When distance doesn't matter
Dr A.V. Gurava Reddy and Dr Sudhakar Reddy on college memories and what makes friendship last forever.
“It all started in 1977 at Guntur Medical College. We were in the same batch. I still remember, we went to watch a movie Padaharella Vayasu. We became good friends after that and that friendship is still going strong after four decades. We got together talking about studies and my girlfriend, now my wife,” says Gurava Reddy, orthopaedic surgeon and managing director of Sunshine Hospitals.
Recalling an interesting anecdote, Gurava says, “Sudhakar was the only one in our college who had a scooter in those days, and I used to steal it to take my girlfriend for rides. I would return only when it ran out of petrol.”
Sudhakar, a liver transplant surgeon at Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, smiles at the memory. “Despite it being mine, I had to wait for my turn. The only time I got my scooter back was when there was no petrol. The moment I would get petrol filled, he used to vanish again with it.”
“We are like North and South Pole — he is an introvert and I am extrovert. Despite being poles apart, we share the same values and commitment towards friendship,” says Gurava.
Sudhakar adds, “Gurvaya (he calls him fondly), is a very good but dominating friend. He can’t keep secrets to himself. He is the one who made my love affair public.”
Favourite memory
Talking about their favourite memory, Gurava says, “No matter where we are in this whole world. I, along with my friends — Dr Sudhakar, Dr Krishna Sarada, Dr Mohan Bhaskar and Dr Siva Narayana — go on a holiday.” Sudhakar adds, “Even though we don’t connect face-to-face for months together as he is in India and I am in the US, but miles can’t shake our friendship.”
Embarrassing moments
Talking about a time when they had differences for a few months, Sudhakar says, “I was so immature that time. Gurava’s wife, who is also very close to me, was making fun of something and I took it personally and replied back very bluntly and she cried. It was very embarrassing for me. But Gurava was standing there silently and did not utter a word. Had I taken it sportingly it would not have happened. But I guess everything happens for a reason.” After a few months, the two of them just picked up the story from where they left off.