Thirty three years ago, a little boy, of about seven years, came from India with his family to live in Queens, New York, for a short period of time. His father was posted in the Indian Mission to the UN and worked at the consulate. Things were very different at that time. Today, when there are so many more Indians in the US and far more diversity, the awareness about India is much higher. Back then, India was only known as a distant mystical land of snake charmers and elephants.

His small Indian family went through a huge cultural and linguistic change. For a third grader, life was tough as he had to adjust to an absolutely new culture in school, learn English as his first language, try to acquire an accent different than his own in order to fit in with other kids at the school. There were hardly any other Indian kids in his class. He would often complain of a bad stomachache or a fever to get out of school.

Then, this little boy made a friend. His Korean friend who had immigrated to the US about five years earlier, had somewhat adapted to the culture of this land. Since, Hyun-Ho and this little Indian boy stayed close by, they walked together to the school. Once at school, they started hanging out together. Since they were in the same grade, they stayed around each other through all the classes and then they walked back home together, talking and sharing the day’s experiences.

Soon the two boys started meeting after school, taking their paltry allowances to eat at McDonald’s or the local pizza place. Hyun-Ho Yoo was fascinated by the idea that Amit ate no meat and bought only french fries at McDonald’s and Amit, a staunch vegetarian, and a very fussy one at that, was unconcerned by the fact that his friend was a meat eater and hardly ever ate anything else. They now started to spend a lot of time together, walking the small by-lanes of Queens talking about sports, school, and their cultures, enjoying each other’s company and cherishing their friendship. They learned how to play baseball together, read their first comics together and got mugged in the by-lanes of their neighborhood for a couple of dollars much to the horror of the Indian parents. They even sneaked out and rode the subway for the first time together. Soon they became inseparable.

They would meet in school, after school, over the weekend and all the time. For a child who dreaded going to school, the same school became the happiest place in the world. Thanks to his friend, Amit adjusted quickly and started learning well in school and even enjoying it. Soon Amit caught up to the ways of his adopted country, spoke the same language as his classmates and spoke it the same way as they did. Amit started to enjoy living in America!

Then one summer, when Hyun-Ho went away to meet his family in Orange County, California, for a few days, just like that, Amit’s parents decided that it was time to move back to India. The family packed up and left for India, just in time to enroll in schools in New Delhi. Amit and his brother protested, but in vain. He didn’t even get an opportunity to say goodbye to his best friend. He didn’t even have an address to leave behind. They simply just left for India forever!

Once in India, Amit often thought about his friend. He imagined what Hyun-Ho would be doing and who his friends would be now. He often imagined what his friend’s day would be like. He would picture their past and their small simple lives and smile to himself, determined to meet his friend one day. He often imagined that he would miraculously find his friend while walking down the street from his house. With these wonderful memories in his heart, years passed by, he made new friends, engaged in new activities but never stopped thinking about Hyun-Ho. Time just went by. He went to college, finished his master’s degree, we met and we got married.

Twelve years ago, Amit got an assignment to work in San Diego, California. We decided to move to the land of opportunities and travelled to the States from New Delhi, India. The thought of meeting his old friend often crossed his mind. After coming to the United States, he tried looking up his friend’s name and address but it seemed like Hyun-Ho had somehow just vanished.

Then one evening, a few years ago, Amit shared with me a message that he received on Facebook, “You didn't by chance grow up in NYC did you? I knew an Amit Vermani as a child in NYC.” We both knew who this might be from. “Yes, I did grow up in NYC, in Queens. Are you Hyun-Ho Yoo?” Amit wrote back. Well, they had at last connected. Amit was elated. I had never seen him so happy in our sixteen years of marriage. I had heard so much about Hyun-Ho that I felt as though I knew him personally and a tear rolled down my cheek.

A long exchange of emails ensued, which Amit shared with me. Hyun-Ho Yoo had changed his name to Justin Yoo when he was 12 years old and that was the reason it had been difficult to find him. “You know, I went away one summer and you freaking disappeared and moved away. I have often thought about you (and even that brother of yours) and wondered what happened to you, old friend,” wrote Justin. “Wow! This is amazing.” replied Amit. “I have spent a lot of time looking for you on the Internet. But of course you had changed your name. I have also thought about you quite often.” Each email ended with “write back old friend”.

As luck would have it, Justin had settled in Los Angeles and since he was just a two hour drive from our place, we, especially my two curious boys, invited Justin over to San Diego. We all wanted to meet him especially Amit. We spent two very short but very wonderful precious days with him and talked about the past. We now heard from him as to how it was like, to be living in the United States at that time and what they did as kids. He remembered their childhood as vividly as Amit did. My sons were full of amazement at their stories. We could picture the world of two small kids, almost the age of my younger son, on the streets of Queens some 33 years ago. My kids sat there listening to the wonderful stories their father and his best friend from the past had to tell and kept looking at me often to say, “See you don’t let us do that!”

Justin is a very well read, warm-hearted person who bonded well with our family. He has traveled far and wide over the last 15 years and had some amazing stories to tell. We clicked well with him and had a great time. Every time I thought about them, like in a movie, I stepped into the small innocent world of two eight year old boys. They came from different cultures, spoke very different languages, celebrated different festivals but that didn’t matter when they were together. In fact they helped each other adjust and imbibe the ways of an entirely different country that their parents chose to adopt. We so look forward to meeting Justin again as do my boys. Now, he is not just Amit’s but our friend from the past.

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Ashwani