A toast to friendship! The duo in a children's skit had another go at it years later

May the hinges of our friendship never go rusty, a popular Irish toast to friendship goes like that. Two youth from Kerala's Kottayam district lived up to this maxim and are being feted online currently as their recent selfie has apparently tugged at the heartstrings of the netizens.

Back in 2004, a patient suffering from stomach ache came to consult a medical practitioner wearing a white coat. Both the medico and the patient were aged barely seven! It was a scene from a children's skit presented at Mannanam Ashramam Church, Kottayam. Twenty years apart, the same patient, now a national-level basketball player, came to meet his childhood friend, who currently works as a physiotherapist at Matha Hospital, Kottayam.

The two recreated their old on-stage photograph in a heart-warming selfie and it is this pic which has took social media by storm.

This photo collage posted by Arun Zakharia, the physiotherapist at Matha Hospital, has gone viral among social media users from Kerala. Arun and his childhood friend Robin S Orath, who is also featured in the selfie, have thus set new friendship goals to young netizens.

However, this time there is a small modification in the plot -- Robin consulted Arun not for stomach ache but for a real knee injury this time.

Arun and Robin have been friends for over 20 years. Their old bunch includes four more - Justin, Jeswin, Jobin and Stephin. All of them are natives of Mannanam, Kottayam, and had their schooling at St. Ephrem Higher Secondary School there.

They were once the altar boys at the Mannanam church. This experience too had also helped to build a strong sense of friendship among them.

Robin is also practising as a Tax Assistant at Central Excise & Customs, Kochi. “Everything changed except our bonding and fun,” he commented on the online post.

Arun told Onmanorama that he would not even dream of becoming a physio those days. “It is the immense blessing of the Almighty to serve as the physio and the best friend of Robin,” he added.