F.R.I.E.N.D.S

It isn’t about the all time most sought after series of the youth, me included, but it isn’t so very different from it either. Life is monotonous but when friends are around its fun. It is this bonding that I would prefer visiting them rather than some family relative. I might not have visited my distant mama’s, bua’s etc for the past couple of years rather a decade. But the slightest opportunity to be with either of them is I run for. They are the support system, my pillars of strength, in crisis I fall back on them rather than family.

It has not been a utopian bonding, we have had skirmishes that have lasted from minutes to a couple of years, but when things settled down the feeling has been worth cherishing the whole of my life. I am lucky to have lots of such beautiful people around.

There is a group I made from school, they are like the higher end of a spectrum. They are all urbanites, achievers in their fields, they attended best colleges..SRCC, Hansraj, IIM and likes, they are now CA, Businessmen, MBA’s, sophisticated, very good at their work. Their idea of party begins from a fine arrangement of things in an organized manner, a dinner at some… “hygienic” place, ambience is also a pre-requisite. They dress up apt for the occasion, they are real good at how to behave in social gatherings, mostly non-drunkards, responsible dancers and the art of conversing rightly is an inherent talent in them. Diet and gym regimens and other such social brand value stuff is what they intend to follow, brandmaniacs, connoisseurs of food from all over the world..especially Italian. They are a well bred up lot. A group of early achievers.

Then there is this other group I picked up from college, the lower than the bottom of the same spectrum. They are all underdogs, rustics, drunkards, full funde-baaz, a group that hails from small towns but dreams big, self proclaimed investment bankers without that formal Business school degree, they are hesitant in only one thing…to start a conversation with a lady, rest aside they never new what hesitation or “sharam” meant. We have done semi-nude dances in the jam-sessions with thousands of people around, the best possible vulgar oration possible on stage, pleads for social companies have been frequent in public. Also, all just somehow managed to get the so called first class…but they were good and i mean really really good at the subjects they liked. The things that come to their mind when they plan a date: 150*2 + 100*2 ( PVR + Popcorn), 500 dinner and then other tit bits like presents, nahiinnnn…this calculation might lead them to cancel the date, or they have this real time calculator working when on a date. They would enjoy the GE ke paranthe, Gupta ji ki rasoi main thaali , Juhu ka khatta-meetha and the Cooper hospital ke baaju ki Pao-bhaaji more than sitting sophistically at Hyatt or Smoke house grill types (especially when they have to pay for it). They can just walk out in bathroom slippers, a crumpled T-shirt and a nada hanging short to go anywhere you want them. They love the simplicity of Gayatri joshi, the urban elegance of Sagarika ghatge and also they strictly adhere to the weekly port watching ritual, which they reason out is a must. A group that knows that the race is still on, better to go slow. To be able to finish is no less a achievement than winning for them, I like this spirit.

And here I am, the transient kid. I am doing the balancing act real time, probably being a Gemini helps.