On Chhath, Woman Meets Friend After 32 Years: "Universe Finds A Way"

A woman shared a heartwarming story of meeting an old friend after a gap of 32 years. The social media post of the woman named Gayatri went viral as she talked about a sweet friendship with Avi, who had come home this year for the auspicious Chhath festival, and they planned to finally meet.

In India, festivals, especially Chhath Puja, are about celebrating with family. People move to metro cities for better opportunities, but festivals bring them back.

"People are not lost forever, those we seek reach us. Somehow... The universe finds a way," she said at the end of her post, which resonated with many on social media, with users recalling their childhood friendships.

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In a long post, Gayatri wrote that Avi and she used to share the same bus route, which was a one-hour journey each way from school to where they lived. On the way, they used to talk about philosophy, politics, songs and books.

"He, the shades of evening skies, I carried the hues of dawn. We both, inquisitive and curious beings," she wrote, describing the bond.

They parted ways when Gayatri moved cities to pursue higher education. She said that there was no internet or mobile phones to stay in touch back in the 90s. However, she started to look for him in an "over connected world" but the efforts went in vain.

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However, one day she took the chance of asking about him in a WhatsApp group of a school reunion, which had over 1,000 people. She said one person responded and connected her to Avi.

"I searched for him online: here, on all other platforms but to no success. Last year, in a large school reunion WA group of 1000s people, I took a chance to ask if anyone knows of his whereabouts," she wrote. "One person responded privately and connected me to the linkd in profile of a software engineer in Atlanta, US."

"I sent him a message and asked of he is who I think he is and he responded with such warmth, recalling our school bus days as one of the fondest childhood memory he holds close to his heart," she further wrote.

"Avi is home for Chatth, his parents live 5 minutes away from where I do and he will be meeting his Gayatri Di fir coffee tomorrow, after a gap of thirty two years."

Social media reaction

"This feels so awesome," one user wrote.

"There are so many people in our lives of opposite gender and similar age who we love admire and like to spend time with - not in a romantic way but in a deep spiritual bond, which is difficult to make people around us understand," another wrote.

"Truly heart warming and thank god its not a love story wow we used to have respect as a relation that's so lost nowadays, everyone's a love prospect only," a third said.