The Cohesive Bond

A Tale of Unconventional Friendship.

- Bindu Saxena

Life gives choices. We take the best decisions according to the access to resources we have. This story is about a cohesive bond between two women who never married and are happy they did not.

It does not purport to same-sex friendships among lesbians or similar to cross-sex interactions, nor it highlights that same-sex friendships are the only pick. It is one of the selections under free will, alternate decisions, or the circumstances that may lead to such relationships.

Fictitious names are used to describe a real-life incident, here.

Why she did not marry - no one knows, but the fact is, she never did.

One may or may not. It is an individual choice. To have kids or not is another choice. To have children without marriage is yet another thought. Cherishing a live-in relationship and never marrying or giving birth to a love child is up to them. Are they monogamous, polygamous, gay, or lesbian? Boy! Who has given you the licence to interrogate?

If you did, you'd better be aware it is NOYB - none of your businesses.

This conversation boils down to one thing: it is purely a choice-based decision. Who the heck are you to even frame that question? Go rest.

Her four sisters chose to marry, but Balwinder did not. She was endearingly addressed as Billu Masi, maybe because her nieces and nephews addressed her thus. The neighbourhood kids followed suit, and so did I.

She taught Geography and retired from the post of Principal of a higher secondary school in Mehrauli, a suburb of the capital city of India.

I had not entered my teens when I met her. It must be the first time I raised an eyebrow upon seeing something that day. I felt awkward. (I will get to it soon.) Complex gestures such as these appear only after a certain age.