I felt an instant liking towards her, though I couldn’t exactly pinpoint the reason why. Maybe it was because my heart already knew that we were going to be the best of friends, before my mind could even think of it.

It was January of 2015, and it was her wedding. Her name is Maira. She was going to be married to one of my spouse’s childhood friend, Abeer, and we all had gathered to be a part of their great day. She was sitting there, so beautiful and yet so simple; I instantly felt a connection with her. Amidst a lot of fun and laughter, the wedding was soon done and we returned back to our respective cities and lives.

After around a year, Abeer’s parents shifted to the same city as ours, and so they would visit our city few times in a year, to meet them. During these visits, since they always had a packed schedule, we could hardly ever plan a get-together. On the rare occasions that we did, it would always be just for a short duration. I never actually got a chance to get to know her.

As we were going about our usual lives, we were suddenly hit by the first wave of COVID-19. The entire country was put into a state of lockdown to try and control the outbreak. Still, cases started to rise drastically and there was fear everywhere. All types of commute were completely prohibited. People were stuck away from home for months.

As soon as things began to be little under control, the government allowed inter-state commute in small numbers so that people could go back to their families. By September, Abeer along with his wife, Maira, also managed to come to our city to stay with his parents till this pandemic would hopefully end. Since, everyone was now working from home; he thought it best to spend time with his parents during this difficult phase. Also, the situation at their city was much worse than that in ours, so it was for the best.

Till November of 2020, we didn’t even meet them, though we were in the same city and our houses were not even 5km apart, for the fear of infecting each other unknowingly. By that time they even had a baby girl with them who was just around a year old, adding to all the more reason for none of us wanting to take even 1% risk.

Then, as the cases started to subside and were a lot under control, one fine day we planned to meet for dinner. They decided that they would leave their child with his parents and we could have a quick dinner at a nearby place. This place was finalised since it had an open seating and wouldn’t be crowded, hence safer. So, finally we 4 did meet and we had a great time together. This time, since it was just the 4 of us and our husbands were busy talking among themselves, we got a chance to interact with each other and it felt so good. We planned to meet again sometime soon, just the two of us.

Soon another month passed, but neither of us could muster the courage to ask the other to meet, as we really didn’t know how it would be. The dinner that night had been great and we didn’t want to ruin that. Still, finally Maira and I did plan and meet in January over coffee. Once we got to talking, it felt as if we had known each other for years. We poured out our hearts to each other, and then there was no stopping us. We started meeting over for coffee after office hours, whenever possible, and would chat for hours. She even planned a surprise birthday treat for me, a day before my birthday, which was not at all expected, and I was deeply touched by her sweet gesture.

But soon, our country was hit by a second COVID-19 wave, and it was much more severe than the first. This time it felt as if every household had been affected by it. We stopped stepping out of the house completely, not even after the cases had reduced substantially.

Finally, after around 4 months, we did plan and met one another again, and it felt so good. But now, since it was long since they had come over to our city, it was time for them to go back and get back to their normal routine. Abeer’s office had also reopened and he was asked to join back at the earliest. Then on, time seemed to move forward in an unimaginable speed, and before I knew it, they were back to their city.

We promised to stay in touch. We both knew that slowly as the days passed by and we got busy with our lives, it wouldn’t be possible for us to keep in touch on a regular basis. What we were really sure of was, no matter how often we talked or met, whenever we actually did, it would feel the same. No amount of time would ever be able to diminish our friendship. It’s because once your heart connects to another, nothing can ever separate it.

Perfect relationships; be it with our family, friends, lovers or our spouse; are the ones that just clicks naturally and automatically. It’s something inside us that just feels right. The bond is not forced or faked. We don’t need to put in any extra efforts to maintain it. The thing that matters the most is to just be true and be you, because this relationship is a connection between hearts. It is like being soul mates. Time doesn’t matter: you don’t need to be friends with someone for years to develop this connection. It is something that just happens, just like that.

A quote which perfectly explains this perfect connection I feel, goes as follows: