The Last Fry

Finding comfort in the simplest and smallest things has always been my solace. Just as much as I get upset easily, it’s just as easy to put a smile on my face. One place that has never failed to make me feel comfortable is the school canteen. For everyone else, it was a noisy place but for my friends and I, it was this quiet place, because in that huge school it would be just us staying back for the extra classes we’d signed up for, it was quiet but never lonely. Chipping in money to buy snacks together from the smiling canteen lady who never had any change and the smell of hot food (probably microwaved) made us happy.

The canteen has seen my bests and worsts, from small gossip sessions to every little sad memory of the past year. Everything felt like the perfect ending of a well-written movie, where all the actors were laughing, except we were never acting. Every time I eat a samosa, I am reminded of the canteen benches where we would smile and mock each other. I still remember when I was new to school and went there with the new friends I had made, sipping on a milkshake while looking down sadly, realizing that everyone else in the school had left, but we'd have to stay back.

Those moments felt endless, as if time slowed down. I'd be lying if I told you it was a forgotten place because it is so dear to me that forgetting it would be a crime. I don’t know what intrigues me about sitting there, is it the warmth or the giggles we share, but something about that place makes everything feel alright.

Such a small space, so open to the pigeons I despise, managed to open up my heart for me to love it. I see my friends and I leaving the school in a year, the canteen will still be there, but the faces, the laughter, the energy will fade into memories, too precious to forget but too distant to relive and I know for sure that one last thing I'd love to do is sit under the warm rays of the sunshine at our favorite table, fighting over who gets the last fry.