Down the memory runway

Friendship can be found in the most unexpected places they say. Yet we do not go searching for new friends at airports. Maybe because we are not supposed to go looking for Friendship at all. It is supposed to come looking for us. Am I talking myself in circles?

Let me take you back to the year 2006. It was New Year's Eve. I was on my way to Montreal from Kolkata, India via Delhi and the fogs descended upon us like an eerie curse, shrouding the bustling city of 18 million in a blanket of gloom. My flight from New Delhi was diverted to Mumbai. Huddled together at the Delhi airport, the unfortunate passengers of our flight had no idea what was going on. It was utter chaos. That is when I met her. Devina Kaur. Then pregnant with her first child and radiant with the glow of an impending motherhood, she easily stood out in the crowd. It was an instant connection. As our ill-fated flight to Montreal via Amsterdam kept getting delayed and cancelled, we rang in the New Year at the Delhi airport. Boy, this was hardly the way I was planning to celebrate New Year 2007. Yet, here we were, two days in Delhi, another night in Amsterdam and it didn't feel like we would ever make it back home that time around. But every cloud has a silver lining or rather every fog has one in this case. I found a friend and accomplice in Devina. We tried on chanels and munched on goodies in airport lounges and then before you know it phone numbers and e-mails were exchanged. We went on to coordinate a complaint against the airline and secured for ourselves as well as our co-passengers a nifty little compensation check of a few hundred Euros.

As the years went by both Devina and I went through our share of trials and tribulations; broken hearts, career disappointments, desolation and above all a sinking, unfathomable feeling of loneliness from time to time. We connected on Skype and Facebook to comfort each other as our journeys taught us more than what we had wished to learn. 

Today, over a decade later, here we are. Devina is a rising star in her own merit and with her Sexy Brilliant movement she is spreading her love far and wide and across nations. I am proud of you Devina! Unbeknownst to me was her current quest as I embarked on a journey of my own. That of becoming an author. With trepidation in my heart I published my first book "Colour Me Confounded" with stories of the lives and relationships of strong independent women; friendships reminiscent of mine and Devina's. With this, somehow, our paths have converged yet again (though metaphorically this time) as our friendship endures. A classic display of how friendship is bound to find you through the laws of attraction only if you keep your eyes and heart open and unencumbered. With a toast to friendship and powerful women, I therefore rest my case.