Too Popular

Life for Steph was great. She was one of the popular gals in school.
Everybody wanted to hang out with her, every boy wanted to walk her
home, and on top of everything else, she got straight A's in every
subject. Not everyone had it all. But she did.

Soon she got tired of her life. It was routine, boring, no satisfaction
guaranteed. She decided to start new things. Soon she got into smoking.
Not that she liked it. But everone else was doing it so why not
her.

Stephanie had one Indian and one American parent. Which accounted for
her dark Indian beauty. Brown eyes, lustrous hair, bronze skin. Man
what a combo.

One day her parents decided to visit India where her mom was from.
Excited at the impending trip, Step even forgot about what her friends
were doing.

Finally that day arrived when she was to set off for India. As the
plane taxied off the runway, steph wondered about what she would find
in India, a whole world away.

In Bangalore, she was charmed by the locals, the beautiful parks, the
lovely European buildings. No wonder they called it the garden city of
India she thought

One day as she was wandering about Cubbon Park, she came across a young
girl, about her age, sitting on the bench. On further investigation,
she saw that she was crying. Stephanie walked up to her and said, "hey,
dont cry, everything will be fine"
The girl looked up surprised.
"tell me about it" Stephanie urged.
"Why should I? How do i know that you wont laugh at me" she said
suspiciously.
"don't worry, I wont" Stephanie said.
The girl made a sudden decision.
"i'm Janani. Supposedly the coolest person in school. I was the Head
Girl of my college, people loved me. Soon, the routine became boring. I
started trying new things. First, smoking, soon, drinking and then
drugs. Before you could say Junkie..I was one"
Here she stopped taking a deep breath.
"One day, i decided to get a check up. Guess what it revealed. I had
AIDS!" she stopped after the heart stopping proclamation.
"Friends left me, mom and dad disowned me. What do I do? I just drift
along, smile on my face as if I have no care in the world. I wish. But
when depression gets too much to handle, i cry. Like what I was doing
when you landed up. Now i've told you my story, now tell me yours." she
said to Stephanie ignoring the stupefied look on her face.

Steph took a deep breath. " You know something Janani. I'm just like
you. Popular, good looking, man i even started smoking. Thank God i met
you" she exclaimed.

Janani smiled wanly. " And I thank god that I met YOU! There are too
many people like us in this world. I'm glad, i helped to save one
life"

Janani had 3 years to live. Stephanie remained back in India. Soon she
completed her studies and got married. By then Janani had passed on.
But in honor of her friend, Stephanie named her first child Janani