged, the cat mewed from my kitchen.”

“and then what?” as the trailer was not enough.

“I felt very restless with the incomplete dream.” She continued. “With blurred eyes, I picked up the old albums to dig up the group photos of school days. All in black and white but too colourful memories. We saved pocket money each year to buy these.”

She provoked me to flip through forgotten days. Her dream had more caffeine than the coffee I was drinking. I smiled back to reciprocate as her positive vibes were contagious.

She pulled up a colourful booklet from her side bag. Almost like a pocket telephone book. Looked at me mysteriously and said – “Guess?”

I failed once more giving her another chance to keep going. “It was all by chance this autograph book fell off the old album. On the school leaving day we ran around to get it signed by friends and teachers. No book in my life had so much emotion packed together. One page of that book is yours!”

She flipped through the pages and opened up one in royal blue ink. It had two wise words - ‘Keep running!’ with my autograph and proudly proclaimed phone number beneath the parting lines to my bench partner.

I touched my autograph that was also in its youth, an identity in the make.

“The number worked. It was amazing to hear Roll number 15 after ages.”
“True Lily, now when I look back feel very nostalgic.”
“Life was easy and carefree, how much we aspired to grow up. After school, we never met.”
“Yes, my family shifted. I did my masters in Delhi, joined the pharmacy company. In a few years got married and started raising a family.” I took a pause to take a sip of coffee.

She filled in the gap. “I had just graduated when I meet him. Joined hands to protest for many a cause as students. After years of togetherness, we tied knot and proposed to live happily ever after. But God disposed.”

I empathised her pain.

Giving her a break, I continued - “Was settled in Mumbai. All went well till I retired. We were planning for a visit to Tiklu’s place, when she suddenly fell sick. Pathological tests, detection, operation, hospital, day care, we rode this merry go round for a year. It was beyond any cure and she boarded the flight to a different destination. I stood back bidding her farewell.” I realised to have opened up after a long. She allowed me to continue. 

“It was a weeks’ visit to my ancestral home in Calcutta. Got stuck to the roots. Since then have continued. An evening walk in the park, some fresh vegetables from the road side shop, a visit to the local doctor’s chamber is the new time table of life. Living a life almost at no speed.”

“I thought that was a perfect you. No change over the years. Amazing!” Lily gave me credit points.

The food court was too crowded when she took the last sip of the black coffee.

“Was not sure what to gift an old friend after so many years!” – saying so I passed on the wrapped perfume. She was unprepared. For the first time, she gave a nervous look and she said – “I have nothing to gift you!”

“You gifted me a pie of my past that beholds plenty of fresh air. That was the best gift. But what was the help you needed?”

In a school going spree, she pulled her chair by my side and with great precision clicked on her smart phone. Tiklu had requested several times but I refused to have a mobile handset. But my bench partner once more threw a challenge. Unsmart me wondered what makes her so full of life.

“The other day my grandson asked if I had any picture with my best friend at school. I had to get this one for him.” I was stunned to feel the zeal in her. The passion to make every moment in life so interesting to live. We sat on the same bench, heard the same lectures but she learned something special. A wonderful afternoon came to an end as the elevator doors opened. We pushed ourselves into a packed box, a free fall and then parted once more!



I was back home before the sun had set. The street lamps started glowing. The teenage players in colourful jersey were unwinding after the last match in the ground. As usual the telephone rang. Tiklu and me had our share of daily talks and finally I hinted my preference for buying a smart phone. The much-awaited consent got an overwhelming response on the other end.


Stepped into the kitchen to prepare a soup. The quest for life was beckoning once more!