And That Was That.

They laughed. Then they hung up. Arjun had reminded her, as always, that they had to work. Although Lakshmi and Arjun did not have much time to spend together because of all the work they had to do, there was a remarkable friendship between them. Perhaps they were friends not out of choice, but due to the lack of it. They got along with their colleagues, no doubt but they were no more than that. They did not share an interest with the rest of them and hence found very little to say to them besides the usual office talk, which didn’t last very long. Most people felt that it was carpentry that brought them together. Odd as it may seem, both of them loved carpentry; and by this I do not mean fixing an old table or repairing a broken chair. They liked to make things out of wood. Arjun could never forget the day when he discovered that there were other people in the world who were as passionate about carpentry as he was. Better yet, they were in his office; who would have thought…!

They had endless conversations about carpentry – how each of them had learnt it, how it was a part of their life, the funny things they had made and so on. The best part about these conversations was that they were never serious. They joked about almost everything – even when they were talking about ‘important’ matters. This, of course, does not mean that the conversations were meaningless. In fact, Arjun believed that it meant a lot to both of them because of that – there was an instinctive understanding of the other which meant there was no need to mouth the usual lines like, “we are friends” or “I care a lot about you” etc.

They spent all the free time that they had together and naturally this lead to a lot of gossip. However, they were so engrossed in their work that this hardly affected them. They remained, as cliched as it may sound, "just friends".

Once the training was over, they were told that their permanent posting would be announced in about a week and during that time, they were free to do as they pleased. Lakshmi and Arjun decided to go to Poetry class during this time. Both of them thought the class was absolutely brilliant and that they would continue going to these classes even after their permanent postings were announced. They found that this was one other thing they had in common. This was the time when Arjun wondered whether they were indeed "just friends" and in any case whether they should be. When he asked Lakshmi about it, Arjun thought her response was equivocal and the ball was back in his court. After some thought he decided that there was no point in changing anything as things seemed perfect just the way they were, the influence of Poetry notwithstanding.

When they received the letters informing them of their permanent postings, they found that Arjun had to move to a new branch – this meant more work and even less opportunities to see each other. However, there was no tearful farewell since they knew – a tacit understanding – that they would keep in touch.

Somehow, few weeks after they started working again, Laksmi had less and less time for Arjun. She involved herself in so many activities that kept her busy. Even during vacations she had no time at all – no time to meet, no time to e-mail and no time to even return phone calls. Soon, both of them realized that it was over. Arjun was quite shocked, not so much that it was over, but the way in which it ended. He had assumed that they may not stay friends for ever because they may drift apart. However, he was absolutely unprepared for the ‘no time’ routine. He continued to care for her as much as he did earlier but he didn’t understand how priorities could change so quickly. He had assumed what he had thought of the relationship was what she had thought too; unfortunately, the ‘they knew's in the preceding paragraphs were, in reality, merely, ‘he thought’s.

Arjun continued to go for Poetry classes while Lakshmi discontinued a week after they started work again. Poetry was as puzzled as Arjun.
Thinking about all this made Arjun feel tired. He rubbed his eyes, closed his book, switched off the light and went to bed.

And that was that.