I thought I knew him very well, I thought he just couldn’t hurt me”, Megha confided in Abhish, “But see what happened. You are lucky Abhish, you’ve never faced a betrayal.”

Abhish went almost ten years down the memory lane.

He still remembered the scene vividly. He was about to complete his 9th year of existence the next day.

At a day when any child should have been brimming with joy, he was sitting in his balcony, staring at the cloud which looked like a giant elephant to him.

It was only when his mother asked him “What does my Abhish want as a birthday present”, when he spoke.

“Mumma”, there was not an iota of happiness in his voice, “You know I want a friend who understands me”

It stuck her mom hard. But what could she do? She sighed again on this repeated request on her son, “But beta that you’ll have to make on your own. Friends are not toys that I can gift you. You should go out, meet other children, play with them and make friends”

True it was. That’s how we make friends. Right?

He again resumed staring at the cloud, and his mother, unhappy at the sorrowful sight, resumed her household chores.

It wasn’t that he had never tried doing making friends, but he never succeeded. He was the typical shy introvert kid who just couldn’t say anything.

He used to feel hurt on things which were supposed to be jokes and laughed at. He used to care for the small puppy whom his friends used to sho away. He was a cricket lover who never got a turn to bat because he couldn’t shout on others.

He just couldn’t fit in the group.

He had gone out, on his mom’s instance, the next day too. Wondering through the parks, and uncomfortable at the noise of children shouting, he started searching for a quiet place, which led him to a nice stranded garden, in between which stood a huge Banyan tree.

He sat down beneath the protections of the mighty tree and the slow winds bought immense peace with them.

That day he had came back home an hour late than usual, and brimming with joy had declared to his mom, “Thank you Mumma, I made a new friend today”

“You won’t understand the pain of betrayal, Abhish” Megha’s words brought him back to the reality.

“True”, he nodded in agreement, “I know my friend very well, he just can’t hurt me.”

Nothing could have been a more truer statement, Nobody could be a more truer friend :)