She was four when Princess Diana took her.
Five years later, they should have met again.
But that day never came.
On February 14, 1992, Diana was at Lalapet High School in Hyderabad, India.
During his visit he also attended the performance of a Lambadi dance group. Among the children who participated there was Avanti Reddy, a child of just four years.
Diana saw her dancing and, after the performance, she approached.
He grabbed her and sat her on his knees.
It wasn't just a photograph of circumstance.
Diana stayed with her and took care of it with a naturalness that struck who was present. He even got to clean his nose with his handkerchief.
According to the story of that meeting, he told her affectionately:
"I have no daughter, so today you are my daughter."
Forward it could seem like one of those extraordinary moments that happen in childhood and end up in a family album.
Instead the relationship did not interrupt with the departure of the princess.
Diana and the child remained in contact through the correspondence. Later he also received a photograph signed, which he kept together with the letters and memories of that day.
Then came 1997.
He traveled to Europe with his dance group.
There was a chance to finally see the woman who had held her on her knees in Hyderabad five years earlier.
That second meeting, however, did not happen.
Diana died in Paris before they could see each other.
And so what could only be an episode during an official visit assumed a completely different meaning.
Diana has remained images in front of immense crowds, ceremonies, travels and meetings with some of the most important people of her time.
But the memory of Avanti tells another dimension of his public figure: that of the small gestures made when apparently there was nothing to gain.
A child could not understand the weight of the title of the woman in front.
But he could understand something much easier: someone had stopped for her.
Diana probably resumed her journey without knowing which place they would occupy those few minutes in the memory of Avanti.
And this is perhaps the most human detail in history.
We cannot know which of our actions will be forgotten and which, instead, will accompany someone for decades.
Sometimes, to leave a mark, you don't need great speeches.
It can only stop when it would be much easier to keep walking.