Happy Birthday Bandhu...

Dear Bandhu,

I should have written this letter to you many years back but better late than never. Well as fate would have it – it was in our stars to cross each other’s path and I definitely didn’t know back then, how our lives would change.

In 6 months from now, our journey together would turn 12 years old and that’s simply remarkable. We have seen many crests and troughs that life threw at us but we faced each of these together and emerged stronger. 

By now you already know about the curve ball that life threw at us when the fate planned our friendship. Of all the coincidences that I could think of, this one never ever crossed my mind and thus I was bowled over unexpectedly. Well to be precise, not in the happiest of ways. ​

Post us becoming friends, when I got to know that your birthday coincided with the day my father had passed away, it felt as if someone had pulled the growth beneath my feet. Honestly, I was stunned. This was way back in 2006 and my loss was way too fresh and raw in my mind.

I ended up treating you unfairly for several years after this revelation. While you waited for your best buddy to greet you on your birthday, the so called buddy (that’s me – guilty as charged) kept running away from this. She didn’t have the balls to do so back then. I would just say sorry and go quiet. 

But you my friend, never felt bad and always comforted me that it was alright. What touched me the most was when you said – “Sam it doesn’t matter whether you wish me happy birthday or not. As long as you are my friend, every day is a celebration.”

Bandhu! I must have done something right in my previous Karma that I got you as my friend. Over the years, as I learnt to accept my loss, I also learnt to accept that it was unfair to be absent on your most special day. And then I changed that streak few years back. While I cannot really make up for the lost birthdays but now, I try and ensure that I make your birthday as special as I can.

So here’s a special birthday wish for you – 

My dearest Bandhu!! You are a gem of a person and it would not have been possible for me to sail through, had you not been there in my life. Just like yester years, I hope and pray that we would continue to stand by each other, come what may. I will keep troubling you with all my madness and moodiness and you have no other option but to deal with it (wink wink). I will continuously harass you, should you become negligent about your health and work life balance. PS – you know what pain in the a** I can be on this front.

And last but not the least – may this birthday open the gates to a healthier, happier and a prosperous world for you. May you shine like the brightest star from the midnight sky and if ever you need any help – sabse peechey hum khadey.

I don’t know for how long would we be together in this journey of life, but with each passing day, this journey is becoming memorable, fulfilling and a tad more nostalgic than it was yesterday.

Happy birthday Bandhu!!