My
Sats & Suns have become
duller
Two-
and - a half decades
Swept
by…..
Her
face still glistens,
Never
yearned for a better friend, but there,
She
still laughs & listens
( An obit written in
1989 for Jessy, revised a bit now)
It is not with any regret or longing that I deplore my present network
of being friendless. Friends,as they
exist are acquaintances today, none like her. It is better that way. No, I have
not turned a recluse but when one had been showered with a lot of attention and
care by one friend, she is missed now and always. Then one gets entwined
gradually with one particular train of thought that, had Jessy been there, it
would have been different.
Unassuming smile lost.
The tall, lean, thirty something
Jessy kept hovering around me through thick and thin during those
decisive years. She counselled , convinced and cajoled me to venture/avoid all
major decisions in life. Then one fine day she just paled into insignificance called
‘death’.
Jacintha (Jessy) was born a premature baby with a congenital heart
ailment that affected her pulmonary functions. It was predicted by her doctor.
She craved for a house near the airport in Mumbai. The doors of which were
always flung open for her siblings. They were frequent fliers to the Gulf
countries, returned to Mangalore via Mumbai. Jessy was a moral support to them
being the eldest.
Her demeanour just flipped from a patient to a reveller and the house would get filled with
peals of laughter. Jessy ‘gang’ spoke Konkani that sounded nasal but was laced with screeching expressions…kaslay
vaslay etc. I wondered from where she derived such energy in their company.
The moment anybody suggested marriage she would laugh about a Japanese
boyfriend, though Indian who had forgotten his way to India. Ha! then a guffaw
followed that led to contagious laughter from all directions.
Movie tickets rained..
Those days for young women ‘going to the movies’ was a hobby that
gained momentum even after college days. Once we secured jobs , the choice ,
quality and quantity differed. In my case it was always a no-no due to domestic
responsibilities.
Jessy was a colleague hailed from Udyavara (N.Karnataka), without her I
couldn’t dream of going for a movie every weekend after which she would visit
us to spend time with me , dad and brother at Malad. She longed for home made
food as she lived in a working women’s hostel so we took charge of her on some
weekends.
On Saturday afternoons very discreetly she would book tickets for the
show, as office worked only half the day on Saturdays. She booked three tickets
for me and another female friend.
I have angrily pounced on her on many an occasion for compelling me to
go with her as I was busier than her in office. She would sulk at first and
soon grin to pacify me.
Jessy R.I.P
Her departure to Mangalore left us (1988) dazed, when one morning the same year she
left this earth from a hospital bed (Manipal). Her signature --- a crisply
ironed pair of jeans and kurta, a grin and that Ladies’ Seiko wrist watch that
I treasure till date. But the wrist is missing. It’s 2016 Jessy, you are still
remembered.
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