The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Photo revives old bonding

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 24, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Photo revives old bonding

B. Madhu Gopal

Wilson Lanci’s long search for his friend Venkata Rao fructifies, thanks to a school time photograph

— Photo: K.R. Deepak

Happy reunion: Wilson Lanci and Venkata Rao, who met after 50 years in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.

VISAKHAPATNAM: Many of us treasure photographs of our school days. But how many have had an opportunity of finding our school friends in later life? Once a person finds a job and gets married, he/she hardly has any time to dwell on the past or renew old bonds.

A photograph taken more than half-a-century ago has provided a second childhood to Danta Venkata Rao and his Anglo-Indian friend Wilson Lanci.

Children of port employees, they played together, watched movies and considered each other as ‘best friends’. Lanci got married in 1963 and a year later, he shifted from the port area to Sriharipuram. Their family responsibilities deterred them from meeting each other.

In 1970, Lanci migrated to Australia. Though the two friends didn’t meet for four decades, the photo strengthened their bond of friendship. Both the friends have been keeping a copy of their photograph in their wallets and another in the family album all these years.

That made all the difference when Lanci came to the city after nearly four decades and went out in search of his friend carrying the childhood picture.

Lanci came to the city and began a frantic search for his friend at the offices and quarters of VPT. He was not even aware of how his friend looked like now but was determined to meet him.

Then someone told him that one Venkata Rao, who had taken voluntary retirement from VPT, had opened a cloth shop opposite the Police Barracks.

His second son Venkati was at the shop when a middle-aged foreigner came asking for the address of his childhood friend.

He was about to turn him away when he saw a photograph in the stranger’s hand. Had he not seen the photograph, the two friends would have missed each other forever.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh