She walked into our lives wearing yellow shoes on a bright summer day. With her restless eyes constantly running, she talked about her wedding, our book collection, the view from our downtown condo of the Ottawa river, Mehreen’s hair, food, life in Ottawa, life elsewhere and much else. Half an hour later she left. The two of us shared a look and then muttered something along the lines of, “She’s cool. [Pause] Why does she like us so much?”
A couple of weeks later she was sitting in our living room, three of us plopped on our white IKEA couch, her hogging the remote control in one hand, a plate in the other, as we all ate something delicious Mehreen had cooked and watched “So You Think You Can Dance”. A little while later we shared our funny YouTube finds, the laptop hooked up to the TV laughing our asses off.
Then there was the time she decided to be our Ottawa tour guide; the time both of them dropped by to give Mehreen company after the accident; the time they came by on Mehreen’s birthday leaving their best friend’s wedding earlier; and of course the numerous times she’d run into us at weddings and yell and wave frantically upon our first sight, “DOST! HELLO DOST1!”
We still don’t know why you like us Afroz. But, we like that you like us. And we like you too. A lot!
And Usman, we like you too, coz YOU’RE THE MANAGER! (sorry internet; inside joke – maybe another blog entry some other day – you’ll be hearing a lot more of these two).
Afroz and Usman are getting married this weekend in Ottawa. And we’ll be there as their friends, and their photographers. Gitty up!
1. Dost is Urdu for Friend.
