A year ago, new neighbours moved into the flat on our floor. The ones who had lived there had to shift to another city; they were good neighbours - available in times of need, would happily baby sit Ana kutti or allow her to see their aquarium; share some yummy snacks during festivals, bond a bit in the evenings and so on. Like other neighbours in other neighbourhood do perhaps. :). In their case, S and I were the newbies...when we moved into our flat in the apartments, these guys were already there. We got to know our neighbours incidentally, over lift rides or chance meetings in the corridors or when I was walking Anakutti around the building. And though the process took time, we got around to establishing the rapport we do with them now.
But the neighbours who had moved in, last year, in their place were a different lot. After some active shifting of stuff and getting everything probably organized, the mother, father and their 23 year old son knocked on the door of the person opposite our flat to introduce themselves. I remember S, Ana kutti and I were out and when we got back, this person, Sheets, called out to us and introduced the newbies. They seemed a genial lot and I thought that was the end of that.
Only, it was not. That was simply the beginning of some crazy, fun, loving relationship between our three houses that I simply couldn't believe was taking place. Within months Niki's and our family went on a trip to Kotagiri and we found them to be good travel buddies - non fussy, helpful, fun and thoughtful. There was not a single glitch. We almost felt like we knew them for years. And then our ladies meet up in the corridor started taking place, night shows with the spouses, long drives for ice cream and coffee at 10pm...sometimes with a sleeping Ana in tow; coffee and breakfast mornings started off once Niki and I started going for our morning walks. Soon Sheets joined in and then it was only a matter of time that the three families were planning on spending every free waking hour with the others. The speed with which we bonded would've put a Formula One car to shame.
This is a big development for me. Though the early part of my life has been in happy existence in a bustling apartment, we later moved to our own house and I had to contend with the sudden loneliness that came with moving to an independent house.
This post is a celebration of all those people who have taken the first step and have made someone's day. When Niki took that step last year, little did we all guess that a virus would lay bare our defenses and that all that we considered normal would turn upside down.
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