” DRIVER  STOP!!!”, I shouted to Ram in front seat and he pressed the break in a jolt. While I got down there, I asked him to take the car back home.  I waited for the car to leave and then slowly proceeded towards the Metro Railway station. It’s been ages that I travelled through public transport in Kolkata but this has been my regimen for the past few months. I walked up and down the platform and was waiting for the train to arrive.  Wish this was not India and I remembered my first weekend in Hong Kong, when I met him in the underground railway( MTR) station in Admiralty Hong Kong.

I was travelling to Hongkong for work and I had to stay there for ten weeks. That was my first weekend and I decided to be spirited and adventurous enough to opt for sightseeing by the local public transport MTR underground Railways.  On the way back, I had to change the train at Admiralty station to board another to Causeway bay where I was staying in a company provided Service Apartment. After about moving aimlessly  here and there  for 15 minutes in the underground station, I realized that I was lost. Every symbol written seemed Greek to me and I just could not decipher the platform from which I had to board the train back home.  It was then that I spotted him, munching popcorns.

“You speak English?“, I asked worriedly.

” Only little speak, little understand. I Cantonese.”, He replied back almost immediately looking at me with surprise wondering what a foreigner was wanting to tell him.

” You know what, I am lost. I need to change the train and board another to Cause way Bay, where I stay but I am just not able to locate the line and the platform. “, I looked at him with anticipation and continued…” Do you understand me, could you help?”

He looked blankly at me with wide opened eyes and  gave me a feel that he didn’t understood anything of what I said in English. It was then that he said,

” I understand….but  I no words to explain.“….. I pouted in frustration and turned my back to him when he spoke again….

” I no words…. but I take you.”, he said and before I knew anything, he took me by my hand and climbed up the escalator. We climbed up few fleet of stairs and then reached another platform. When the train arrived he pointed at me to board it and I ran inside it.

“Bye“, He said and smiled .

” Thanks so much.”, I smiled back at him.

The next weekend, I didn’t try to be experimenting and decided to visit the Local library near my apartment. I went there hoping that apart from Cantonese books they would also have some English ones and was glad to see their collection in English. I picked up the latest book of Paul Coelho and sat in the reading corner.

“Hello!”, a voice said from somewhere and I looked up.

It came from the gentleman seated opposite me. He was the same stranger who had helped me back home.

“Hello! nice to meet you again.”

” I Fred Yo Ming. “, he said his name and shook hands with me.

Little did I know that this introduction will win me one of the most dear friends in Hong Kong.

Fred was the sweetest and one of the most gentle guys Ihad ever met. Ever since that weekend, we met every weekend in the Library towards the evening. We didn’t talk, just exchanged a Hello with a smile and concentrated on our respective books. After we were done, on the way back, we stopped by the Star Bucks coffee shop for coffee.  If he treated me this weekend, I would treat him the next, that was the rule  we had set for us.

Fred spoke very little, smiled a lot and expressed even more through his wide triangular eyes. In small but meaningful ways he was a good companion of mine in a country where I knew no one but Fred.

It was about a month but I had not seen anything in Hongkong.  On Fred’s request, one weekend we went sightseeing. I must say it is an amazing place with beautiful warm people around. We went to the Avenue of Stars, Thousand Buddha Temple, Disneyland, Hindu Temple, Times Square, Cruising in the awesome picturesque of  Victoria Harbour and the amazing Lantau Island.

Fred gave me company in all but in silence.  He couldn’t speak  in English so wasn’t able to tell me the history of all the places we were visiting. Yet, like a caring friend, on our way to each spot, he would take out the respective chapter from the Hong Kong Sightseeing book in English and ask me to read it.

I thanked him for giving me such serene undemanding companionship through my lonely days in Hong Kong. He took me shopping to Ladies market in Mong Kok and bargained to the last penny with the shop keeper in Cantonese for every little thing I bought.

Three weeks passed and my scheduled work ended. It was the last weekend we were meeting in the coffee shop. I was speaking in slow broken English telling Fred how much I enjoyed his company and friendship, how much I liked Hong Kong, but he sat quiet as usual.

I gave him a book on the Taj Mahal, something which Indians always like to boast about.  As I turned to leave, he handed me a small packet.

” For you.”, He said.

He pointed to the packet and said,” Next time.”

I didn’t understand what he possibly meant by “Next time” in the packet.

It was only in the flight back home that I had opened the packet. It was a small memento of a place called Victoria Peak and on top of it were written some scripts in Cantonese which I couldn’t read.

It’s been a year that I left Hong Kong and even amidst the busy hustle bustle of Kolkata I always miss those peaceful ten weeks that I had spent there. I am back to the city where I belong to, where I have loads of friends, people who can chat with me for hours… but some how, I always missed the  quiet companionship of my sweet, caring friend Fred. Little things reminded me of something that we did together and I don’t know why but sometimes I did things which dated back to our days of friendship in Hong Kong…. my latest stint being foregoing my car and travelling by Metro on my way back home. I knew this was India and Fred was not to be found here, but I don’t know why  I felt as if by travelling in the Metro, I was cherishing memories of my friendship with Fred. For the last few months, I was going to the Evening and Weekend classes to learn Cantonese. I didn’t need to do this, and I don’t have any reason of doing this too but I just loved doing it.  Every lesson I learnt in Cantonese, I imagined sharing the same with Fred. If he were here, we could have chatted at length in Cantonese now.  I thought It was all so foolish of me till today…….

I had taken the small memento of Hong Kong that Fred had given me to my Cantonese class today. After the class, I showed it to my teacher. She took it in her hand and toyed with it.

Then smiled at  me and said…”Could you read what’s written in  here?”

Confusingly I swayed my head saying no and she said…

It’s written in Cantonese……

” The day you feel for me what I am feeling for you now,…. Come back to me. I will miss you a lot but will wait for you.. Always.. Till you come back.”

I froze and couldn’t believe what she just translated for me.

Two days later I was in Hong Kong. I had informed Fred in Facebook and he  had sent a car to recieve me from the airport. I had hoped that he would be there too but there was only the driver. Surprisingly enough, I realised after sometime that the car was not heading on the way to the hotel.

I kept on asking but the Driver  didn’t speak English and couldn’t answer me.

I almost panicked but after a while the car seemed to drive up a hill. On a milestone, I saw an arrow written,”VICTORIA PEAK “.

Victoria Peak? , the memento Fred had given me. So… is this all planned by him?

The answer was clear as the car had stopped and Fred was standing outside it.

It was so good to be seeing him after a long time and I came out of the car and stood facing him.

” hóu hòisàm gindou néih”,  I said In clear Cantonese. ( It’s so glad to have known you.)

I thought he would be surprised but I was stunned at what he replied…..

“Thank you so much Ma’am, The pleasure has been mine utterly for the absolutely mind blowing companion that you have been for me in my life.“, Fred was speaking in fluent clear English.

His pronunciation and diction was clear.

“I learnt to speak English to converse with  you dear.”, said Fred looking at my eyes.

He took me by my hand and we climbed up till the last sky tower of Victoria Peak.  I looked down and it was a sight, I could never forget in my lifetime. The entire Hong Kong stood dazzling in front of my eyes.

” I knew you would come. Now that you have, be here forever, with me.“, said Fred as he took my hands in his.  ” In my life forever, because I love you.”

That moment has been the most special and defining  moment of my life for what Fred told me amongst the glistening lights of Hong Kong In Victoria Peak.  All I could barely manage to say was…. “Ngo oi ney” ( I Love You).

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