Contribution

Sometimes, the most insignificant of things can serve as a reminder of just how a random event led directly to the life you currently lead. One such seemingly insignificant thing happened last weekend, when I met my friend S after years. She was in town and we grabbed the chance to see each other in person after what seemed like eons. I was also finally introduced to her fiancé, who just happens to be a low key celebrity, just like S herself. While we were catching up, she told me her grandfather had asked after me and that set off a chain of thought…

S and I have known each other since we were about 7 years old. She joined the school I was in and as both Tam-Brahms and late entrants into the same class, we developed a natural friendship. We lived in the same apartment complex, and soon her family shifted from Building B to Building A, right above the apartment our family lived in. Our families became close and we remained in touch even after they moved back to Chennai.

About a year or so later, my father got transferred to Chennai and we moved there. However, the relocation happened later than planned and as a result, my sister and I missed the opportunity to appear for the entrance tests for the new entrants in most schools in the city. S's grandfather was, at the time, on the Board of one of the most prestigious organisations that runs a chain of educational institutions across the country and he convinced the principal of the school in Chennai to simply allow us to write the entrance test, which we had missed by a mere day.

So, while I wrote the entrance test in the large staff room on a hot summer day, my sister was carted off to be interviewed by a couple of primary teachers (she was 5 years old and was interviewing for a spot in the first grade, and today insists that she too wrote a test before the interview). While I did okay in Maths and English, the Hindi test was a lot more challenging because the level of instruction in the subject in this school was far more advanced than where I had come from. I was almost denied admission on that count, but an unexpected saviour came to my rescue.

It turned out that the teachers who interviewed my silly little sister liked her so much, that they definitely wanted her, and since they didn’t think it was right to separate the siblings, I was given an automatic free pass into the school. That admission in 2004 and those three years in that school have led directly to the life I lead now. Not only did I unearth some of my own talents and abilities in a school that was exceptional in its pedagogy, but I (and my mother!) made some lifelong friends.

Today, one of the my closest friends is a boy I met at the age of 10 in a classroom in Chennai on a humid morning in June 2004. I thought then, and still do, that he was one of the weirdest kids I had ever come across. But today, I cannot imagine my life without that weirdo. Another friend I made then is one of the most levelheaded people I have come across, and she and her family feel like home to me and mine. Her mother also happened to be my Science teacher in fifth grade, but is now one of my mother's best friends. These people have contributed to who I am today and have helped shape my thoughts, actions and opinions. In other words, they have played a role in making me.

As I was riding back home from that meeting with S, I sent up a prayer of gratitude to the Universe, and to S's grandfather. A simple word asking the principal of a school to give us a chance resulted directly into lifelong friendships, confidence and a sense of belonging.

And it all began with an aunty opening the door to find a 7 year old girl at her neighbour's door visiting her friend, and saying that very soon a new girl would be joining her class in school.