Kayva Vibhu – You are still here in my thoughts!

All of us have some dear friends during childhood who we believe will be there with us until we grow old and bent. But some of these close friends slowly drift away leaving behind wonderful memories of the times spent together. I have lots of such friends. But Kavya Vibhu is definitely at the top of that list.

Kavya was my first friend in life. She is a month or so younger than me. We both began spending time together even before we had learnt to say ‘Amma’. Our families were based in Abu Dhabi and were very close. Most evenings both families would gather either at Kavya’s house or mine.

One particular thing that everyone who knew the Kavya of those days would remember is her irresistible urge to bite anyone she liked. Most of the time it was me! After she was severely reprimanded for doing so, Kavya would wait impatiently till it was time for everyone to disperse. Then she would beg her father, ‘Acha, please…let me bite Nitha just once.” The scene was pathetic and amusing at the same time.

Years rolled by. I think Kavya was in the 3^rd or 4^th grade when her father passed away. We weren’t old enough to understand the seriousness of the situation. However, I still remember the sad and thoughtful look on her face as I accompanied her to see her off at the airport. It was our last car trip together.

Whenever we came down to Kerala, we used to visit her house in Manarcaud, Thiruvananthapuram.  But distance had certainly affected the friendship. Both of us were more formal and restrained now. I saw her last during her marriage in 2005. Right now I have no idea where she is.

There is a reason for saying all this now. Today, I found a piece of paper lying on my table. It was light green on one side and white on the other. There was something written on the white portion. That sight triggered something in my memory and I had to travel back some 20 years to remember a similar piece of paper that I had received from Kavya. It was during the good old days of postal mail that I received a letter from Kavya. Within it was a small square piece of paper, green on one side and white on the other. On the white side, childish writing in blue ink read:

When I long die and my bones begin to burn,

Take this book, open this page and say ‘Kavya, you are not forgotten’.

The elders who saw that dismissed it as silly. But those words touched me. And today, 20 years on I would like to tell her in reply:

Wherever you are Kavya, may God’s blessings fill your life

Coz you are a dear, dear friend who will always be there in my thoughts and my prayers. You will never be forgotten friend!