THAT ‘LOST’ FRIEND

 

“The most painful goodbyes are the ones that are never said or never explained”

Some people just have a charisma about themselves. The way they talk, behave, make you feel, just the way they are! Exactly so, was a friend of mine. Ahmed Shata – a tall, suave looking – charismatic person who was born and bred in Egypt and had come down to the United Kingdom for his Masters, just like me!

I still recall the first time I met him, I jumped with joy – not because he was good-looking, it was because I had been trying to look for a classmate throughout my induction week & hadn’t found any. At last I had found someone in one of the introductory programs sitting right behind me who touched me on my back asking if I was in the same course like him to which I smiled so wide and actually got him scared. 🙂 #funtimes

Time passed by and we became good friends throughout the year over the endless coffee sessions, late night projects & essays, crazy Friday night parties with his patent jagger moves, debates over Egypt and the revolutions, family gossips and not to forget – all the bitching we did over our lecturers who treated us more like PHD students rather than Masters. What an amazing & memorable year it was!

And then, within a blink I completed my Masters and it was time to part to our own world, where we all belonged and where we came from. He was leaving the next day and I recall how we all as a group had planned to go for a dinner together as a farewell. We had casually met under one of the accommodation building and it was freezing & raining heavily (typical UK weather) where we all were deciding what time to meet and who will pick-up whom. After a final plan, I casually hugged him and had said a bye, knowing that I ll be seeing him in the night! That was the last time I saw him.

He had messaged all of us that night that he wouldn’t make it to the dinner and had flew away to Egypt due to urgent circumstances. I recall how sad I was that I couldn’t say a proper bye! Time passed and we were in touch for a month till I shifted back to India and soon after I lost contact with him. Without leaving a stone unturned, till date I have been trying to get in touch with that ‘lost’ friend of mine who I shared such fun times together and who never responded or got back!

There are vague assumptions that I sit and make in my head, but it ll always remain vague until I do not have a concrete reason as to where is he now. I hope to have that day soon! Our lives get so busy and we get so fragmented into our daily chores that we forget about all those people who were once so important, close and the best of buddies with whom we shared our life with, even if it was for that brief period. I genuinely wish, hope & pray the best for him wherever he is and hopefully wish he gets back to all of us one day!

P.S – The picture above is with him in the middle, Georgia – one of my best friends towards his left and pretty me towards his right !