I bid farewell to one of the few friends I had made since coming here. This has made me think about how people come into and go out of our lives. When I look back, I realise that having this friend helped me get through some of the toughest times in the past few years. It wasn't as if they did anything practically, but I had a listening ear and someone to talk to when I needed it the most. Those issues sorted to my advantage eventually, and by the time they did, the friend also went on their own life path. It almost seems like I had a friend when I needed one, and when they served their purpose in a way, they weren't in my life anymore. I see this as something of a pattern...as if people come into your life expressly to teach you something or nudge you to do something you can't find the courage or clarity to do or to be a source of comfort when things are proving difficult for you...and the moment you have passed over the bridge, they seem to disappear or drift off.

I find myself feeling slightly melancholy and nostalgic (what a surprise!) with this turn of thought. Also because, another thing strikes me, which didn't when I was much younger. A sense of the finality of things, of the never-to-be-again nature of events. I am conscious of how I will most likely never see this friend again in this lifetime. It's like Shakespeare’s stage where the actors move out after playing their respective parts and don't make an appearance again... in this case even in the final act or even to say goodbye one last time. The moment you see them for the last time is now…because life is finite, and it ends abruptly and sooner than one thinks. I will come across other actors in the journey forward who will serve their purposes and play their roles in my life story... but as it always happens I will not know the value of the part they will play in my life or cherish it in quite the same way...till it’s time to bid adieu. That time or moment becomes poignant not because you lose the person forever in a way, because they would have already played their part and drifted away, but because it becomes a moment in which you grieve all such moments gone by, and more so, all such moments still to come… You know you have to dig deep to muster all the strength you have… to go on… in spite of, despite,… because life goes on.