The PIG

I just sent a friend request to a PIG on Facebook.

Well, truth be told, she isn't a PIG and I'm really asking for trouble making fun of her when I'm recovering from SWINE flu myself, but it's just the memory.

You see, I just came across an old friend from my school days on Facebook. And among the many memories, the one that instantly popped up was this memory from school.

It was one of those days. Maths class was droning on, we were pretending to listen while fiddling with our lunchboxes under the table and playing pranks on each other.

Watching all this sat Sumi ( Name changed - or else she'll never accept that Friendship request!! ). Now, a quick character sketch of Sumi would look like this - naughty, cute, tube-light, tomboyish, loves to play pranks. In other words, one of the gang.

So there we were, wondering whether the bell would ever ring and suddenly one of us calls her in that stage whisper voice that somehow extends 3 rows before and beyond the origin but never reaches the sir.

"Sumi. Sumiii. SUMI !!"

She turned around. "What ?"

"You're a pig."

She stared back. "What ?"

"You're a pig."

"Shut up. I'm not a pig. You're the pig."

"See, are you a pig or not ?"

"No, I'm not a pig."

"Too bad." Silence....

Sumi stared at the board for a whole of 3.46 seconds before she fell for the bait. She turned around. "Why ?"

"Nothing. Just that PIG stands for Pretty Indian Girl.. but since you're not a PIG.."

"NO. NO. WAIT!! I AM A PIG ! I AM A PIG !"

Of course, that last bit didn't come out as a stage whisper. It came out pretty loud and clear to a class bored of cos thetas and sine thetas. The Maths Sir and the rest of the class just stared at her as she turned towards the front of the class... and said the only thing that she could think of.

"I'm a Pig.'

And the bell rang for lunch.

P.S. She didn't get into trouble. We all had too much fun calling her a PIG that week, including the Maths Sir ( God bless such supercool dudes... where have all the fun Sirs gone ? ) and in the days to come, she'd turn the tables on us too, many a time.

It's been ages since I heard from her. I wonder if time has left that playfulness and innocence untouched. I sure hope so. Because life just wouldn't be the same without such fun friends around in our lives.