Chance Encounters

In the last few days I have met some people from my past.
Going through some ancient photos, which Amma had dug up, I met a bratty 9-year-old with two long braids who cried when she came “third in class”, who loved to participate in recitation contests and was part of the school choir.
While collecting a belated wedding gift which P, a school friend now in the States had left behind for me in Hyderabad, I met the giggly 17-year-old who could not wink to save her life. So she would always end up losing while playing “Killer” with the other girls in the school playground during lunch break.
While catching up with school pals or parents of school pals at close friend’s wedding, I met the 18-year-old who hated calculus and trigonometry with a vengeance and so dropped maths before her final exam, thereby killing any chance of her doing economics in college.
However, at the same wedding I also met the 25-year-old who lived in up Bombay with the other three members of her “awesome foursome” gang, who hopped across to Lonavla, Ganpatipule, Harihareshwar at the drop of a hat, who she planned to go on a Eurorail trip with. But now with all of them married and scattered across the country, she wonders if that trip will ever happen.
While playing a prank on the bride, an old college pal, I also came across the 21-year-old who sat at the breakfast table in the hostel mess where the idea for the prank had taken shape in the heads of some third- and second-years whose breakfast consisted of veg nashta and non-veg jokes.
While watching Rang De Basanti, I met the 19-year-old who used to breeze about Delhi, Gurgaon, Jaipur alongwith her dudette gal pals without a care in the world.
A few weeks ago, singing along to Sweet Child of Mine, I met the jilted 23-year-old who thought she could never ever bear to listen to that song again as its associations wrenched open her heart each time she did.
Today I heard that R, cousin who I was very close to in the past but have fallen out of touch with, is expecting. Then I met the 12-year-old who had a crush on RI, the guy that even R fancied. Twelve years later when RI had just finished tying the mangalsutra around R’s neck, she pulled this other girl close and told her brand-new hubby, “You know, she used to have a crush on you as well and I’m sorry I never let anything happen between you both!” Mortified at this untimely revelation, the other girl willed for the earth to open up and swallow her, but that did not happen.
Yes, I have met some rather interesting people from my past.