To make friends as you grow older. Unlike fine wine, others interest in you wanes. Or you end up being more discerning or the family takes over. Some folks can perfectly fathom why you need to cancel the lunch appointment at the very last minute, why you can't make it for a show after having made plans for it all week, why you work insane hours, why you go into hiding when the exams are around or why you refuse to stir out of your home during the weekend.
Tripta Singh understood all of that and a whole lot more. For those of you, who've followed my other blog, you probably know
this story. We met close to two years ago. It was through work. Then we ended up bumping into each other at a couple of social events. One thing led to another. We discovered we were both Army brats, we'd been to pretty much the same parts of India, we were both in the media, we liked pretty much the same things. The plot thickened when I invited her to my birthday and realised we were born on the same day. Over the months, that have passed all too quickly, we went shopping together, went on movie marathons, occassionally hung out at malls, exchanged notes on the books we were reading, our travel tales (oh well, more often they were her travel tales).... to cut a long story short - our good days and our equally bad ones.
She'd be the first one I'd call if I needed help with anything - right from food for my party to what's the propah outfit to wear. We even ended up buying the same white
Payal Jain kurti you see in this picture from
Mumbai Se. Lesson learnt, if shop we must, we must do it together.
As our friendship evolved, so did the friendship with her husband Tarun. Nothing could get keep Dhruv and Aneesha at home if they knew Uncle Tarun and Aunty Tripta were coming home. They would look at the clock, time their arrival, wait near the carpark, then resort to phone calls if they handn't made it on time. Aneesha would even insist on accompanying me for some of our shopping expeditions and patiently last from noon to evening.
When I told both of them they were going to Hong Kong, their initial reaction was:
"So good, we can go to Hong Kong Disneyland." As the days passed, realisation struck that they will be gone for good.
"You mean we can't go out with Aunty Tripta?" Aneesha asked the other day. She was imagining some of her fun weekends fizzling away.
True, they might be in and out of town, but it just won't be the same thing.
I guess it was thinking of the imminent departure that took Aneesha went back to her drawing board yesterday. She took a mini-study break to indulge in what she does most passionately - her art.
She took her time over this. Adding the colours, the dots then the words to the drawing to pass it on Tripta who's grown to be her
"favourite Aunt." 
And with that, it's time to pull out the Kleenex and wish both Tripta and Tarun the absolute best for what's bound to be another exciting adventure in their packed lives.
