Finding an Old Friend

Recently, I went with Nani to pick up some salwar suits that she'd given for tailoring. On our way to Eves Tailor Shop, Nani suddenly told the taxi driver to turn into an alleyway lined with fading houses. It turns out one of her old-time friends lived here, but Nani hadn't been in touch for over 10 years. She didn't even remember the exact address, nor did she have a phone number. "It's the house with the three Bhala brothers, the yellow one by the park," Nani told me and the driver. "But everything's changed; the streets don't look the same."

We stopped at a corner grocery and asked the grocer if he knew where the Bhala brothers lived. He didn't have a clue, but by chance a man walking by overheard and he pointed us to another alleyway, also crammed with houses and also by a park. We circled the park, asking a random bicyclist, a lady hanging her laundry, an old man sitting in his verandah... but no luck. Then, we came upon a man fixing his air-conditioner with his daughter. He hadn't heard of the brothers, but he did know of another nearby park in another alleyway. So we drove there, (by now it had been an hour roaming this random neighborhood), and we asked another corner grocer if he knew of the Bhala brothers... and to my absolute shock, he did. They lived in the yellow house by the park, just as Nani had remembered.

We spent a wonderful afternoon with the Bhala family, amidst lots of tears and laughter and catching up. More than the fact that Nani actually found her old friend, I was filled with wonder at the kindness of strangers. At how in India it's absolutely ok to try and find a place without a phone number or an address, and everyone will go out of their way to help you. Delhi is a big city, but it retains these sudden surprising moments of old-world charm.