TO MY BELOVED JUI,
I was attending a lecture in conversational English on a hot summer day in Mumbai when I first saw this bundle of joy giggling away at anecdotes our beloved teacher, Ms Padma, was giving us.
There you were, my then-potential BFF Jui Biswas.
You had the most hilarious laugh, which was contagious—and I would keep looking at you. I was in awe of how purely you displayed every emotion.
I hadn’t spoken to you just yet (we were not in the same class), but then we were at the Yoga Center in Santacruz, Mumbai. Once again, we connected on similar things that were both funny and intriguing.
Then, one fine day, we were teamed up together by one of our teachers, a young Brazilian Yoga guru who happened to be camping in India (thank the lord for that). Well, that was the moment, and the rest is history.
From there on, you and I started having fun, just like best friends do together. And mind you, I was still not VOCAL about my sexual orientation and gender expression.
I thought my friends would just KNOW!
Sooner than we realised, we were in the last year of college. We had already made after-college plans—we chose psychology to major in.
Finally, after all the years we had been in college, we were in the same class…it was like the universe was fighting to make this happen!
“We were destined to be best friends,” you once shouted in between a random psychology lecture—trust me, I will never forget how cute that was!
You had a hint about me being gay but had never spoken about it until, one day, I came to class with my eyes red after having bawled all night!
You saw me and your jaw dropped because I was never the one to be upset…I was always the life of the party.
You came close to me and looked at me for about two minutes, then went ahead to give me the biggest hug. That was enough for me to know that you will always be there for me.
I hadn’t told you about my break-up with my then-boyfriend, but you just KNEW! I felt blessed knowing that I
