The Reunion

On the day I joined the residential school at 8 years old, Tulasi and P. Anitha were the very first classmates I spoke to. They gave me a place to sit with them. Tulasi, Anitha, Divya Sree, Kiranmaiyee, Naveena, Nissi, Swapna, and some others were already close friends, and they just adopted me into their gang. As our school was residential, students were not allowed to go out at any cost. But for the first time, Tulasi, Divya Sree, and I broke the rule and jumped the compound wall, running to my home (only my home was very near to my school, while all my other friends' homes were nearly 100km away). At that time, my brother was an infant, just 3 months old. Nobody had seen my brother other than my family, but Tulasi and Divya Sree were the first people who saw my infant brother.

Soon after, they divided the whole class into 3 sections. All of us were in the same Section except Tulasi; she was in a different Section. But we used to play games together every day during game time. As we grew, Tulasi made different friends within her class. It's not like we separated; we were always in the same place, eating the same food, and sleeping in the same dormitory, but meeting and spending time together got less frequent. Even though we didn't talk every day, we still had that connection whenever we were together.

Years passed, we completed our schooling and moved to cities for higher studies. We came to graduation studies in different colleges. I don't remember exactly how we got each other's contact numbers when we got our first phones, but as I recall, we had each other's numbers. Similar to school, we never used to text each other or call every day, but we used to talk once in a blue moon and discuss a lot of things and we always knew each other's important life updates. I never mentioned it to her, but a call with her is like therapy for me. She calls me at the time when I need her, listens to what I have to say, and gives me the exact advice that I need to hear. She is the calmest friend I have. I have never seen her freak out or feel overwhelmed by anything. Overall, she is a very composed and organized person, which is completely opposite to me. Maybe that's the reason I like her so much.

Almost 10 years had passed since the last time I saw her, which was in 2014, and that was it; we never met after that. Many times we planned to meet, but it never happened because we were living completely different lives.

One day, I got a call from her. She said, "My marriage has been arranged, and my engagement is on XX date. Please come." I congratulated her and thought he(Tulasi's husband) was lucky to have found such an understanding partner like Tulasi. However, I didn't attend the engagement because the event was very far away, and I decided to go to the wedding a day earlier.

After some days, she called me and invited me to the wedding. This time, I decided no matter what happens, I HAVE TO GO TO THE WEDDING. Tulasi informed me of her wedding date almost a month before, and I applied for leave accordingly. Then, Tulasi sent me an invitation letter, and when I saw the date, I was shocked. My brain had remembered the date wrongly, and I had applied for leave for a week before her wedding date.

I managed to plead with my lead and secure leave for the wedding day only. The plan to go a day before got canceled, and I decided to go on the wedding day itself. As per the plan, I informed two other friends who stay in the same town as Tulasi and also friends with both of us, and they agreed to come. So, the three of us attended the wedding, sadly not on time, but almost end of the event.

As I entered the wedding hall, I caught sight of Tulasi, almost after 10 years. The last time I saw her, we were schoolchildren, and now I was seeing her as a bride in a wedding saree. I felt a surge of emotion, my eyes almost teary, and literal goosebumps covering my skin. I stood there in front of her, just watching her, while photographers captured moments of her and her husband.

I didn't engage in much conversation with her, of course. It wasn't easy; she was the bride, and this was her wedding day. I simply greeted her with a warm "hi" and asked how she was doing when we all took a picture together. Later, after the wedding lunch, my other two friends indicated that they were ready to leave. However, I insisted that we stay until we could properly bid farewell to her. She was busy with rituals, photographs, and family, but among all this, she managed to spare exactly a minute for us.

During that minute, I approached her, hugged her, and took a beautiful selfie. I bid her goodbye, and she thanked me for attending her wedding.

Traveling 280km to and fro in one day to meet her for a few minutes on her special day felt entirely worthwhile. It was an emotional and joyous moment that I'll always treasure.💞

 

PS: When I usually attend friends' weddings, I ask them to share pictures of me with them, but no one ever sends them. Everybody forgets. I've seen them having children, but I have not received my pictures.

Tulasi is definitely not one of them. Right after we took a photo, I asked her to send me a copy. She did; she sent the pictures within a week. She is disciplined too.😜