Why am I saying this? I know everyone says texting is a curse for this generation, and that it has destroyed face-to-face relationships. That might be true, but let me show you the power of a simple text and how it broke the silence that had lasted for a year and a half. And all it took were just four words.
“Hi Sachin, kasa ahe?” (Hi Sachin, how are you?). While having dinner with folks in a restaurant, I got this text from unknown digits. I bought a new mobile recently and haven’t transferred all the numbers from the old phone yet. Maybe it happened because of that. Curiosity led me to a name-checking app, and the name popped up — Arpita. She was one of my close friends from the bunch of three whom I met in college. This message was special because we hadn’t spoken to each other for one and a half years. Okay, sorry, let me make it clear: she hadn’t talked to us for one and a half years. Was she ghosting us? No, we didn’t even know how ghosting worked during those days (but something like that). We just misread each other for some reason, so we clashed, and she stopped talking to us.
After seeing her message, my mind started wondering, ‘Why? I mean, why today? Is everything okay?’ I didn’t reply instantly and kept the phone aside. Thereafter, the fancy food of the restaurant, whose aroma will make you hungrier, felt tasteless today. From that moment, my mind wasn’t stable. Questions flooded in. For a moment, I got scared. I thought, ‘Is she okay?’ I texted her back, “Did somebody steal your phone? Or was it a dare?” followed by another message: “Is everything okay?” After some time, she replied, “If somebody had stolen it, there are girls’ numbers in my phone. He’d text them. Why would he prefer to text you?” There wasn’t any negative news, so I smiled with a half-open mouth. Her teasing was normal, and seeing it after so long, I knew the day was good. Later, I put my phone down again and finished my meal, while thinking about how to scold her for texting me after all this time.
As I was taking my bike out of the parking spot, I got a call from Ashish (another fellow of mine). I sat on my bike, picked it up while tilting my neck slightly, lifted my shoulder to hold the phone, and said, “I know.” Then we talked about it for a while, and I went home.
As I reached, I took off my shoes and went straight to my room. I spread myself on the bed, took a cushion closer to my tummy, and started scolding her with a long text — some curse words, some question marks, some humor. That day, even though we hated chatting, we chatted for three hours. In brief — she still doesn’t talk to Ritvik (the third idiot), who is in the UK. Why? Some drama, like everyone has, which I don’t know how to cure. But still, I was happy. I got my friend back, now more mature than me, deepening our bond of friendship even more.
I know those three hours weren’t enough to cover the lost year of friendship, but maybe it was what she needed — to deepen the bond, to understand for herself why she did it.
And one thing was sure about that night: I slept with happy memories.
Now, here, don’t you think it was hard for her to make that call in person and reach out face-to-face? She just did all of it with one text, and that awkwardness just faded away: Within the first three messages.
So, everyone out there, please send that text. “Maybe it’s hard for you to hit send, and maybe that shame, that awkwardness of ignoring them for so long is holding you back. It could be anything — from ghosting to misunderstanding — and you might be hesitating, wondering if it’s too late. But you know what they say, “It’s better late than never.” And let my story be a reminder that it’s never too late. If you truly know your friend, and you understand that friendship exists for a reason, don’t let go of it easily.
Don’t you think your friendship held more pride than this, that it couldn’t accept breaking like this?
So just send that text. Trust me, that shame, that awkwardness, has no value compared to the happiness you’ll feel after reconnecting. If you’re worried, don’t send a long text — just say, “Hi (friend’s name), how are you?” And see the magic.
I know, you’ll sleep with happy memories, too.
Now, as I said earlier, three hours weren’t enough to cover those lost months, and we had to meet face-to-face because, you know, you can’t feel those emotions behind the curse words in the text, right?
So, to truly make up for the lost time, we had to meet. And we did, yesterday…
See you in the next part 🙂
