The Story of a Pura..

Sometime in 1991-92 on a bright day -

Hey Sharath! Pramod called me while returning to class from a break. We both were classmates for some years and now in third standard. Being in same neighborhood, we also got chance to spend time after school, usually in each other’s house or nearby playground, hence become fairly close as well.

This is my last year in this school!! I was surprised and saddened to hear this news from him.  He continued – my parents are relocating to different town hence I will be parting.

Though not such great news for me, I enquired where he will be going. But he was not sure of the town name, except it will end as some “pura”.

That day evening I was in front of my atlas, making list of all the “pura”s in Karnataka!! Bijapura, Sakaleshpura, Pandavapura etc and next day read all of them to him.

None of the above he said, I will ask my parents and let you know the town name soon. However I was wondering which town on earth which is not in my atlas he is going to?

Few days later he broke the suspense of the town name. It was Krishnarajapura, somewhere outside Bengaluru was the information I could gather on it.  

Just before we departed, he asked if I can present my foreign eraser to him. Without second thought I gave and in return he gave me a black color hot wheel car as memoir.

Those were the days we didn’t even have landline numbers to exchange and we lost touch after the exams…

Now in 2014, once some pura outside Bengaluru has become a major hub - Krishnarajapura, popularly known as KR Puram within the city limits. Whenever I travel here, through the bustling crowd, this incident riposte, bringing nostalgic smile .Though I know it’s nearly impossible to find, my eyes will be looking out for a friend whom I have missed for many years.