The Heartbreak Kid

The day I met Manu, I was nursing the worst kind of heartache. My most precious-pretty-plastic-pink-pencil box was suddenly declared missing by my brother. Since it was his responsibility of making sure that the prettiness remains in my life, can you blame me when I decided to never speak to him?

Anyway, since I don't want to remember past hurts, let me quickly get on to the real topic.

Manu.... the most special boy in my life.

The first thing the then-six-years-old-boy did when he looked at the sulking me was to laugh uproariously. He threw back his head and…just laughed. You can imagine what that did to my already splintered heart!

Apparently his laughter had an equal and opposite reaction to my lachrymals. I cried buckets. But Manu wouldn't stop laughing! Insulting. Embarrassing. Humiliating. Awkward. Bewildering. Compromising and Very Confusing.

Once the torrent was over, I went up to his mother and enquired quite belligerently if her son was mad. The pretty lady looked at me, smiled and whispered, "Yes, Manu is special."

The import of her comment went unnoticed to the ditzy, melodramatic 12-years-old that I was (at that time). I could just stand there, stare at him and call him a basket!! I don't think I was this miserable ever.

When we got home (the incident happened at a family friend's place) my mother informed me Manu was an autistic child. I didn’t know what that was. So, mom made me read up on autism. I did. And life changed for me.

Manu was instrumental in my decision to study psychology in college. Manu also became the trigger point for an important learning: that doctors and medicine don’t always have all the answers.

Over the years, Manu and I have kept in touch. Everybody around him tells me that he is quite fond of me. And that our first meeting was quite historic. Apparently, Manu rarely smiled. And I managed to make him laugh…

Now Manu is 20 years old. He hardly talks to me, doesn’t let me touch him at all…but somehow whenever he sees me… he laughs.

I don’t mind the laughter anymore. Because I know it’s only for me.

Love him!