That forest meant a lot to us. Yes. It did.

I met him there for the first time. We went there every year. We learnt a lot of things from each other in that forest.

A few years earlier, it was summer holidays of my 3rd grade, when my dad, told that we were going on a trip.

We usually go for a lot of trips, but every trip was pilgrimages.

"Girls, we are going on a trip, but to a forest this time," said my dad. "We can see many animals like Elephants, deer, etc. We may even see a tiger", said my dad.

We got into a little excitement after we heard this. There were so many questions from us about the forest, stay there, etc. Our dad was patiently answering all our questions.

My dad, he has been so young in his mind and adventurous always. He taught us not to be scared of animals and how to treat them. So we were double excited about the trekking and animals. It was like a total package for us.

"So Dad, When are we starting?" asked my little sister. My dad said, "On Saturday morning. Get ready with all your stuff."

Saturday morning came up with a big bright sunshine. I woke up early and got ready. My parents were surprised looking at their enthusiastic daughter.

Sunder uncle, my dad's friend. He was my favorite of my dad's friends.

He was also a distant relative of ours. We went to his house and took a big bus from there. Yeah. There were many people. My dad and mom seemed to know them all. But it all appeared to be new to me. I and my sisters were with my mom. Slowly we started to mingle.

There were more kids than I expected, kids of almost all ages. I and my sisters had company with kids of our ages. So everybody was comfortable.

Some were dancing. Some were singing their own songs and some were cheering them all.

Ajay is sunder uncle's son. Most talkative person I have ever known. Yet he is my closest cousin and a good friend. We used to have a lot of fun together.

He came to my seat and said a big hello in his own way. Then he took me to the kids section of the bus, where all the kids were sitting and playing and shouting.

Ajay introduced me and my sisters to all the kids. In a minute we all started playing together. The journey was about 2 hours from our city to the forest cottage.

By the time we reached the cottage, it was lunch time and we all had lunch under a big tree.

After our lunch, Ajay took me somewhere and introduced me to one of his friends, Prajid.

I met him for the first time. Of course this is not love at first sight. But there started our journey of togetherness.

Ajay said, "Hey Chandu!" Chandana shortly Chandu is my name. "You should meet Prajid. You both share a beautiful thing together," he said.

Prajid said, "Hi." And I waved to him with a smile.

'We just met, and already we are sharing something?' was my thought. Prajid and I were looking at him for a satisfying answer. I knew Ajay used to feel happy for little things. I just prayed that the reason must not be silly.

Prajid asked, "What is it Ajay?"

Ajay said, "Your birthday is what you share." Then we both were like 'Oh wow!' That was a really good one. This is the first known person to share my birthday.

We were happy. It all began then. For the whole trip all 3 of us were together.

We started playing together. Prajid, was a new neighbor and classmate of Ajay's.

Everywhere we were together. Sometimes, we used to sneak out and run into the forest and do some crazy things. Play out there in the wild.

At first sight, I thought Prajid was a timid guy, but later I came to know that he was just as adventurous and enthusiastic as me. We shared a lot more than just our birthdays, same thoughts and color and almost everything.

We were so perfect to be friends. Our first trip was so good. We had so many memories.

By the end of the trip, Ajay, Prajid and I had formed a closed group and we were inseparable.

The trip came to an end. We had to say goodbyes.

Sunder uncle promised us that there are going to be more trips like this.

We were eager and thrilled. My dad also promised that we would come as often as we could.

We were happy and left for our homes with sad faces.

But anyways we can meet often. We visit Sunder uncle every now and then.

So we were ok. The departure was manageable.

After a few weeks, Sunder uncle had invited us for a party for his anniversary.

We met again for the 2nd time. We played so many new games and another evening of fun.

After that we met several times, I always found Prajid to be so mature and caring. He was very responsible. Ajay and I were carefree as he would do things for us.

We were real close in a few meetings.

Years passed by, we became closer every day.

On a fine day for everyone but not me, happened an awful thing.

For a small function at my house, I was wearing a 'pattu pavadai', in other words, it is a long skirt woven out of silk. It was a blue color skirt, my favourite. We were playing outside, running here and there.

I dashed my foot against a stone and fell down. Everybody laughed at me. It was a bad fall.

Ajay and Prajid came to help me stand up. But I fell again. This time, I pulled them both with me. We fell again and again as my skirt was stuck somewhere. We managed to stand up. 

And Wow! My skirt was so nasty with mud and dirt. We all were dirty actually. We went into our house to change our clothes.

Suddenly Prajid walked so close to me. He walked so fast like he was pushing me somewhere. He held my shoulders and pushed me into a room. He told me to stay there. He whispered something into Ajay's ears and he also went out and they closed the door behind. Ajay was outside the door. They wouldn't open the door for me.

In a few minutes, the door popped open and Prajid handed over a dress of mine to me for change. I said, "Thanks. But I don't want to wear this dress. I will go to my room and pick it up myself." Prajid said, "You wear this one, come out and go to your room and change again." I did not understand what happened suddenly for him to act like this.

I did exactly as he said and went to my room for another change.

After a while, when they were about to leave, he said, "Your dress tore. That is why I had to force you to change. "

I said, "It is alright and thanks for the help." We smiled at each other. I felt a little weird.

We said our good byes and they left. I went and then found that the skirt was tore. It was not really visible but he still took care of it.

It was typical him. He notices each and everything and remembers that.

I smiled and thanked God for such a wonderful friend.