The Christmas Cake!

It was 25^th December 2012 and my first Christmas miles away from my home, Kolkata. I used to stay in a four-sharing room in a ladies hostel at my workplace Hyderabad. All my roomies being college-goers and having a long holiday ahead went to their respective hometowns which were just few hours away from the city. And there I was, sitting alone in my room, ruminating the wonderful memories of every Christmas spent earlier at my hometown which is always buzzing with various activities during this time. I tried music and reading to divert my mind away but nothing seem to work that day.

My eyes had already started welling-up when suddenly I heard a knock on the door. Controlling myself, I went and opened the door. Outside, I found a girl of my age standing with our hostel owner Uncle accompanied by bags.”She is your new roommate”, said Uncle. I called them inside. In the next few minutes, Uncle showed her the room and described the hostel details while I was back to myself again. Uncle left and the girl sat, unpacking her things slowly. She looked quite sad which is very common for any new girl in hostel. But there was a very uneasy kind of silence in her which I couldn’t fathom. As I was also not quite in mood that day, even I remained aloof and started reading.

Quite a few moments passed quietly. “Hi, this is for you. My Mom baked,” I was taken aback by the abrupt sound and looked up to see the girl holding a piece of cake towards me. “Thanks”, I said, adding again,” I am Shawna,” to which the girl replied,” My name is Grace Reshma. I have come here for Gate coaching whose classes are starting tomorrow itself and so I had to rush today without getting to complete our Christmas celebrations”, she continued saying while bringing out a Bible from her bag,” My Mom bakes a cake every Christmas and we share the same with our family members and friends”, and I could feel her almost on the verge of tears. Still I couldn’t say anything as she said,” So, I thought of sharing this with you”, and smiled at me with morose eyes. I took a small bite of the cake.” It’s delicious,” I replied back,” with the perfect Christmas flavour as well”, finding nothing else to say and finished the whole piece. “Can I borrow some more?”, I asked her and that was the first time I saw her face brighten up like anything.”Sure”, she said and we both finished the cake that evening, chatting and laughing with all the heaviness in our heart melting away. And the two unknown girls although separated by geography, religion and language, yet, equally pained by distance from home on an occasion like Christmas soon befriended based on the bond of the Christmas Cake! That Christmas gifted me a good friend indeed (and definitely the cake!) and though we are not staying in that hostel together anymore, we are very much in contact till this day.