A special friend

In 1977 I had to go to the Indian Consulate to take care of my passport. I went to the counter. All of a sudden, someone came out of the elevator and started screaming, “O God!” It was difficult for me to recognise him at first, but then I remembered that he was one of my former colleagues. He was so delighted to see me. He placed his hand on my shoulder and then he measured my waistline. “You have gone high in height, and here also you have grown!”

I said, “I have to go both ways. I have to be integral!”

Like this, we were cutting jokes with each other. He was so moved to see me and talk to me. He had read some of my books and he had heard so much about me. A few years earlier, he had gone to Hunter College to attend one of our functions. When he saw so many people and guards, he was frightened to death. He told me, “I wanted to go and embrace you. You were in front of the public, and then I saw that you had kept strong people there to be your guards. I was frightened. I am your friend who used to chat with you for hours, but now that you have become a big shot, how am I going to approach you?”

Then he asked me why I was there. I told him that I had come for a new passport. He immediately went and started questioning the clerk. The clerk said that it would take three days. Then my friend had to say to him, “Do you know who he is? He used to work in our section. You cannot do him a favour?”

Then my friend started shouting and screaming. He has now become Assistant Director in their Commercial Section. The clerk said, “I do not dare to go to the Consul for his signature. Tomorrow we can go.”

When he heard this, my friend just took the passport and the papers and went to the Consul’s office. He did not even knock. He opened the door to the office and immediately went inside. In a minute, he got the papers signed. This is what friendship can do. Then, as I was leaving, he said to me, “I am so happy, Ghose, that I saw you.”

This friend is very fond of me. He really values me. If he had not recognised me, God knows how many hours I would have had to wait there on that day!