thank god for the smallness ...
yesterday, as i navigated to m's facebook profile to send her a message, i found that she and nk were friends (on m's mini-feed). while i wasn't sure if this was the same nk who had been my best friend back in third grade, i needed to find out. sent first m and then n a message, and heard back from n today. indeed it is the very same nk! in a's words, what a blast from the past!
n and i lived a walk away from each other, and were in the same class (and section) at school. more than anything, i remember her bangs oh, so clearly! she had one of those hair-dos that would remind you of the heroines from the 70s :). we used to visit each other occasionally, and i remember that her baby sister was one of the first little infants i had seen so closely. she also had the most beautiful name - naintara. i also remember that once when naintara was playing with us and i was trying to help her stand on her feet, n said to me - "no, don't do that. if you try to make her stand on her feet before she's ready, her feet will curl up and she'll never be able to walk." those words rang in my head for years after, even as i watched my own niece and nephew grow :).
after third grade, we (my family and i) moved to jaipur. n wasn't a great writer back then :), and we barely kept in touch. i do remember that i happened to be in delhi for her birthday (somehow) and attended her birthday party (i even recall what i wore!). but that was the last time we met. i remember receiving a letter from her saying they were to move to hyderabad and that she would send me her address once she reached. but by the time she was in hyderabad, i was back in delhi and then we had no means of getting back in touch.
that unfortunate turn of events affected me for a while - as i recall. that we had no means of getting in touch with other, if we wanted, was the first time i sensed the loss of a person from my life. i was 10, and the "oh, man!"-ness of it really bothered me. and now that i'm older and wiser, these things bother me just the same. but perhaps there will always be a facebook to come to the rescue ...
n and i lived a walk away from each other, and were in the same class (and section) at school. more than anything, i remember her bangs oh, so clearly! she had one of those hair-dos that would remind you of the heroines from the 70s :). we used to visit each other occasionally, and i remember that her baby sister was one of the first little infants i had seen so closely. she also had the most beautiful name - naintara. i also remember that once when naintara was playing with us and i was trying to help her stand on her feet, n said to me - "no, don't do that. if you try to make her stand on her feet before she's ready, her feet will curl up and she'll never be able to walk." those words rang in my head for years after, even as i watched my own niece and nephew grow :).
after third grade, we (my family and i) moved to jaipur. n wasn't a great writer back then :), and we barely kept in touch. i do remember that i happened to be in delhi for her birthday (somehow) and attended her birthday party (i even recall what i wore!). but that was the last time we met. i remember receiving a letter from her saying they were to move to hyderabad and that she would send me her address once she reached. but by the time she was in hyderabad, i was back in delhi and then we had no means of getting back in touch.
that unfortunate turn of events affected me for a while - as i recall. that we had no means of getting in touch with other, if we wanted, was the first time i sensed the loss of a person from my life. i was 10, and the "oh, man!"-ness of it really bothered me. and now that i'm older and wiser, these things bother me just the same. but perhaps there will always be a facebook to come to the rescue ...
2 comments:
Wow! It must have been such a wonderful feeling to found your long lost friend!
nm - gosh, it's been a while :). hello again!
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