Created on Sunday, June 25, 2000
Latest Update on Monday, November 14, 2005
The vagaries of life! At every stage as I look back the road I walked - the number of times I have fallen & bruised myself, shared jokes or shameful secrets, or even imprint my foot on a butt, I never could have gone through all of it, without this group of people - my friends.
I have had absolutely great ones all along, as many might do too - BUT the question is about sustaining it for a lifetime. The never-ending rat-race of building a career loses out on a lot of precious moments - coming to think of it, I may have missed a hundred birthdays when I've forgotten a simple birthday wish to my closest friends or failed to return a call. But it's not long before the loneliness of it all catches up with.
I don't want this to turn into a monologue of sorts. However it's the right moment to pay tribute to my pals. Honest god's truth - Without my friends I can't survive a second - they are my O2, H20 & Bn'B. I still haven't lost touch with my school friends - I knock their doors all the time. School is the time when you take the solemn oath - never to lose touch, to play cricket 'every day, all day', read all the Hardy Boys collection, et al. Touch-wood!
College years were the coolest of all - they are the ones to know the dirtiest secrets and still bear the stench and hug you without a whimper. That's the time when I came to touch with myself - unfortunately shed the innocence of adolescence, argued issues with such gusto & heart (which in all probability appear inane now should I start listing them), take loyal stands, advice the closest ones all about love, and share a cup of tea with two. No inhibitions! Before I realized, four years of college whizzed past me and I am out in the job search jungle. As lucky as I was, managed a neat spot in Tata Telecom at Gandhinagar - and unlike what I imagined it would be, I have friends who till day have remained family. I never would have managed the confines of Gandhinagar except without the Tamil gang - and I damn well I've made friends for life.
Career… boy oh boy! this does strange things and didn't let me remain… Before long most of my close friends - the gang - was scattered between Madras to Tokyo - and it was time to come to terms with the meaning of the word "struggle". Soulful mourning did not help neither seemed to be the answer. I moved in with a couple of guys, whom I always took for granted and except for some "Hinglish" never understood much of what they spoke or laughed about. Read me right. Without them, I never would have got to boring you with all this (Blame 'em, not me).
So used to restricting myself to a chosen few, for the first time I opened up and really met people. Within a short span, I had grown from this reticent, unknown Optimux engineer to "Vadi" & known among the elite rest. I owe these guys a lot!!! To enlighten yourself about the coolest beings to inhabit the alternate universe, walk thro' these pages.
Gandhinagar Tamil Gang : The coolest thing to happen to Tata Telecom, since OKI and Microwave Radio.
The 661/1 Club : The legend goes that this place was haunted by a xenothropicolaferm. This house - 661/1 Sector 23, Gandhinagar - was the launch pad for anyone to go 'phoren'. There are scores in USA proof of this unexplainable phenomena. Besides the legend, it was home to great friendships and I have had most of my memorable moments in Gandhinagar right at the epicentre of 661/1.
Gandhinagar : So what if these guys didn't stay at 661? They still had shoulders & I definitely was inclined to lean. Check 'em out.
College Comrades : Life was when I was in college - that was the time when you're counting your pennies but still are ready to share. Every butt has imprints of every other foot. Step-in.
School Pals
: Literally! I literally grew up with these guys - wouldn't be amiss if I say a couple feet in height and to be unnaturally profound, these years shaped me into whoever it is, I am today - and you know what, I can't complain at all. /font>
An update on Thursday, February 3, 2K
: Dream come true. Mis-spelt. Dread come true!
An update on Monday, November 14, 05 : Mano-á-mano
One of my greatest comforts and feel-good factors are the small resource of friends I have cultivated through high school and college and now work. Each of this pool of friends is indeed a refreshing spring of goodwill and some of them are now really family. It may indeed sound boring and rather clichéd when I say that our wives have established their own camaraderie sorority, and indulge in entertaining gossip on our frailties and modest successes.
Over the past few years, it has been great joy for many of my friends and thus me, due to new arrivals that commence a new generation of love and emotional attachments, and it is a blessing to see how much it enriches one’s personal life. For all the joy, there is also unavoidable sorrow, which is what brought me back to updating this page. A close friend’s father passed away and when he was recollecting how gregarious his Dad was, how bravely he fought his battle with cancer, the support his Dad got from his friends and relatives, and the countless get-well letters, it literally bought tears to my eyes – and brought to notice a more important fact. How dear and enshrined a dad-son relationship is. I remember a time in my 6th grade, during the course of an English literature class; the teacher questioned the class on William Wordsworth meant by “The child is father of the Man”. I awkwardly stood up to answer, got a back on my back for actually correctly explaining – though never for a moment did it mean anything to me – Then. Not any longer. When many tell me, I resemble my father – in speech and in manners – I will no longer deny it. I am fairly certain the same is true for many of my friends.