Dear Anita,

In my family, the kids of my brother keep all of us engaged. They are sort of binding glue for us. Apart from them, we discuss what we did in the day, challenges we are facing or any humdrum details of daily life. I usually crack jokes on them and play with the kids. They are also interested in other aspects of my life like where did I travel and what I did there. All interactions are similar.

The foundations of my friendship with Ankur, Prerna, and Rashi was filled with ups and downs. We bonded in our office as we were part of the same team. There was turbulence due to office politics and other people initially. We knew each other for a long time but we became good friend towards the end before we departed to different cities. On the other hand, the other three had developed their friendship long back before me. As I write this, I see a partial answer to my question as I think that probably the foundation was not strong enough.

If that is the case, then I fear that I might never have close friendships with people. Close bonds take a lot of time to form and I don’t think that I would have another chance at those now.