In a few moments, they were chatting of the old days, when they had very little money but had lots of fun. It was Christmas of 1978, and both Sakina and Bashir were on a week's British Council programme to Shanklin YMCA in the Isle of Wight. There were ten boys and ten girls in that group. In the early part of the day there were joint programmes, but the early afternoons were free. Bashir and Sakina took long walks and discussed everything from Marx to Keynes, and from Shakespeare to TS Eliot. There were coffee shops dotted through Shanklin where they drank endless cups of coffee. Both felt free from their backbreaking work at the school. This trip to Shanklin bought them closer as friends and classmates.

The New Year brought them back to their respective Halls of Residence, the familiar refectory and the British Library of Economics and Political Science. For their lunches Bashir and Sakina chose an Indian restaurant near Aldwych, where the prices were modest. For their weekend entertainment they chose the modest Arts Theatre, where there were good shows on Sunday afternoons. With time, their acquaintance blossomed to a close friendship. But good times fly fast, and two years of school was over. In the summer of 1980, Sakina told Bashir that she has been called back home for her engagement to a dignitary, and that the marriage will take place after a year when she got her degree of BSc (Economics).

Sakina came back in October 1980 for her last year at school. The friendship continued, but the conversations were more polite and a trifle restrained. On 30th June, Sakina and Bashir got their degrees and both were placed in the second class, a disappointment for Bashir, as he had decided to go in for post graduate studies.

On a beautiful July morning, Sakina and Bashir said their sober good byes at Heathrow Airport and they both knew that they were not going to see each other again. In the journey of life their paths had crossed for a brief while. Bashir's future path was one of long struggle, whereas the path of Sakina was to be one of elegance and affluence. Her family status and the wealth of her husband would ensure that.

Both Sakina and Bashir became alive to their surroundings, and the present time. Bashir suggested that they visit their old haunt, near Euston Station, the Shah's Restaurant. But as they reached there, an Indian Dry Cleaning Shop had taken the place of the eatery. Bashir then decided to take Sakina to the Indian Restaurant in Aldwych. It too had vanished, as a bank branch was there.

Sakina then firmly said to Bashir that there should be no more adventures. She was taking him to the London Hilton overlooking the Hyde Park, where she was staying, for their dinner.

The evening was long and the dinner pleasant. Sakina had three beautiful teenaged daughters, who kept her busy. Besides, she had her continuous social responsibility and the charities.

Bashir's life had taken a different path. He was a professor of statistics in his university, where his wife was a historian. In the shaded campus of the university, life meant teaching and endless research work. It was one of peace and serenity. Bashir had a young son.

Even the longest dinner has to come to an end sometime. After nineteen years, Bashir and Sakina bade farewell once again. Were they to meet again, possibly not? Bashir crossed the road and entered the Hyde Park, and looked at the sky. It was a clear sky full of stars, and everything was so calm. It was a beautiful night.