The Quiet Burden

When we make friends, the first few steps of similarities are laid out right during the initial interactions, however this does not ensure friendship, it indicates that yes, you can comfortably exchange a word or two with this person. It’s the time spent in knowing and understanding where the friendship lies. In friendship, we accept each other’s individuality and freedom and the thought behind doing things. But people also change and people also hide, when it happens to a friend, sometimes we change as well or we begin to accept the distance that is slowly occurring on its own.



Itish was going through the interview performance reviews of the job applicants, when his smartphone rang up. It was his friend Jatan calling. Itish almost subconsciously turned his smartphone silent and continued on with his work. The smartphone vibrated twice in very short durations to alert of a message that had come.



There are several problems you can be aware of before going deep in a friendship, like there could be a temperamental problem, a person can be self-centered, maybe you are a friend who is only remembered when trouble arrives, etc. But one of the trickiest ones are the friends with financial issues, not accidental in nature rather intentional due certain recurring habits.



The problem is even if a person is in trouble financially, he/she will never tell, he/she doesn’t want to be seen as this irresponsible and unreliable person. But next to this person the biggest victim of his/her nature is his/her family and friends.



Itish had helped out many times before and that was a fault in itself, repair in house, sick father, need of a car, credit card dues piling up, etc. Even before a debt could be settled Jatan had another one for absolutely no reason, like purchasing the car was a big debt in itself with EMI, but the vacation a month later, what was the need.



When Jatan had expressed his thoughts about living life to the fullest with reference to youth fading one day for good, Itish had thought Jatan was the guy with a well thought off future, maybe a good investment plan. Who knew the plan all along was of taking on debt after debt.



When Jatan called a second time, Itish looked at the watch and received the call for a quick word.



“I can’t, you need to stop calling me for it. If you want to talk about anything else, do let me know.”



Itish disconnected the call and kept the smartphone in the drawer; it had to be done. Jatan was very persuasive when asking for monetary help but when it was time to return, he was a headache. Itish even had decided to ignore the small amounts that Jatan never returned, simply to avoid carrying the frustration. What was actually lost though was the friendship that would never return to what it used to be, not unless Jatan felt strongly about mending his ways. 

Written by Anuran Chatterji

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