My Best Friends!

Sonali: Hey!

(Salisha and friends chatting)

Anjila: Why were you late for the assembly Salisha?

Salisha: I was reading. I was in the last chapter of the book, I didn’t notice the time.

Sonali: (Excitedly) Which Book?

Salisha: (Name of a Book)

My reading journey started when I was in 8^th grade. It’s hard to believe that I knew nothing about “reading habits’ before that.

As a teen, I wasn’t very social and loneliness pricked me time to time. I always felt the need to make friends. Most of my classmates were in the first year of their teenage life! This was the time when they were busy trying their hands on getting a boyfriend for the very first time. Between all this, I was busy searching for true friends.

So, in my hunt for true friends I tried to fit in the smallest group of my classmates. This was an all girls group, supposedly the most noisy and popular ones. They were talking about Books.

Chicken Soup, Princess Diaries, Harry Potter.

At first I felt disconnected but was determined to fill the gap. To understand their discussions and be part of the chat, I had to find a way out.

I knew what I had to do.

Filled with excitement, I called my aunt and requested her to accompany me to Education Book Store in Jamal. I couldn’t wait, so the request turned into force. Exactly at 7:30 pm on that rainy day, I bought my first Book, “Chicken Soup For the Teenage Soul”.

Beginning days were tough.

I was like a frog in a pond. I could hop on its surface, but wasn’t able to swim smoothly along. Sentences wouldn’t make any sense to me. It was merely many words being read at a single go, not very different from memorizing the multiple tables in maths.

Again, like a frog, I couldn’t stay in this pond for long. I would easily get distracted and would hop to my comfortable land. If the Guinness Book of World Record made a count of the maximum number of episodes watch of ‘Scooby Dooby Doo’, I have high chance of coming out on top of the list.

This didn’t take me anywhere.

When it was lunch break, I would stay back all by myself in class spending those 30 minutes scribbling on the blackboard and gazing at the never ending forest near our school.

I was a dry leaf hanging beside a bunch of fresh leaves of on a beautiful oak tree. I was soon going to fall.

And then came my soul sister who helped me walk this path.

We decided to travel this journey together. Motivating each other we continued reading books regardless of whether we would get it or not. It took us one long year, to start getting a grip of it. The actual journey had just begun. I had started making list of books that I read.

Most Importantly, I found friends.

Friends, who weren't just the people around me but also characters from books I read. They are the ones who never ask me to change, the ones who respect my dedication and the time I spent with them, the ones I share my happiness, sadness, anger and love with. They help me control my emotions.

Now, I have best friends for life, friends I have searched all along.