There she goes

It is end of an era.

MGM is a batch mate of mine from B school. She sat next to me in the first year till our electives separated us. We played silly school games sitting next to each other, passed chits, gossiped etc. Both of us were initially lost in the big bad B school world and helped each other find our way through the two years.

During our two month internship period I was in Madras and she in Bombay. She had a bad project and I was stuck in a place where everyone was 30+ and all they spoke about was diapers, admitting kids to schools and in-laws. What kept me (and her) going was yahoo messenger. MGM and I would chat incessantly on YM through the day. Two months ended, just like that.

Through second year on campus and the last three years of work, one thing that has remained constant is our chatting. When gtalk was disabled in her office we moved to another client, found some other proxy and eventually moved to mail-chat, exchanging close to 15-20 emails a day, if not more. We would talk about everything under sun - movies, music, books, our crushes, share interesting articles we read online, gossip about our batch mates/friends and so on. I don't know why, but I have a vivid recollection of this conversation when she mentioned her boyfriend/ fiancé for the first time. Never had I seen her more self assured. We are almost witnesses to each other’s lives, just living in different cities. Somehow we never run out of conversations. There have been days when sitting in Chennai office, I have chatted with her entire day then we would go out later in the evening for a drink and dinner. We would still have enough to chatter about.

My writing skills aren't spectacular, to say the least. And it was the same case when I had to fill out forms for companies to convince them that I was a suitable candidate. I would send the first draft of my form to MGM only to get it back with umpteen crosses and corrections. I wonder if she was living out her dream of becoming a teacher, like her mother, vicariously, returning my drafts with red marks all over them.

Last week she quit her job, to join her husband in US. Her She H1B visa did not get approved even though 20,000 slots are still lying vacant. A big shift for her - to sit at home at least for a while till she finds a job or they decide to shift elsewhere. It looks like her move out of India is going to last for the foreseeable future.

When I get to office tomorrow, after almost 2 weeks, I know I am not going find her 'Good morning' mail in my mailbox. Sigh! It is not like she has gone incommunicado or disappeared forever, but the nonstop (non)sense chatter that for so long, I had taken for granted, will not exist starting tomorrow. But right now, I know nothing can make her happier than being with the boy after close to 2 years of long distance.