this one time,when i was eight years old, or maybe seven, this neighbor friend of mine came up to the window of our room, and asked if i wanted to see something funny. it was one of the hottest summer afternoons, and i was trying to take a nap. we went to the balcony of our ground floor and he showed me the tiniest sapling i had ever seen-just 2 leaves! he said, it was 'ours', because we shared the mango it came out of. i was so happy! we were so happy. and we promised that we'll never let anyone else see it. that was the place we all used to hang out as kids. its still there, but is now some family's living room balcony. one evening, i refused to give him one of my wwf cards. he walked away. next afternoon, i went to see our sapling, and instead, found it uprooted. still green but pulled out. he told me,he did it. i felt as if there was too much heat where i stood..i felt so week, helpless. i was never this miserable in my tiny existence. i wept, ran into the house and tried to tell mamma about it, but since she had no background, she didn't understand, and was not interested either. she said that i could go and play with him. i didn't speak to him for a week, but then, did. i felt the same way 3 days ago. and the whole thing came back to memory. i had almost forgotten this episode. interestingly, i remembered the vividness of my reaction to both the situations, and was so sapped to see that i felt exactly the same way even then!  i'll write to him and tell him what a jerk he was back then. that episode gave me a first hand taste of heartfelt sorrow, i won't be surprised if he says, he doesn't remember!