Clues

Friends Short Story – Clues

“1 Down- Month named after Roman emperor (4)” Seema smiled with her eyes as she read the clue. Quickly, she unscrewed the cap of her pen, fixed it at the other end and filled in J-U-L-Y. Then she pulled her luggage closer, set down her handbag on the adjacent chair with one strap still around her arm and settled down a bit more comfortably. She had four long hours to spend in the waiting room. Her train had been delayed as usual, due to some-or-the-other reason.

She was going home for a week long holiday, after what seemed like an eternity. It was her first vacation after she had joined work. The thought of mom’s food, sleeping late into the mornings and video games with her sister did make the wait worthwhile, but still, four hours was a long time if you had nothing specific to do. So she had opted for her favourite pastime. She bought a newspaper, quickly scanned through the reports and turned to her favourite section – the crossword.

Oh! How Seema loved doing the crossword! Looking at the clues and wrecking her brains for the answer. When sometimes it would be too tough, she would toss the paper aside in childish annoyance only to pick it up again a few minute later. Her love for crosswords had been instilled in her by her dad. All through her school and college years, it had been a ritual. The father daughter duo would be immersed in crosswords every evening post dinner. The dictionary would lay wide open on one side and their heads would be bent over the newspaper. And when the internet had come home, their pursuit had become all the more convenient.

Her father often used to tell her, “The crossword doesn’t just enhance your vocabulary. It also helps you bond with people. You won’t even realize how you make friends over clues.”

Now, once again she travelled into the world of clues and words. Hmmm…4 across was definitely R-O-D-E-N-T. Then, as was customary came a series of trials and errors. Now, she had got stuck on 15 down… what could be a 6 letter word for winner? She wondered for a while when a voice beside her said, “Victor”

Seema looked up in surprise to find the source of the voice when she saw a young man sitting beside her. Dressed in a T- shirt and jeans, he had the look of someone weary from a train journey. Signalling towards Seema’s newspaper he said, “I noticed you are doing the crossword. Please don’t mind, I couldn’t help but interfere. I think the word you are looking for is ‘victor’.”

Seema’s face broke into a smile. “Oh no, not at all!”.

And then as she realized that his answer was indeed right, she smiled even wider. “But of course! Thank you so much. I was getting really restless about thinking about that”

“So, you’re desperately trying to kill time I guess??”, the guy asked.

Seeing Seema’s puzzled expression, he clarified, “I mean, why else would you be doing a crossword?”

“Well, I am trying to kill time and indulging in my favourite pastime as well. My train is horribly late and crosswords are my hobby.”

“Now that is a real surprise, and a pleasant one at that. I had almost begun to think I am the only mortal who enjoys crosswords. Except of course, the people who painstakingly put it in the paper everyday! Or maybe, even they are in it only for the money!!”

Seema laughed. The guy continued as if he and Seema were old friends, “But you know what my sister told me once? That crossword are a great way to make friends as well. Says some friend of hers back in college told that to her.”

If that last statement took Seema by surprise, she didn’t show it. Actually it transported her a million years back in time, when she had been new in college. Not just her, everyone had been new, all strangers to one another. It had been one of the impossibly boring chemistry classes and Seema, sitting in one of the last benches, had turned to a crossword for relief. Her benchmate, Ria, decidedly bored too, had also started helping out. They had been engrossed in their session till the professor had caught sight of them and sent both of them out of the class. But it hadn’t ended there.

Ria had smuggled the newspaper out of the class in the folds of her stole, and they had continued their session. Only now the crossword took a back-seat and a chat session had ensued. A friendship had blossomed. One that was to last, or so it had seemed at the time. The breeze then hadn’t carried the fumes of darker times to come. The two had become Siamese twins. All throughout first year of college until midway of second year, when the great fallout had taken place, they had been together in everything.

It was some project, or had it been the college week. That was perhaps the most embarrassing part, Seema felt, that now when she thought of it, she couldn’t even properly recall what their fight had been about. All she knew was that for the past six years, she had not exchanged so much as a word with Ria. From best friends, they had gone to being sworn enemies overnight. They would walk past each other in hallways as if the other didn’t exist. College had gotten over, jobs had come calling and life went on, but some scars remained waiting to be healed.

The guy was saying, “You know what the funniest part is? She had a fight with that very friend who imparted the worldly advice to her. For all the strange advice in the world…”, the rest of his words were drowned in the announcement over the PA system. “Oh, my train is here. Alright then, all the best with your crossword. Bye!”

Seema stared after him. And then she looked around herself, as if expecting to see beings from the world yonder smiling smugly at a mission well accomplished. Because it just couldn’t have been sheer coincidence. That guy couldn’t have been Rohan, Ria’s brother. But then, just as well, he could have been. She had never met him earlier after all.

A myriad of thoughts crossed Seema’s mind. She got her laptop out and opened her Facebook account. She typed in ‘Ria Singh’ and hit ‘Search’. She couldn’t suppress a smile as she thought of what she would tell her kids someday,

“Crosswords don’t just help you ‘make’ friends, they also help you ‘make up’ with friends!!”

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