In May, this year, she was reading the newspaper and chanced upon an article about a pact to wear the saree a hundred times. A private person, she chooses not to be on Facebook, she was reading about ‪#‎100sareepact‬for the first time. She recognised a name in the article and wondered if it was the same girl she knew from years ago. She mentioned this to her husband who sat on the couch by her side. All this time, she hadn’t yet looked at the photograph in the papers.
Then she did.
Her husband, Sudhir, remembered that he had met the woman in the photograph in Bangalore a few months before and his business partner knew the family well. A quick call to Los Angeles and it was confirmed. The woman written about in the newspaper was indeed her friend.
Emails & messages followed but they could not meet because they lived in different cities.
And then, just like that, 34 years were bridged in one evening.
Meet my friend Saadhna, who read about the #100sareepact in the newspaper and found me.
I visited a charming book shop to get a gift for Saadhna, and the lady at the shop asked me what my friend was like, and what she would prefer to read.
I told her, I knew her well, but I knew nothing about her tastes and her preferences. Then i told her the story of how we were meeting after so long. She was astonished.
I chose my gift and proceeded to pay with my credit card, but she asked for cash which I was not carrying.
“Pay me tomorrow. Go enjoy time with your friend today,” she said.Then she asked me why I thought we, Saadhna and I, were reconnecting again. I told her life works in mysterious ways.
“They say if you meet someone again after such a long time, then you have unfinished business, my dear.”
Reason #802659 for why our pact is so special to me. Also, the shop keeper, Nalini wants to be clicked for the pact in a saree because she wears one everyday. I will go back today to pay her and to take a photograph with her.
Saree #92 #100sareepact