I can still remember what my friend Lakshmi did for me many years back. I was in school then, she used to wait for me during the lunch hours. Lakshmi came from an upper middle class family. I lost my father during early days of my childhood. Mother is my only support. “Mother why are you forcing me to have lunch there”? I said. “We don’t have enough money so you need to make use of the free lunch provided in your school” she said. “It’s embarrassing to get lunch from there” I said. “You have no other way or else you will starve” she said. The noon meal scheme was arranged in our school for poor kids. But only curd rice was provided every day. Even though the curd rice was good I was never willing to stand in queue to get that food. I never want to have it. I used to get that food hesitatingly. My friend Lakshmi knows this. She waited for me with her lunchbox every day till I get my curd rice. She will exchange my curd rice with her lunch. She never had her lunch which her mother packed for her. She could have had her lunch which is better than the curd rice but she never did. I had many friends but none of them did something like this. For me she was different from my other friends. After our school days, I lost my contact with Lakshmi. We got busy with our own lives. Now many years later, I have a job with which I am financially independent. I am married and I have two kids. Now I am in a position that I can satisfy my kids every need.
Recently I came to know about Lakshmi through some of my friends that her parents married her off to a man with hefty sum as dowry and she has a kid. But then life began to show its dark side to her. She lost her husband in an accident. Some days later she was prone to depression. One day doctors told that Lakshmi is suffering from a mental illness. Today I just planned to visit Lakshmi’s house thinking about her, our friendship and how life has changed for both of us. I pressed the door’s calling bell and waited for someone to open it. The door got opened and there stood a girl at her teenage. She was Lakshmi’s daughter Nisha. Lakshmi stayed with her mother and daughter. After a few minutes of interaction with both of them, came Lakshmi. “Hello Kalyani! How are you? You look old” she said. I smiled and replied “Yes. Many days have passed and we do get old as days pass”. I was surprised that she can recognize me even in this condition. I left her house hoping to meet her again and gave a thousand rupees note to Nisha as an act of kindness.