An Ideal Family?

Dear diary,

Today I was thinking of my dear friend and this is her story...

Rathi is one of the prettiest girl I have seen in my life in Bangalore. She is not only pretty but has brains too! What a rare combination.

I met Rathi on the first day of my college. She was so fair, so stylish, so graceful that she stood out in a crowd easily. I was looking for a place to sit in the classroom and settled couple of seats away from her. After a while she extended her hand and introduced herself, "Hi, I am Rathi and I am from Delhi. My dad moved here recently and that is why I am here. What's is your name?". I was quite timid so I quickly said, "I am Anu, nice to meet you. I love accounts hence I have joined B Com." Rathi laughed loudly and said" you are in the wrong class. This is BBA not B Com section." I felt embarrassed. I thanked her for letting me know and quickly rushed out.

We met each other sometimes in the corridor and thus began our friendship, slow and steady. Around mid year, we had our first cultural event and we needed participants for the Fashion Show. Rathi and I were given the responsibility to chose and train a strong team. It was good fun auditioning the girls for the Show. Rathi was easily the best model in college. She and I choreographed the show and it turned out well.

Rathi took me home to meet her folks. Her parents are the most loving and coolest couple I have seen till date. Even after so many years of marriage, they were still very much in love with each other. Her siblings were as good looking as Rathi. "This was what an ideal family would look like", I thought after meeting them.

In our 2nd year of college, Rathi had an idea of making our own fashion show group to participate independently (apart from the ones where we represented our college). It was the best idea. We participated in all the competitions that year and easily became the best team in Bangalore. Either Rathi or I would win the crown in the shows we went to.

By this time, our friendship grew by leaps and bounds and we literally lived with each other. We spent a lot of time together and the college days were filled with fun and frolic.

After college, we did our best to keep in touch with each other but life took us through our own journeys and we lost touch.

I met her recently, by chance. I went for a school reunion to Chennai and stayed in a resort. When I walked out of my room one day, I bumped into this pretty lady who looked very modern and chic. It was Rathi. We hugged each other. She soon introduced me to her 2 sons and they were adorable. We sat in the lounge to catch up briefly. Rathi said, "I was married to a person for sometime but it did not work out. So I moved to US. I have been staying there for about 10 years now". Soon, another lady joined us who she introduced as her partner, Sitara. The kids went to Sitara and said, "Mummy, may we go for a swim". I did not give it much thought first but it struck me that the kids called her mummy after couple of minutes. I gave a quizzical look to my friend and then she said "I married Sitara in the US. We are absolutely in love with each other". I kept analyzing for later, kept my balance and spoke to her for a while. When it was time to part again I told her that I miss the good old days and that if she visits India again she should come and stay with me so that we could catch up on all the happenings in our life.

Rathi taught me to be non judgmental that day. As I saw her leave with her partner and kids I thought, they look so happy together. Isn't this the only thing that matters at the end of the day?" In my eyes, this is also an ideal family.

I am grateful for my life experiences. It has taught me to simplify my life by being non judgmental.