We played sungka together when we were kids, my cousin and I. He is paraplegic and walked always with his wooden braces. He loves to challenge me with playing sungka and he never won. This had made him all the more wanting to play sungka so that he can beat me. We had fun that summer. I guess we jived together, him - a disabled boy and me - an insecure adolescent. But we jived and we tell each other stories about life and values. Nobody among our cousins want to talk to any of us. That had made us friends.

When I reminisce those times, I look back and smile. We still talk to each other and exchange SMS. We see each other once in a while. We remained friends. He had remained a friend despite his status quo> My cousin is now a prominent political figure.