Binny Oinam

Many years ago (I think it was in 1986), I was late on the first day of the new class at School. The teacher asked me to sit on an isolated extra bench, and that was when I met two brothers who share the same family name as mine. The younger one was more curious.

“I’m Oinam Brajeshwar.”

“Oinam Binny.”

That was when we both knew we would be good friends.

From that day, Binny and I started, nurtured, and cherished a lifelong friendship.

We shared many experiences together in School, from disliking a few teachers to being punished by teachers for our actions. We used to prank other classmates and make elaborate plans for mischief. His sarcasm and humor are subtle yet profound. Even teachers were not spared, especially on April Fools’ Day. I recall a day when we replaced sugar with salt in the tea for almost all the teachers.

We shared similar tastes in fun, food, and studies. Most of the time, we were in our own world, with our bare-minimum pocket money to last us through the class breaks. I remember eating the exact same snack from the same shop for weeks on end before we decided to experiment elsewhere. We weren’t the most adventurous, but we had our fun and were happy.

With time, he became one of my best friends with whom I shared details of my life’s stories without hesitation. I told him stories of my family, my misfortunes, and everything else about my life. Without ever making me feel pitied, he usually figured out ways to share things with me, from pencils to pens, to notebooks, stickers, and whatnot.

₹1 Snacks Money

In School, We used to bring ₹1 or ₹2 every day,¹ and we would lavish ourselves on tea and roti. My grandmother gave me that ₹1 pocket money every day. Now that I think over, I guess Binny capped the pocket money to that limit to be at par with me. I figured that out because his elder brother had much higher pocket money, and the fact that they were pretty well off in our hometown.

The Cute Girl Two Classes Older

While in fifth grade, both of us had an eye on a pretty, cute girl a few grades ahead of us. We used to wander around the window of the girl’s class and smile at her. She must have thought that two little guys were just being naughty, and she reciprocated by talking to us, pinching our cheeks, shuffling our hair, etc. That went on for about a year. Later in life, we never remember who she really was.

School Shoes

I recall an instance where he asked me to take his favorite shoes because he wasn’t using them. Those were the shoes I wore to School in the 11th and 12th grades. I realize much later in life that he might have done that on purpose, knowing I didn’t have shoes ready for the new School. He knew I was earning on the side to pay for my School fees, books, and the uniform. He lied to me so I could have the shoe without hesitation. He never ever brought up that topic in his entire life. There were several instances where I began to understand why he did what he did, so I wouldn’t hesitate to accept the things he kept giving me.

Amongst many other good friends, Binny and I spent almost our entire school life together.

Binny left our hometown for further studies in 1993. We would meet up during the holidays. We remained good friends, and we kept to the few friends that we met along the way.

Binny got married a few years after me. He and his wife had a sweet girl. They were always happy and joyful. Our family always tries to copy them and become happier like theirs.

Circumstances made fools of us. We could only meet up occasionally, longing to get back to how things were once. We wanted to be free like kids all over again.

A few of our close friends were making plans that once we retire, we would build a massive man-cave where we would chill out our lives together.

Life is never going to be the same with you gone. I’ll forever cherish our friendship. My dear friend, I’ll miss you for the remainder of my life, and there is nothing that can fill this void.

Feb 3, 2019: Binny, his wife, and their daughter met with a fatal accident in Assam, India.

I wish we were the victims of the cruelest prank ever, and that this wasn’t happening. I’d still forgive them, but I wish I could get my friend back.