A character in a movie I watched recently reminded me of K as a kid. He was my best friend M's little brother. M and I were in our early teens at the time. K was a quiet guy and lived in his sister's oversize shadow. She loved him dearly but was a bossy young woman. When M's family relocated to Shimla, K had just turned thirteen. That was the last I saw him. In my memory he remained this quiet kid, who followed his sister around and did her bidding. He was unfailing polite and respectful. He spoke only on occasion and very little.
K was programmed to be useful - at home and outside, always first to lend a helping hand. So when that movie brought the memories of K and childhood to mind, I got curious to see what had become of the kid. His LinkedIn profile sounded like a dream - he was doing his own thing, had left the corporate world behind and found an interesting niche to thrive in. He still had the same face only an older man now. I imagine he is still holds doors for women, helps them carry their grocery bags and asks if they need help with anything. It is how he was raised. If he was married, he must have have made a great husband.
Part of me wanted to reach out to the kid but it felt awkward because he was never my friend - K just came packaged with his sister whom I have long since lost touch with. But my efforts to touch base led to some not so pleasant discovery. A couple of years ago, K had been viciously assaulted by a local goon in the sleepy town he lived - the very place where I imagined he was living his best life full of work life harmony. He barely made it alive out of the incident which was covered in the news at the time. I wished I had not learned any more about this kid I once knew. I would have carried my recollections of him in less complicated times when the worst that could happen his sister would call him a "cartoonish idiot" - her favorite insult that never failed to land. In hindsight, K had it really good back then.
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