Half a century is a long time. Long enough for hair to grey, children to grow, and the world to change in ways no one could have imagined.
But for Mangala, Rekha, Shubha, Sushma, Sunila, and Priti, time has done little to touch what truly matters, their friendship!
Speaking to Great Stories, Mangala looks back on this remarkable bond that has endured for more than fifty years, a friendship built on laughter, loyalty, and the quiet comfort of knowing someone will always be there.
It began over 50 years ago, when they worked together at an airline- young, spirited, and full of laughter that filled their department of telephone operators. The job was demanding, the hours unpredictable, but the camaraderie made it lighter. Later, three of them were transferred to work in a café run by the same airline, yet the change in roles never changed their closeness. “We met through work,” Mangala recalls, “and somewhere along the way, work turned into memories, and colleagues turned into family.”
The years that followed carried them in different directions, some into marriage and motherhood, others into demanding shifts at the airport or long commutes to Nariman Point. There were transfers, changing schedules, and cities that kept them apart more often than together. And yet, they never drifted.
“Maybe that’s why we never fought,” Mangala says, smiling. “We weren’t constantly together. We didn’t call every day. But when one of us needed the others for a birthday, a heartbreak, or a bad day. We showed up!”
What defined them wasn’t proximity, but presence. Their love existed in the background of each other’s lives- steady, unspoken, and unconditional. “Even if we didn’t speak for months,” she says, “we always knew we were just a call away.”
There were no fixed traditions, no elaborate plans. “We’d often meet at Rekha’s home in Lonavala sometimes with family, sometimes just us,” Mangala recalls. “Birthdays were usually a phone call away, but those calls meant the world.”
Over the decades, this friendship became something more a safety net. “Anyone who was in trouble knew she could depend on the group,” she says. “We’ve supported each other in every way — emotionally, physically, even financially when needed.”
One moment stands out clearly in her mind. “When my younger child was very sick and I was alone, I called Rekha,” Mangala shares softly. “Just one word- and everyone came. They were there for me completely.”
That spirit of togetherness carried them through joy and sorrow alike, including the loss of Priti, who passed away a year and a half ago. Her absence, Mangala says, is still hard to put into words. “It’s fresh, still. She’s with us in every memory, every conversation. When we laugh, it feels like she’s still laughing with us.”
In that moment, you realise this isn’t just a story about six friends…. it’s about the quiet grace of relationships that last a lifetime. The kind built not on constant conversation, but on consistency. Not on big gestures, but on small acts of love that accumulate over fifty years.
If she had to give one piece of advice to the next generation, Mangala says it would be simple: “Friendship isn’t about talking every day. It’s about trust, patience, and knowing that when life gets heavy, someone will be there to hold a part of it for you.”
When asked to describe her 50-year friendship in one word, she pauses, smiles, and says what her friends would all agree on —
“Forever.”
And in that one word — gentle, certain, and full of memory, Priti’s name seems to echo too.
