The Kindness of Showing Up

You meet someone, barely know them, and then months later, they show up on a day when you really need someone. 

I first met Ramya in December 2025. She was staying as Peter’s guest at Tai Farms and had come to our farm for a day with her family and her father. I was there that day too, but if I am being completely honest, I have only a very vague memory of meeting her. They walked around the farm and spent some time looking around. Her father, however, could not really join them. He had an infection in his leg and walking around the farm was difficult for him, so he sat quietly near the river.

There is just one thing from that visit that I remember very clearly. Her father offered me an apple.

I politely said no.

He insisted.

I said no again.

He insisted again.

And eventually, I took the apple.

We also clicked some pictures that day. I had planned to put up a post on Instagram, but somehow I never did. I don’t even remember why. Sometimes I wonder if, without knowing it, I was saving that story for this blog.

A few months later, Ramya bought a property in our village. Interestingly, the registration happened to fall on my birthday, and I ended up being a witness for her property deed. That was actually when I got to speak to her properly. She took my number, we went our separate ways, and life continued. Every now and then, she would message me. I invited her for my brother’s wedding. Her husband is a very busy man, and honestly, I wasn’t sure whether they would be able to make the trip from Coimbatore.

But they came.

She even messaged me asking if there was anything she could do from her side to help with the wedding.

At that point, I knew her as someone kind and thoughtful. I just didn’t know yet how much that kindness would mean to me.

I have an indie dog who met with an accident and suffered multiple fractures in her hind leg. One day, when Ramya casually messaged me, I was at Thrissur Medical College with my dog. I was exhausted. Scared. And honestly, I was not doing very well.

When the doctor and the medical students asked me about my dog, I broke down and cried in front of them. I felt a little embarrassed, but I could not control it. I tried, trust me. I told Ramya about this episode.

Her message made me feel a little better.

She told me she would pray for my dog’s speedy recovery.

My dog was severely anemic, and because of that, they could not perform the surgery. We eventually had to bring her back home.

Days passed.

I was constantly confused about what to do next. Should I take her back to Thrissur Medical College? Should I try a hospital in Coimbatore? Was I making the right decision for her?

And then, by coincidence, Ramya messaged me again.

She asked about my dog’s health.

I immediately called her and told her everything. I told her about my confusion, my fears and how lost I felt.

She listened.

She said she would check and get back to me in a little while. She checked with her friends, used her contacts and suggested a couple of hospitals that might be able to help us. But honestly, that wasn’t anything extraordinary. I felt I would probably do the same for someone who called me asking about hospitals. But what she said next was something that I don’t think my heart was prepared for.

She said,

“This time, I will accompany you. We will cry together.”

And that was it.

Sometimes you don’t need someone to solve your problems.

Sometimes you just need someone to say, “I’m coming with you.”

Ramya came to the hospital yesterday, on time, and stayed with me through the entire visit.

She was there during the blood tests.

She was there during the X ray.

She comforted my dog in all the little ways possible. And one of the things I loved most was when she told me that my dog has the most beautiful eyes and that she speaks with her eyes.

She stayed through the waiting, the worrying and all those little moments that make a hospital visit feel much longer than it actually is.

At one point, I even borrowed ₹2 from her.

I still owe you those ₹2, Ramya.

Jokes apart, I think I owe you much more than that.

Not money.

Just gratitude.

Ramya is an animal lover, and so is her family. Her husband also supports an animal welfare NGO in Coimbatore. So perhaps it shouldn’t surprise me that she understood exactly why I was so worried about my dog.

But understanding someone else’s worry and actually showing up for them are two very different things.

She showed up.

And that meant everything.

I have been thinking a lot about friendships lately.

We grow older and somehow start believing that the time for making new friends has passed. School friends become distant. College friends get busy. Work, family and life take over. We tell ourselves that the people we already have are probably the people we will have forever.

But maybe friendship doesn’t really have an age limit.

Maybe sometimes it begins with an apple.

Maybe it begins with a property registration.

Maybe it begins with a few occasional messages.

Maybe it begins with someone remembering to ask, “How is your dog now?”

And sometimes, a person who was almost a stranger becomes someone who stands beside you when you are at your lowest.

Life has been humbling me in many ways lately.

And meeting people like Ramya is one of them.

I don’t know what the future holds for my dog. I don’t know how this chapter will end.

But I do know this.

On a difficult day, when I was scared and confused, someone I had only known for a short while chose to come and sit beside me.

She didn’t have to.

She simply wanted to.

And perhaps that is what kindness really is.

And Ramya, thank you for showing up.

And yes, I still owe you ₹2.