Friends

I can still see them in my mind's eye.

The big strapping traffic policeman. The thin frail bearded man next to him.

They were standing outside the JSK clinic at the end of a day.

They had been friends in college.

Manish (not his real name of course) - the thin man - has HIV. His wife died of the disease. He has a teen-age daughter and a young son.

Manish is from Nagpur. He had started ART medicines from the govt. hospital there. A month ago he got into an argument with his brother's family. He told them that he could look after himself. He had lots of friends in Bombay.

And so he came to the big city.

Manish has been invovled in the film industry. He used to write songs. Sing them too.

Now he has TB.

He got a letter transferring his ART from Nagpur to Mumbai. But the Mumbai ART centres refused to honour it. Because Manish does not have a home. A permanent place to stay.

And he really does not.

Manish did stay with friends. But it was harder than he thought. The good pals from before were far less than he remembered. The good times had dried up.

Frustrated and alone he was brought to JSK. He brought two cloth bags with him. Slightly frayed. Everything he owned at this point.

Over the day he was with us we talked to Manish. His friend in Ulhasnagar - the last place he was staying - had left town. He had nowhere to go back to.

We talked to Manish.

We talked about going back home. About starting again on his ART. About starting on TB treatment. We talked about him getting a ticket to Nagpur the next morning. We talked about being linked up with ACCEPT - folks who were doing work like us in Nagpur

He was going to go and stay at the railway station for the night. One of our male staff was willing to stay with Manish at the JSK centre instead.

Then Manish's police friend answered the calls he had been giving him. The big strapping policeman came over to the centre to pick him up and put Manish up for the night.

I left the centre with the two college mates standing next to each other. Talking.

What twists our lives take. Who is finally ready to help when help is really needed.

A friend in need - is a friend in deed! Indeed!