Stories of Friendship

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one. – C. S Lewis

Perhaps the most important aspect of feeling at home somewhere are our connections there. I’ve come to realise that friends and connections are waiting for us everywhere, we need only become available for them to find us.

When I first arrived at my apartment, Jeanne, my French housemate, greeted me with the sweetest smile. Soon after I met Pier, my Italian housemate, and the rest of my flatmates. We began sharing stories over food whenever we found the chance. Food, laughter and conversation became a recurring theme during my stay. The food and stories were only the pretext for spending time together. Also – I loved sharing my gift of music with everyone and seeing them light up. I immediately felt the warmth of friendship and connection. And felt grateful to have had such kind flatmates. Being with them made me feel at home. My time is Zurich wouldn’t be the same without them.

Zurich was expensive, so I began to cook much more often. I bought some cookbooks and felt thoroughly excited to cook up something special and share it with my friends. If I were going to cook, I’d often invite flatmates and friends to join. It would be wonderful being able to share stories and food from our disparate cultures. There probably wasn’t a day that went by when Pier wouldn’t tell me how Italy was different from the rest of the world. And I’d tell him of ways that India was different. In doing so, we’d share and celebrate our cultures joyously. “Sofritto!” he’d say, is what you call the olive oil and garlic infused base to a pasta sauce. I’d mock his inability to say this without moving his hands.

I lived, studied and met people from various parts of the world. It was a plethora of colourful identities inter-being. It was while I was going to the supermarket one day that I met Narain, who had an Indian father and Japanese mother, we began to share our experiences and connected almost instantly. It then became a regular thing to meet in the evenings when we were free, to watch the trains go by, and share our experiences growing up amongst such different cultures. It was natural for us to compare and contrast the cultures we’d been a part of, speak of what we like and dislike about a culture.

Narain introduced me to Lin, who had a Chinese mother and an American father. We would go on long walks and drink hot chocolate together. She loved music like I did. And since I loved going on concerts whenever I could. I’d call her to join me. And if I were going to try cooking something I hadn’t tried before. She’d be there. Our love for food and music was the sweetness that brought us together. Looking back, it was the simple things that meant the most.

I’m grateful to have met such wonderful human beings. I’ll remember them with great fondness. When the time had come for one of our flatmates to leave, my friend Chiara made everyone a bookmark with our picture. With the picture every bookmark had a unique quote. Mine said, “There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t met yet – Yeats”. This is certainly true. There is no place in this world where we wouldn’t find friendship and connection, for behind our veils, we truly are one.