“Last month I was sitting in my room one afternoon when my grandson Mukil came to me and said, ‘Dadi do you want to meet Panchali Amma?’ I was surprised. Panchali is my childhood friend who I hadn’t spoken to in over a decade – umar ho jaati hai tab time nahi milta beta. But when I finally had the opportunity to meet her again, I wasn’t going to miss it! Mukil said, ‘I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning.’ That night I was so giddy with excitement I hardly got any sleep. I couldn’t stop reminiscing about our life from 80 years ago, when we were both little girls. I was homeschooled. So everyday after school Panchali would come home and we’d play games and talk about our days. For years we were inseparable – maano do dil ek jaan. But then, we got married, had kids and got so engrossed in our own lives that eventually we lost touch. But, I’d miss her a lot. Next morning I woke up earlier than usual, and put on my favorite sari. When Mukil arrived, I was ready and couldn’t wait to meet my friend. We drove to her house. I kept thinking, ‘Will she remember me?’ She’s 96 and I’m 93. I asked Mukil, ‘What if she’s forgotten about me?’ He said, ‘So you remind her.’ That made me feel a lot better. But the moment we saw each other it felt as if we were both taken back to our childhood. She looked at her nurse and said, ‘She’s my best friend. We’ve known each other for 80 years.’ I had tears in my eyes. We held hands and sat beside each other and talked for almost 2 hours. I told her about my life, and she told me all about hers. We even reminisced about our childhood and told Mukil how we’d spend most of our time together. Looking at her I thought, ‘So much time has passed.’ We had gone from being 10 year old girls to women in their 90s. But in all these years, if there was one thing that hadn’t changed it was our love for each other. Before leaving, I touched her feet and said, ‘I’ll see you again.’ She nodded with a big smile and kissed my hands. I can never put into words how I felt that day after seeing Panchali after all these years. You know when your friendship is true, no amount of time away can change the bond. Best friends always find their way to each other.”