I seem to remember to have first met Renu at Pahalgam in Kashmir where both our father,swho were professors of Lahore college had gone for a retreat. Dressed in a dapper red jacket, she came with her sister. I was 8 years old and she was 6.

In Lahore. we lived next to Government College and played ‘hide and seek’ in the ‘Goldberg’ garden. ‘Kichi. was the name she gave me.

My first advance to her was coldly rejected. At thirteen, when I was off to London on the Kipling scholarship, Renu dropped her handkerchief for me to pick up and take as a memory. Instead I had picked it and graciously returned it to her which convinced her that I had no idea of ‘Romance’.

On the day of the partition, 15 August 1947, Renu left for England to study. We kept in touch through letters which I still have. On her return, we got married in 1950.

Together now for 85 years, in a journey that began in Lahore, we are currently in a sacred space of deep companionship. We don’t have to say a word to each other when we are with each other.

Some things remain the same, some change drastically, and yet every state can be wonderful. At 93, I still have Renu and I am as crazy about her as I was when she was 6. And I miss Lahore.