Friends forever.

Friends. Oh yeah Friends. The pivot of the life. The famous teleserial with gorgeous Jennifer Aniston in charge. The supporting pillars of your life. Your partners in crime. Be it to woo a boy or a girl in college days. Or find out more about that hot thing in college (boy or girl). And many more such instances. Shopping in a mall. Going for a movie may be back to back. Hangouts at a famous joint. Chilling out. Gulping Beer and other hard drinks. Chicken munching. Sharing your in and out with them. And what not. Friends are for life, as they say. They are and they are not. Many friends come in your life. Some make a instant combo and some take time, but with it become rocking pair. Be it a unisex friendship or cross gender friendship. Friendship is a huge word in itself. Some friends come in your school, college, locality, locality of your cousin or friend, workplace, parties and so forth. Some are now bloggie friends. I do have lot of them. Trust me. Naam ginate ginate bahut time ho jayega. So lets not get into it. Considerable count hain.

So today its time to take an ode to my friends. 4 of us. Long time friends. 12 years to be precise. A decade and 2 years. Huge time that. 4 friends. From different backgrounds, but from the same colony. Same college, same class and almost in the same batch for all practical J. Myself, Manish, Mait and Ash. Mait was not Mait 12 years back. He was Maitreya then. Too long a name and too clichéd. I think it means sun. He had a stint in US for 5 years for MS and a PhD degree. Total transformation. Being a studious guy who never uttered a single “gaali” even during the ragging, now transformed to almost a Hippi. Long hair, amazing fashion sense, penchant for drawing and music, moody, freak and weird. This were the words that would describe him. He is now in Pune same city as me. But since last 3 and half months we haven’t been able to catch up. See. He is into some kind of relationship with one of his colleague with whom he shares some common interests, but they do keep fighting and many times I listen that they are not on talking terms. He is my agony uncle types. Whenever I run into a problem, I run to him, share my perspective, get his and then act.

Ash was Ashvin until 2003, when he proposed to his crush in the college with whom he had never spoken a word until he proposed. And to his luck, the girl nodded and now she is a part of the group (if at all it is). He has a son who is almost a year and half now. Total family man. Too committed and dedicated for his wife and son besides for his kid bro and parents of course. Thinks a lot on smallest of things and that sometimes freaked me out. He was my project partner for 5 semesters (2 to 6) in Comp Sc and to my horrors electronics too. Electronic was like cockroach for me. I hated it with the best of my ability. Alright that’s a separate post for some other day. He and me were the bad boys of the group. We were practical, we bunked classes regularly to go sit in the canteen sipping tea and poha. Or just roaming around. Go and watch movies. He had an old scooter those days and I had just got a Bajaj scooter in 1^st yr. So we were always together in the ventures outside. Be it to any hotel for food or any bday party or any coffee joint trip. He was roll number 58 and I was 59. Thanks to the surnames we had. We purchased computers way back in 1999 almost together. Same configuration, same brands and same software. Whenever we had to install new software or a tool, we shared the CD. Ah man, we were great friends until final year when we broke out on project partnership, but never on the friendship. We remained good friends. And till date we are. Though this days, its not possible to catch up regularly. He works with Microsoft, Hyderabad. He has worked prior with Intel and Yahoo.

Manish, the geek. Works for Microsoft. Ultimate talented. Brilliant in academics in college and then in IITB. (Bombay). During 3^rd year he stood 3^rd in GATE. It was like a shock to all of us. But he deserved every bit of it. He has been another transformation. From a guy who had no sense to wear what to almost cheaky fashion sense now. I would say more like Rock on Style. I mean I cannot imagine dressing like him. A green kurta and a red khaki. Ah man, he dresses it and has even went on to meet few girls for arranged marriage thingy. I had been to his place in Hyderabad 3 times in 2004 and then 2 times since then till date. Amazing cook. He cooks, I just eat.

Myself. I was forever Sam. Samy within the group. A punching bag for everybody. They had fun at my expense. And most often I kept quiet and many times I sulked too. But that didn’t matter to them. I had this habit of not walking after the dinner outside or a quick ice-cream. This freaks made me walk almost every time we went out. And they knew it would be fun cos I would always resist it. They made secret recordings of my voice and played it frequently. We had lot of fun with that recording. That was way back in 2000. I guess it must still exist somewhere in my old PC, which I got in Jan 99, is still going strong. I am the least educated of them all. They all have done masters. I am content with my bachelors. Right now no mood to go for masters. I was bored of studies in my final year. Had lost the motivation.

And to end this one how can I miss the best part of our friendship. The legendary BHEL. Oh man, its just nostalgic. It was a regular routine for 4 of us to make BHEL and wotta preparations we had. In the end Mait and Ashvin wud sulk with the spicy content and sit with pomegranates, myself and Manish wud go strong with Jeeravan and lots of spice. We spent 3 hrs making BHEL every time followed with a movie in Mait’s place and a night out there. In the morning next, we used to carry the leftover BHEL and share it with the folks. Oh man, they were great days. Even after college until 2003 we made the BHEL and once we parted for our destinations, the meetings dried out and soon the phones dried out too. For the sake of being friends, we keep dropping a mail once in a while, else every one is content and happy living his own life. Ashvin is married, so he has his own responsibilities. Mait doesn’t believe in it, so he is kinda happy living his creative life and pursuing his hobbies and aspirations. Manish has freaked out his parents in the search for a wife. He just doesn’t nod for anybody. In his “samaj” there is a growing anger against him that he has run out of all “good options”. Myself, I am stuck with a messy project and trying to come out of it to live the life again with the same zeal and enthu, that I always have typically.

Friendship remains forever, just that it becomes a bit tough to catch up quite often. Every diwali we meet in Indore and last time we had gone to Sayaji’s, the best restaurant in the town. I still hope that sometime when we meet this year, we go back in the times and make that BHEL once again. And eat it with the same zeal with what we had when we were collegians, free of life ka tension and “wordly, relationship” woes.

With this classic song from Sholay “Yeh dosti hum nahi todenge” and the one from Diana C “ Friends Forever”, I give on ode to our friendship. Myself, Mait, Ash and Manish. Long live our friendship and long live us.