...I shifted my gaze towards it and what I saw benumbed me. It was an unquestionably beautiful notes holder - white in colour bespeckled with ashy sepia stains. A picture of an infant draped in Easter Bunny clothes peering through a bunch of pink and peach coloured tulips quilted it. Wrapped in the holder was a hand-painted card. It was a birthday card with a painted tree and mickey mouse stickers given to me on my 12th biryhday. I opened the card and looked inside. Words like "Dear Anukriti", "Happy Birthday", "Live, long, life" and "With love - your friend Rituraj" written with red and blue sketchpen flashed before me. I felt my throat choke and a drop of tear besmeared the card. I rolled back the card in the holder and kept it aside while my mind fluttered back to December, 1998 and then to the April,5 years later. I met Rituraj last in 2001 when my father's transfer to Lucknow made us leave Gandhidham. On 22nd April,2003,my friend, brother, and the most talented boy of my class met with an accident. Later he succumbed to his injuries and breathed his last at the age of 15. His memories, little objects of affection, paintings, sketches, words are still etched in my mind and he will remain alive for me forever.