Best Friend Forever

I feel very lucky to have a best friend P who has been with me for almost 20 years! Yes it has been that long since we officially knew each other. We sat next to each other during the college for 2 whole years. All that time, we just spoke in the class as much as it was necessary. Towards the end of college, I don’t know how we became best friends. But, by end of junior college, we were inseparable. We spent most of the time either at my place or her place and the rest of the time usually on the phone with each other. We just had tons of stuff to talk like any other teenagers. We talked about our crushes, our parents, our disappointments and everything in between. Later, we went to different colleges and had a different set of friends, but we always made time to spend time together. We spoke to each other everyday. If a week went by, without meeting each other, we used to meet up at the bus stop for a few min to chat before she went home.

We were almost treated as sisters by both of our parents. When we came to the US for the first time, I left a couple of weeks before her. So, after I left, apparently she went to my house and sat on my bed crying because she was missing me. I cried on the phone when my mom told me that. Even after coming to US, we met as regularly as possible. Here in the US, we were both for the first time, free and earning our own money. We had lots and lots of fun when ever we met.

Even after all these years, we can just call each other and pick up where we left off. She is my go to person when I am mad at S or when ever I feel really depressed or if I need someone to tell me everything will be okay. She also keeps calling me whenever she needs some reassurance. It is really amazing that our friendship lasted this long! The one sad part was that she was not able to attend my wedding. But, luckily I was able to attend hers 🙂 She came to visit us when both Sarath & Sanjay were born. When she had a daughter, we could not go and visit them. We finally went to their place last month during the holidays. It was so much fun. We talked and talked for hours. We met after 3.5 years but, it was as if we just met a few days back and are catching up 🙂

While I was growing up, I always wanted a sister and now I have a sister and best friend all in one.