Two little innocent girls, holding the hands of their parents, saw each other for the first time in a market and instantly fell in love. They stared at each other intensely and won’t move as if their feet had frozen. They had to be nudged to move.

Soon after, they became friends; their friendship lasting several years. There was never a thaw right from their school and college days, to their employment period and the time when they got married and settled down in life. Let alone fighting, they never lost temper. There were many striking commonalities that surprised their parents.

Looking back to the day the two girls saw each other in the market some 35 years ago, I sometimes wonder what magnetism/magnetic force it was that brought them close and kept their friendship fresh for so long! Were they soul mates or, in this case, soul sisters?

What was that chemistry or some other inexplicable factor that brought two little girls from two different ethnic backgrounds closer and kept them and their families glued for several years?

This story started about 35 years when I took my daughter Ritu to a shopping centre to buy her schoolbooks and stationery. As we were moving through the market, I noticed that a middle aged mother holding the hand of her daughter (I discovered later that her name was Padma) was also on the same mission. Strikingly, the girl was of my daughter’s age and height. And by a strange coincidence, both looked alike. With a few more commonalities they would have looked almost twins.The other girl’s mom also noticed it. We looked at each other in amusement but being strangers did not talk, only exchanged sheepish smiles. The two girls were no less awed. They looked at each other intensely.

We parted ways but minutes later we were again face to face at a stationery shop. We could not help exchanging soft smiles.

I decided to break the ice and initiated conversation with the unknown lady over snacks at a tea stall. We discovered that we lived in the same colony, separated by two three blocks.

The bonhomie of that evening blossomed into greater bonding between the two girls and their families that was to last for years to come. Ritu and Padma had become darling of each other’s parents. Padma had won us over with her informal disposition.

Back from school, she would head to our home and dash to the refrigerator or kitchen announcing, “Auntie, I am damn hungry” and then devour whatever she could lay her hands on. Soon, she had virtually become another member of our family.

Padma’s mother knew that she must be at our place. There being no cell phones those days and with no landline at her place, she would call us up from some neighbour’s phone to confirm.

Both joined different colleges studying different subjects but coincidentally secured same marks. The two families could not help notice the similar choice of clothes they wore. Ritu loved Telugu food at Padma’s place while the latter relished Lucknawi cuisine at our place.

Life was going on smoothly for both Padma and Ritu. However, a time came when Padma’s ageing parents decided to go back to their native place in Andhra and marry off Padma.

But having received her entire education and a plum job, she was not willing to leave Delhi. However, the situation forced her to give up her stance. That made the two friends sullen.

Interestingly, Padma put the condition that she would marry the boy approved by Ritu before the family leaves for South India. Such was the trust that bound them for so many years. Ritu selected one photograph which was immediately okayed by Padma.

The Telugu girl quit her job and the family finally packed up to leave by train. Ritu could not accompany them to the railway station owing to some official commitment but promised to meet them at the station.

But as luck would have it, she got caught in Delhi’s traffic jam. Her watch ticked by. Only 10 minutes were left for the train to leave. Hopping from one vehicle to another, she reached the station, gasping for breath. But now she had to cross an overhead bridge to reach the right platform. Her eyes riveted on her watch, Ritu quickened her pace to meet her friend. The signal had gone green.

Having spotted the coach she ran towards it. The train had moved slowly. Padma was standing at the door frantically looking for Ritu in the crowd. Both spotted each other with tears in their eyes, waved and loudly cried out each other’s names.

The train had picked up speed. Ritu also ran and gave Padma a packet. But when she wanted to give her a warm handshake, the Andhra Express had separated them.

In retrospect, I wonder about how destiny brought two little girls face to face in a market decades back and their friendship blossomed encompassing even the two families.

— Lalit Raizada is a journalist based in India.