I have always felt that the biggest misfortune that could happen to somebody in that age is to spend the most beautiful epochs of one's lives in the company of the same sex. I mean, which boy and girl wouldn’t love to walk alongside each other with an ice cream in hand through the picturesque college campus .But I was wrong, these folks enjoyed life more than their co-ed counterparts. This fact was hardly considered a drawback for them in any given manner. It would be interesting to note that a couple of folks went on to have love marriages later in life.
Now before you start wondering how I fit into the picture let me explain. For starters I am only in the periphery of the picture with hardly any role to play in it. In 2014 I got married to one of the members of the group and 3 others of the group were the bridesmaids at our wedding. That is when I came to know about their existence and what they meant to my better half. Until then the only 13 I was interested in was the doctor character from House MD played by the sultry diva Olivia Wilde .Post that I have heard tales of their escapades from first hand accounts and also from the photos that crop up in facebook from time to time .
Do you know the commonality of the girls doesn't end there; a good number of the members of the group became mothers almost around the same time. I mean what are the odds of that happening .During the time of pregnancy they had an in house self help group. How cool is that?
The other day both me and Ethan were awakened by some fast music early in the morning. It was quite a spectacle to witness Jeslin, someone with two left feet when it comes to dancing trying to keep up to the beat of the music blaring from the laptop. Turned out to be Zumba sessions meant exclusively for the members of the group. A couple of exceptional dancers from the group had taken up among themselves to teach the entire group so as to break the monotony of the unprecedented pandemic. From the remotest part of North eastern India to the other end of the globe in the US of A and Canada, the distance of thousands of miles has never been an impediment, but rather has brought them much closer together.
I also have noticed that be it a wedding or any other major milestone in their lives all of them would pool in together and buy a gift for the team member on behalf of the group. This proves that the group has withstood the test of time even after one and a half decades after coming into existence.
Understandably the highly anticipated and meticulously planned get-togethers are few and far in between because of the fact that the members being scattered all across the world. But whenever they meet they make sure that it is special.
Now let us take this a step further Ethan and Dakshith are classmates in kindergarten just like their mothers in college. They have never met in person but that doesn’t stop them from being thick friends. This is testimony to the fact that the friendship has indeed transcended generations. It doesn't end there Dakshith's mom Krishna was one of Jeslin's bridesmaids. The kids might part ways soon each creating their own world but undoubtedly would be an important chapter in the story of “we the thirteen”.
Take a bow.
