My friend A called me early on a Sunday morning, just as I was leashing up Leo, my three-year-old Golden Retriever, for his morning walk. “I have to see you now, or I may never see you again.” Her urgent, tremulous voice indicated no room for negotiation. Hopes of a lazy Sunday faded as my friend’s chilling tone meant I had to get to her as fast as my Reva could zip through the 3-kilometer distance.
Twenty minutes later, I was ringing her doorbell. As I stirred her a cup of lavender tea, I was the one shaken by her story. A year ago, she had co-signed a Rs50-lakh loan for a friend. The friend subsequently fell ill with pancreatic cancer. The treatment and rehabilitation would be expensive and extensive, with no guarantees of success.
