Knit and Bonded

Finals done! Phew! This was one difficult semester.  I was tidying up my desk and keeping my notes away when I came across something given by a friend earlier this week. It was a Red Maple leaf…dried and intact. He gave it to me the night before he left for India. I took it from him giving him a what-is-this? kind of a look.

He and me are constantly pulling each other’s legs and generally joking and laughing around. So I was surprised yet confused to get the serious looking leaf from him. Seeing the question mark on my face, he just said, “Think. I will talk to you soon”. I went upstairs and got back to my books to study for the finals I had the next day. I remembered something and thought about the leaf…observed it carefully…the dried, pressed fall leaf…with its color and intricate network intact. Thoughts rushed to my head but I saved them to be penned down in this blog after I was done with my exams. 

Rohit is my colleague at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. We enrolled at the same time in Fall 2007…he for MBA and me for Biotechnology. After graduating, starting a company with Amit and Ganesh, he was leaving for India for some days/months to help his dad in his work. The four of us have been very close friends and now a year after graduation, it was time to disperse. Once while driving to Charlotte, Rohit mentioned he is going to India in April and is not sure when he will come back. We were all singing and joking in the car till then. The moment he said this…something struck me. We meet people, we become friends, have an amazing time together, and suddenly we go our separate ways. When he told us about leaving all the memories rushed in my mind – our movie nights where the 4 of us would huddle around a laptop, the late night coffee at Cool Beans, Starbucks, the talks about diet and exercise (Rooooo! :)), the life discussions at Beezers, golf, etc, etc, etc. I realized there were tears streaming down my eyes. Amit had no idea what was wrong with me. Ganesh and Mudit thought that I was crying because Rohit had scared me talking about the Wolfman attacking me (had just watched the movie). But it was the thought of the memories of the wonderful times I spent with these lovely friends and the fact that no one is sure if it all can be replayed that made me sad.

When I looked at the leaf the other day, I realized what Ro might be trying to tell me. The Red Maple leaf was old, dried, separated from the tree and the other leaves – yet it was undamaged - red-orange in color with its veins intricate and intact. 

It said no matter how far we all might be from each other, we are still bonded intricately, delicately and this bond needs to be cared for. A slight fold will break the veins, break the ties. It also said leaves fall, leaves fly and reach different places…but they are still the leaves of the same tree…still connected, still identified. True friends can grow separately without growing apart.