The value of friendship…

This was written while I was on sabatical leave sometime last year (2007) at Manchester...)

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Little did I expect that the midsummer week was going to be an adventurous one. A small booklet, 'The A-Z Around Manchester' caught my eyes. It belonged to one of the girls who had decided to spend her summer days here and whose abode I frequented whenever I felt like winding down. There, I sought solace...to talk, to share things, to cook, to laugh, to discuss, to do things that mothers usually do with their daughters. One of the girl's father happened to be my classmate during our A-Level years 30 years ago. Imagine how old I must have felt!

While browzing through the pages of the booklet, an idea suddenly hit me. Try to find number **, ******y Avenue, Manchester M**. An old address that remained stuck in my mind for years....

I was on the bus the next day, the number ** heading towards a certain place, then hopped off at ****nely Centre. I then asked a young lad who was cycling by, to ascertain I was in the right place. I was back on my feet, more than 2 kilometres further down the road.

Upon reaching the destination, my eyes wandered eagerly. It seemed like nobody was in the house. I saw a lady who was mowing her lawn right across the road and decided to approach her.

"Excuse me...are the Gs still staying at that house over there...the number **?"

"Yes! They certainly are! But I think they have gone out!" the lady said, switching off her machine.

"Is TG, still staying here? She was my old friend during our university days.."

"Her name is Mrs. T J now. Yes! She’s a teacher, married and staying somewhere in the south..." smilingly, she said.

"Thank you very much! You have been very kind!" I said.

"Bye love!" said the kind lady, who continued mowing her green turf.

I pushed in through the mail box of the house, a small silk batik print of colourful tropical fish (which I got from Kelantan) as a token of friendship. Also a tiny note, stating who I was, scribbling my handphone number and email too!

I retraced my steps back through the exquisite English neighbourhood, wondering whether I could get to see my old classmate TG again. That is her name or more accurately, was her name during our undergraduate years back in Sheffield.

She helped me a lot. I was the only Malay girl in the class then. Knitting my husband a hat that could cover his head, nose and ears, just leaving his eyes...that was when I told her that my husband could not stand the cold, which would trigger frequent and severe migraine attacks. She knitted our baby daughter, our firstborn, a sweet multi-hued cardigan too. It was so lovely!

When I had to miss lectures to take care of my baby on her numerous occasions of hospitalizations at the Children's Hospital, lecture notes from this friend of mine was always on hand. I remember the quiet discussions that we had together, at her students' hostel, while sitting for our final examinations. I would not have been what I am today if not for her, for which I am so grateful. She epitomized the saying, "A friend in need is a friend indeed!'

That same week, I got a reply. T has married Mark (not his real name), her boyfriend whom I remember from our student days, who proposed to her on a Transatlantic flight on a trip to the US. How romantic! T's mum called to say that an old friend has got in touch. She then emailed me saying she will be so happy to see me! She is now a teacher at Shrewsbury in the county of Shropshire, with a 17 year old daughter and will be back home to her mum's for the school holidays. T has also invited me to see her there, to have tea, catching up with events over the years, also to Shrewsbury, a beautiful medieval city.

Imagine how excited I was, at finally meeting my long lost friend, after a lapse of 26 years? I sat counting the minutes as each day passes by...

(to be continued…)