'Dayanand never needed an occasion to be present -- just a reason. And I've never had to look far when I needed a shoulder,' says Arun Khanna.
We met in 1975 -- two gawky teens who had just cleared their Class 10 in an obscure small Haryana town where success stories were few.
Yes, results used to be dismal. But, amid that gloom, bloomed a friendship that would thrive over weather five decades and show no signs of aging.
Dayanand and I were born in different worlds -- my father was a bank manager; his, an agriculturist. Yet our hearts beat in perfect sync.
His house stood at the dead end of my lane -- symbolic perhaps, for no road in life since has felt complete without him.
He was the village diving champion yet refused to teach me swimming in the village pond. "Too precious," he'd say, worrying I'd drown.
That was Dayanand -- more protective of me than I, the reckless nerd, has ever has been of myself.
When he got married to Kanta, he advanced his doli by 12 hours -- defying astrologers and relatives -- just so that I, part of the marriage party, wouldn't miss my exam.
After my father's sudden passing, when I went off to pursue my MBA 600 km away, he checked on my mother daily for two years. And when I couldn't even afford three rupees for a rickshaw to the bus stand -- they were my whole day's meal budget -- to go to Delhi from where I would board the train for my university, he'd block the bus with his bicycle so I could sneak on, hurling my trunk inside before the driver could yell.
He was the only one to know that I was interested in the most beautiful girl of the town living few miles away and the only one who'd dare take me on his bike and circle her home stealthily. She is now my wife of 35 years and mother of our two adult sons who are settled abroad.
He has been part of every milestone in my life -- my marriage, children, promotions, even my near-fatal accident.
His opinions are the final say in my life's biggest decisions.
Our wives have celebrated this friendship with equal gusto, laughing at our boyish bond even as their hair turned grey over the years.
Through laughter, grief, promotions and prayers, Dayanand has stood by me. Unshaken. Undemanding. Undeterred.
He never used our friendship for favours. When I once asked why, his reply was simple, 'I'd never misuse this bond.'
Dayanand never needed an occasion to be present -- just a reason. And I've never had to look far when I needed a shoulder.
Here's to Dayanand -- my best friend of 50 years, my guardian spirit, my forever co-conspirator in life.
May he, and our friendship, live on, eternally undefeated.
© 2025