Emotions evoked by an old testimonial from ‘Orkut’

I was going through my drafts and found this completed draft from long back today – I think I did not post this before as it might be too long and also since I keep fighting all the time with the person for whom this post is written. But since I’ve been super inactive in my blog I just decided to post this one as it’s complete. So here it goes –>

While commuting to my research lab today I came across this sudden song. I had no memories attached to it but the tune and the lyrics really moved me. It is in Hindi but I will still link it here in case anyone is interested. I had to refresh some old memories and what better way to do that than going into one of your social profiles.

So I went searching in Facebook. But I had joined Facebook very late and even after I had joined I stayed away from it for a very long time. All because I had a very strong presence on Orkut at that time. I have no idea how many of you have any idea about Orkut but it is another social networking website (now archaic) like Facebook. So I went to Orkut searching in my past and found something I had completely forgotten about! So the biggest thing about Orkut was the testimonials –  your friends could write testifying how much you meant to them..

I had very few – testimonials as well as friends. I used to be strange child while growing up. I was a good student without trying hard to be and I was lucky enough to be included into a group of friends who could be called the cream of the class. I was not particularly close to anyone except two, may be three. And rest of the time I used to spend day dreaming about growing up, about things I wanted to experience, about things I wanted to happen in my life.

I was an avid reader. I would read anything I could get my hands on. I used to read everything in the newspapers, so you can rest assured I used to read the books first. My parents had a small but well stocked library and I used to reach for books (both vernacular and English) before it was my age to read them. Additionally, unlike most Indian parents, my parents were my friends.  So I never felt that I needed to go out and work on friendship ever.

But as I have grown up I have realized that having friends who are not your family members, with whom you can share anything under the sun without fearing that you might be judged is very rare and a wonderful thing! So making friends became important to me. But not many people shared the same level of trust and understanding that I wanted to share with them. And it’s still true after so many years. So I did not make tons of friends over the years. But I can safely say the ones I have made I will keep them for as long as I could (sometimes it just doesn’t work out – through your own fault, or through theirs or because of the circumstances). I’ve many friends, but no one stands out like the one to whom this post is dedicated. It’s a him and let’s call him SR.

So this day when I was rummaging through my Orkut profile I came across this beautiful testimonial that this person had written for me. I’ll quote it here:

“Perfumes are very pleasant objects… Something very precious to me… something I am very fond of and use often on myself… I take pride in the collection of perfumes I have and wear different ones on different occasions and for different purposes… not to mention how priceless they are and how they represent and go hand in hand with dignity, respect and aristocracy… we can say a King would not be have been a King without a perfume… and a Woman would not be a Woman without her scent… Perfumes and scents, you know are created just like music… Perfumery is an Art… like music a perfume is conjured up of notes and chords… It is said that any perfume has got three distinct set of notes… The “Head”, the “Core” or “Heart” and the “Base” note.

The head note of a perfume is the one which emanates the moment it is applied… it creates the first impression… it is of great commercial value as it helps to ‘market’ the perfume… but essentially it is not the actual scent of the perfume… it does not stay very long.

The core is the most important part being the one that characterizes the perfume… it is this note that strikes the right chords within us and we feel so good…
But the base is what that gives the perfume its foundation… it emanates long after the perfume is applied… and stays for a long time… even for days… it is made of the heaviest of compounds which vaporize slowly and slowly… lingering on and on… it is this that emanating from a tiny lace handkerchief of a medieval princess gave strength to the legendary knight to fight the terrible fire spitting dragon…

Sreeja Banerjee has been a friend of mine like a perfume… a perfume as elegant and exquisite as like that of a creation of a magnificent sonata by a maestro… My friendship with her commenced long time back and in the beginning it was of a different note… the head note it was, the note that got me to be friends with her… the note that brought us together…
Then came the “Heart” … no doubt that this was where the head notes led to… and good time it was with memories to be cherished forever…

But the most important part of the friendship is what is here now… the base note… in spite of distances and after a long gap of time… today our friendship is of an altogether different proportions… it was like after two three years I rummaged through my attic and found and old handkerchief… I doubted at first whether it was of any good at all… whether it had any scent left in it… but I brought it close to my nose… and there it was… as strong as ever… to carry me through thick and thin… she is a friend who has passed the test of Time, the hardest test of them all… and many other tests too… I have shared my personal experience first because in all other quarters she hardly needs any testimony… not that even in personal ground she needs… what shall I say… you all know how brilliant and talented she is… I will not diminish her stature by speaking of all her other accomplishments from my humble mouth… we all know Sreeja is a “Winner”… but to me she would remain my favorite Perfume… whose scent lingers on and on… “

This testimonial is so beautiful that I had to write a blog post on it. By no means I am bragging that someone felt this way about me at one point of time.  I’m honored to just have been told that this was written about me.  I am writing this post to recognize how important this person has been to me throughout my life. We have been friends since 2004 and have seen many years of ‘hardships’ between us and there’s no doubt our relationship has changed so much since then… But if I have to pick one person in this world who understands me completely I have to pick SR up from the crowd. But hey! look at what he wrote! And I feel I should tell him here that he should write more often! isn’t that what he really wants to do! And I say this often but I say it again here – Love You sooo much! and Thanks for always being there when I needed a friend 🙂

* Here’s a screenshot evidence! The writer’s name is Anonymous as his account no longer exists in Orkut.