“Shweta and I met during the first year of our college. There was something about her that made me decide that I was going to be friends with her. She was a shy, reserved and quiet person, and did have a short temper, none of which helped in making friends and honestly, I thought she did not like me at first. I was an extrovert and had no trouble talking to strangers. I started talking to her despite her reservations. The NIG ht we had our college Freshers' Party, our friendship was cemented as we danced through it in the pouring rain.

I always wanted to do well in whatever came my way. Shweta, on the other hand, wanted to explore and choose carefully. While we were so different from each other, we found a common interest in art and painting.

We went to different colleges for our Master's degree. We talked over phone every day for hours together. Everything seemed to go alright till we took a trip to Manali. She got furiously mad at me for something in front of all the other friends. I was hurt and my friends convinced me to stop talking to her.

But she did not give up. For six straight months she called me everyday even though I would reply in monosyllables. And then, just when she seemed to stop calling, I realized that I was close to losing a great friend. So, I got in touch with her. We started talking again and have never looked back since. Through all the years that we've lived together, we've presented a united front to people. We do not disagree in public. We may come back to the room and fight like cats and dogs, but outside we always back each other up. We trust each other implicitly, so much so that we know each other's account numbers and do online transactions for each other.

People do not always understand our relationship. They try to classify it and can not understand how or why we've been together for 14 years. But here we are - like friends, like family - together yet poles apart. ”