I was born and raised in Karnataka, India, in a family of five: my parents, my sister Nisha, my grandmother, and me. I have lived in the city my entire life. To be honest, I was a lonely child from the very beginning. According to our neighbors, I would often sit or stand by the main door of our house and talk to myself. No one understood what I was saying. I didn't have many friends my age, and the children around me weren't the type I enjoyed being with.
My mother was my best friend. She always kept me entertained and bought me a lot of toys to make me happy, so I spent most of my days playing alone. This changed a little when my sister was born. Although she kept me company, I was three years old by then, and she was only one, so not much changed. My mother's attention shifted significantly toward my sister, but I never regretted it. Even today, I can say that I don't hold any resentment.
I remember hating some of my toys because they seemed scary. I would always try to throw them away, but strangely, they always ended up back in my room. Despite not having good friends, my mother always helped me feel better, which is probably why I share almost everything about my life with her. This temporary loneliness lasted until I met my best friend, Alan.
Alan's presence was one of the biggest turning points of my childhood, and to this day, we remain best friends. We have done almost everything together. The way I met him is very memorable. He is two years younger than I am, meaning that when he was born, I was two years old. When he turned two and I turned four, that was the first time I met him. I still get teased for being good friends with someone younger, but all I can say is, "Friendship has no age limit." I don't exactly remember how we met, but this is what our parents told us. When I was four years old, his mother dropped him off at my house for the first time to play. Since I was already used to being alone and in silence, I didn't pay much attention to him and continued to play with two new remote control cars my parents had bought me. Then, all of a sudden, we started talking slowly and grew fond of each other, and maybe on the same day or the next day, we had our first fight too. He had taken one of my cars and called it his toy car. We fought and cried that day; this is the oldest childhood memory I have of him.
We soon started doing everything together. Our fathers and our grandfathers were best friends, so my father was really happy the day he found out that we had become good friends. We had each other for a long time, and my sister also played along with us, resulting in lots of fun.
I also had another friend named Aron, whom I met in preschool. He was no less than a brother to me. We shared a deep connection, and school was a great medium for us to have fun. However, I had a very limited number of friends since I was quite an introvert. Eventually, I learned how to open up to others.
Alan and I were the practical founders of our entire friend group, which had its headquarters in a nearby park. We met new people and formed friendships that continue to grow today. We played a variety of games together, often pulling pranks and mischievously blaming random people for them. At that time, I was around 5 or 6 years old and had just entered the 1st grade. I did have some haters who frequently caused trouble in my life. However, I excelled at math, which I had always enjoyed, and I loved my teachers. I developed a tendency to be a bit of a "snitch," but only towards those who disliked me. Despite that, I led a bold life during those years. It was also during this time that I had my first crush on a girl named Julia.