Chaddi Buddy

Throwback, 17 yrs Oct 2002 Dubai, my Bengali neighbour in our newly moved apartment, was expecting a baby. That December she gave birth to a cute little baby girl, Anoushka. My older one, hardly 3 yrs then, was very fond of her and used to play with her often.

The following year in 2003 my little one, Pallavi, came into our lives.

Soon Anoushka took a liking towards Pallavi & they became besties. They used to be always found either in our house or theirs. Nothing mattered to them as long as they were together. They could spend hours, days, weeks & months together without being bothered about anyone’s existence. It was nice to see the two little girls blossom with such a strong bonding. They were soul friends from their previous birth I think.

In 2012 Anoushka’s family moved back to India and with that we had two broken hearts 💔💔 They were the saddest souls and were shattered with the harsh realities of life. We were also hurt to see them in this state. They were encouraged to stay in touch over Skype to feel a little better. They took resort to that with Skype video calls lasting for 3-4 hours at a stretch😂😂 With the Skype sessions, also came the club penguin sessions, they had to log on with another laptop while being on the Skype call in one, the whole scene used to perplex me and make me feel nothing less than a stock exchange broker, handling 5 screens at one go, laptops, I pads, Mobile phones... Here we are talking about 9 -10yr olds😅

That winter, we made plans for both of them to meet during the Christmas break. Pallavi went to Bhubaneswar and Anoushka flew down from Calcutta. It was a heartwarming reunion, more touching than any Yash Chopra’s hero heroine coming together💞💞 They had an awesome time, with the bonus of being extra pampered by grandparents. It was like A Dream come true. Sleepless nights, food to their liking & no parents to keep them nagging from following the basic daily routine.

Since then every year, they meet up in our annual vacation. Pally has to spend a good number of days with Anoushka every trip. They moved to Mumbai after a couple of years which was more convenient for us. As we land in Mumbai, Pally goes from the airport straight to Anu’s house while the rest of the family, we go to my brother’s home. She joins us the previous night of our trip to fly out. She has been left unmoved by any amount of emotional blackmailing to join us earlier by a day or two at least.

2018 we decided to be there for Pally’s Birthday in Bhubaneswar. The ideal birthday gift for her was a Surprise visit of Anoushka to Bhubaneswar. Everything was very well planned & Anoushka landed the evening before her Birthday. Pallavi first thought she was hallucinating before she realized its actually Anu in front of her. She was in cloud nine, mega thrilled and had an amazing Birthday with her chaddi buddy! It’s always overwhelming to see this strong bonding & ever lasting friendship of these two adorable soulmates.

Since the Jamdaani Saree, from Bengal, has been sourced by my friend, Anu’s mom, I thought it will be a good idea to model Pally for it. This is her maiden Saree and one that is connected to someone so dear to her heart❤️