E-Paper
Friendship goals: A DU student’s Insta quest to find her LKG friend
When we open our school magazines, we often wonder about our friends from childhood. But a DU student, Neha went all out and initiated a vigorous Instagram search to find her LKG friend, Lakshita Jetawat. Read on to know what happened next.
We often take pride in our childhood friendships just because of the number of years we’ve spent together with a person who has grown to be like a chosen family member. Perhaps that’s why Kalindi College (Delhi University)’s Neha went looking on Instagram for her LKG best friend, Lakshita Jetawat, as seen in a viral video on social media that has grabbed more than nine million views so far.
“I had lost touch with my friend when she decided to move to Jaipur soon after we became friends in LKG,” says Neha, a final-year BCom (Hons) student who was then studying in Angel Public School, Mayur Vihar where she became friends with Jetawat. One day when Neha found a school magazine from 2006, she got reminded of Jetawat as soon as she spotted her old-time friend in the class photograph. “I was instantly curious to know how and where my LKG friend would be, and made it a goal to search for her. I clicked a picture of her and made an Instagram profile with the name, ‘finding_lakshita’ and texted every possible Lakshita on the platform.
After I sent some 200 messages on day one, Instagram blocked me from sending anymore messages for the next three days. It was a setback, but meanwhile I also got replies. Some of these said things like: ‘This is not Lakshita, but I hope you find your friend and reunite with her, this is so sweet’. This is what kept me motivated!”
On the sixth day of her quest, Neha couldn’t believe herself when she found the real Lakshita Jetawat, a professional dancer today after more than 17 years. “When I heard back from Lakshita, I felt like someone was pulling a prank on me because I never thought I would hear back from her. I didn’t even remember her last name. All I knew was that she was from Jaipur and had a brother named Kunal, who I remembered as my elder brother’s best friend back in the day. That’s what I checked for, and there was Kunal Jetawat too! I was on cloud nine,” adds Neha.
Having reunited with her only childhood friend from her short stint in Delhi, Lakshita Jetawat couldn’t contain her happiness, and says, “I hardly used to make friends, which is why I clearly remembered who Neha is because I remember looking for a Neha in every trial LKG class that I attended in Jaipur upon my arrival in the pink city,” shares Jetawat, who on her part had also tried to look for Neha but couldn’t succeed due to the common name. But the day she was contacted by Neha, she “almost cried” upon seeing the message in her inbox. Jetawat adds, “I couldn’t believe Neha was looking for me even after all these years... We are now planning to meet as soon as I get to visit Delhi for work, or Neha visits Jaipur for some reason. She’s a friend I’d never want to let go of!”
Author tweets @maisha_scribbles