Friends from another era….

Anu Gupta
Anu Gupta
Jul 30, 2017 · 2 min read

A few days back, as I sat at my departure gate to catch a flight after my whirlwind 48-hour trip to Bangkok to meet my ‘friends from a different era’, I had a mixed bag of thoughts running in my mind. These were friends who knew me before I had a career, before I became a wife and a mother. Friends with whom I had probably tried a lot of my ‘firsts’- first outstation trip without family, my first night out, my first tryst on the local Delhi buses (trust me that’s worth mentioning), my first attempt to smoke (and immediately abandon it) and my first drink.

A chance trip (honestly in no way was this a chance trip- it took 4 months of planning and 3 of us flying in from different parts of the world) and all it took was a tight hug to close in on the eight long years since we had last met. For both my girls (10 years and 5 years), this trip was highly intriguing- “are you serious, you are flying down for just 48 hours to meet your friends, are these friends so close to you, how come we have never met them in all these years.”

With each one at different stages of life, even in those 48 hours we had our fair share of arguments, emotional outbursts, mad moments, giggles and gossips, and of course some motherly tips. I had no doubts on the fun I would have, but it surely gave me a sense of relief that we can still laugh at those silly jokes and some of our madness still prevails.

As I was waiting to board my flight back home, a mother-daughter traveling with me struck a conversation. They were curious to know what brought me to Bangkok. The young girl asked me, “would you recommend leaving home to study or work?” and I promptly answered, “you will only get one answer from me- yes and told her those were probably the best years of my life. I learnt some of the most valuable lessons of life during that phase and I can’t wait to give my girls the same experience. I wouldn’t have it any other way for them.”

Anu Gupta

Written by

Anu Gupta

Enjoys writing, mum of 2 girls, works in the area of communications and PR, lived in India, Dubai and now Singapore

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