Friends from the yester years

Ever wondered what happened to all your friends from your early years?
I can’t even recall everyone’s name now…damn!!!

My first few friends were this group of 5-6 friends in the kindergarten days…I can’t recall everyone….I can just think of 3 names though….a Mahesh someone…an Arjun Rihan…a Dhruv something. I met these guys in Bishop School, Pune. Can't recall any particular incident as such, except the fact that all of us would try to act like a gang of big bad boys….trying to bully other kids….hehehe….what's amusing is I don’t think we had any juniors to bully though, coz kindergarten would qualify as "bottom of the food chain" …it was more of trying to escape the senior kids…but we had this air of defiance….which basically boiled down to all of us getting pasted by the bigger kids on numerous occasions. I remember complaining to my mom about it, but it was futile coz my parents never interfered in my non academic matters....hehehe...things haven't changed much till date….the non-interfering part that is.

Then dad moved to Kota, Rajasthan….had a great time there…few names that pop up include a particular Dhananjay a.k.a. Dany….. Dany was one year senior to me and academically pretty good…he always stood in the top 3 in class. Dany also happened to be a big bully. I think the only reason why we were pals was coz he stayed in my society and thus i figured it was a smart thing to befriend him. I'd gang up with Dany and harass other kids of my age or younger. It was awesome to see them cry....ahem...I'm not proud of it now though......actually...I am!!!

I was friends with this other kid too....Cheenu. Cheenu n me were classmates. His grand dad used to take our studies. The only reason I went to his place to study was coz my dad having already taught me the necessary math homework, I could answer all of Cheenu’s grand dad's questions pertaining to the homework…which meant that I got a lot of praise (to be read as chocolates) and Cheenu got his ears pulled for being dumb….I guess being nice to my friends came at a very early age.

Cheenu had a younger brother Sheenchu….Ugghhh…what a crappy name.

It was here that I also came across Manoj. Manoj was the one who instilled in me, the fundamentals of milking a cow. The railway track ran just behind Manoj’s house. Every goods train would slow down and halt at the red light here for almost 20 minutes before entering Kota station. These trains often carried cattle. Manoj would climb into one of the compartments of the stationary train with a bucket and milk the cows till he got a bucket full of milk. All this under 20 minutes…and if on a day he couldn’t complete the process in time, he’d coolly ride the train to Kota station and walk back home from there with his bucket of milk. Kota station was 5 minutes walk from his place. I guess all of us have grown up stealing mangoes from someone else's garden…but Manoj took it to a whole new level…he taught me to steal milk from someone else's cattle.

It was Manoj who convinced me to light rockets parallel to the road on Diwali nights. While the whole nation sent them vertically into the air, we figured it was more fun to light them horizontally and send it into someone’s balcony…window…door…car….u name it…we hit it. I can’t even think of pulling a stunt like that now…those were the glory days.


Next stop Dehradun, Uttaranchal. We used to stay in the army cantonment area. As a result, a major chunk of my friends happened to be from army backgrounds. My best friend out here was this guy who's name was Narvikramsingh Tomar. Narvikramsingh had a younger brother Veervikramsingh. These guys happened to be Rajput royalty from Rajasthan…which explains their “ meri talwaar kahan hai” type names. These guys were arrogantly proud of their lineage. I guess that could explain why my other friends detested the two.

Nobody called them by their real names. The whole world addressed them by their pet names. Narvikramsingh Tomar and Veervikramsingh Tomar had majorly macho pet-names…… Nippy & Tippy.

There was this other kid who deserves a mention here as well. He was the usual bully in the bus who went by the name of P.K. I traveled with him in that same school bus for 2 straight years but never bothered to ask him what P.K. stood for. We weren’t exactly buddies but I sucked up to him big time….that was till Kunal Malhotra made an entrance.

Kunal was 4 yrs senior to me, which made him the senior most kid in the bus. Kunal n me were close friends…as a result of which I was brave enough to mock P.K. time and again. Reminds me of Tom & Jerry and the huge Bull-Dog. When Kunal’s dad got transferred to a different city I sucked up to P.K. again…..stop judging me…it’s difficult for a 10 yr old, good-looking, intelligent kid to survive in this world….especially since P.K. had gayish tendencies.

From Dehradun we moved to Panjim, Goa. The friends I made in Goa shall be my friends for life. I came across this classy guy Russell Araujo. Most of you guys know him pretty well. For those that don’t….well let me put it this way….had I not met him in my life, I'd have been a much happier person. Mr Araujo has mauled my reputation time and again. Had it not been for him, my spotless character wouldn’t have been this shredded singlet that it is today. Thanks Russell…u changed my life forever…literally.

I also met Aasif during my stay in Goa…in school Aasif n me were pretty close…plus his dad was a big shot in Funskool…the toy manufacturers. So Aasif got loads of G.I. Joe figures…which he’d pass on to me…for free. This symbiotic friendship worked pretty well for me…ok so maybe it wasn’t exactly symbiotic….but who cares??? Aasif stood by me during my girlfriend problem days back then...actually when i think of it now, I guess I had girlfriend problems back then coz Aasif stood by me....hehehe...Aasif you dog...you got me into a lot of trouble with K's mom dude. :)

It was in Sharda Mandir High School,Panjim, Goa that I met this other kid too…Anuj Timblo...Anuj n me were best friends through school…till he moved to Bombay to wrap up his high school and college and further moved to Austin, Texas to complete his undergrad…as of today he's a rockstar …literally.

These guys were my friends in school. I had a separate group of friends outside school. Rohit Sood was one of them. Rohit was instrumental in backing me all the way in all the nefarious clandestine operations that I ran back then…the guy was fearless…and his heroics landed us in trouble on more than one occasion.

More stuff in the days to come…

Distraction

The blog has a new look thanks to Mr. Mistry. Thanks Kapil…appreciate it.
I wanted to change the comment settings to incorporate everybody…one thing lead to another and the blog got a new look. I’m sorry all the comments from my recent blogs were erased . I’ll see what best I can do to get them back.

Talking about a new look…I’ve started getting accustomed to my new look on weekends. I get to wear a chef coat, an apron and one of those funny looking French chef caps…I don’t intend to brag or anything but my close friends tell me I look pretty DORKY!!!

Man, it’s one crappy dress to wear. However, when I look at the bigger picture I don’t feel that bad. The bigger picture includes me cleaning dirty dishes for hours…cleaning the counters for hours…cleaning the floor for hours…the frustration of taking on these minimum wage jobs, distracts my attention from the fancy-dress party that I gear up for, which amounts in 20 hours of on-campus employment every week :(

Talking of distractions…history has been witness to crappier instances of distractions…. Let me explain…

It all originated at Roopali, an Udipi restaurant on FC road in Pune. I’m not sure who all were present but if my memory serves me right Atish, Ramesh, Amol, Kapil and someone else were at Roopali. Everybody placed their respective orders and devoured whatever came their way the moment their orders arrived. Mr Ramesh though took his own sweet time to wrap up his act. Mr Atish who was sitting opposite Ramesh couldn’t take it anymore and in a flash of sheer genius, he pointed out in the direction beyond Mr Ramesh Menon and exclaimed “Hey Look… Giraffe!!!” Mr Ramesh turns around and Mr Atish finishes up Ramesh’s dish for him. That is by far, the all time greatest example of “crappy distraction statements” ever made.

I suggest you guys try using it at least once a month…I kid you not, it always works.

And there is also a variation to the fundamentals of distraction . We like to call it “distractions in dimension T”. Can’t recall the exact details but I believe there was a time when Mr Tushar happened to show talent by volunteering to strip his shirt in public…his explanation…”I was only trying to distract the people so you guys could get away undetected.”…ahem Tushar….there aren’t any women on the road and the ratio of gays to people who’re straight isn’t exactly a colossal number in this country….but that’s dimension-T and nobody questions it.

So if anybody needs pointers in distraction….I know just the right people for the job.

Eventful long weekend

Life has become pretty boring of late. My daily schedule sounds something like this….wake up…see if I still have a roof when I look up…see if the power is back…check with our neighbors to see if the University has reopened…survive a hurricane…check if the curfew has been called off….sleep…wake up….the cycle continues…..no big deal. First it was hurricane Charley…the city closed down…then Hurricane Frances, a category 2 hurricane…the city closed down….and now we’re awaiting Hurricane Ivan, a category 5 hurricane…like I said….been there done that.

Had an amazing weekend though. Atish and Nikhil were visiting us this long weekend. Highlight of the visit being that Deepti had no clue about their plans. When Atish casually walked in through her front door she turned spooky white with shock…and if that wasn’t enough… after 5 minutes Nikhil walked in….this time she turned carrot red.

What a shame…I wish we could’ve had a few more characters walking in through her door one by one…..that way hopefully I could’ve witnessed the VIBGYOR phenomenon firsthand. It was awesome.

Simultaneously a similar scenario was being replicated on the west coast. Kapil arrived in California and Anuya, who was at the airport to receive somebody else, was shocked to the core when she realized the “somebody” she was supposed to receive was our dear friend Mr Kapil Mistry. She couldn’t speak for 3 hours.

So much for these women complaining about boyfriends being monotonous and boring.

Well done you guys...mission accomplished!!!

On a more depressing note…I have an “acquaintance” back home… who’s kinda majorly annoyed with me…hold on…this is not the depressing part (hehehe… that’s the usual part)… I say “acquaintance” coz that’s what I guess we’ve been reduced to over the period of 6 months…anyway, getting back to what I was saying… it so happened that she was stalked by a goon recently and the guy threatened her. The poor thing called the cops in her moment of crisis but the jerk who answered the phone showed a total disrespect towards her ordeal. These things bother me a lot. Women I feel aren’t safe anywhere. When incidences like these are brought to my notice I feel ashamed to be a part of the society we live in. It just tears me up from inside when these nefarious creatures blatantly abuse someone's right to live a normal life. Yes, the cops have a lot of important stuff on their hands no doubt…but does that validate turning a blind eye towards the plight of vulnerable people….especially women.

I guess America is better off in that respect. Crimes committed against women are significantly high but at least when a lady informs the authorities that she could be in a potentially dangerous situation; a police patrol is immediately dispatched for her protection. Parents teach their kids at an early age to dial 911 when faced with any kind of predicament involving bodily harm. On most American university campuses including ours there is a facility wherein the students can inform the authorities that they would be on the campus late into the night and can request for a security personnel to escort them from their labs to their respective residences.

But inspite of the kind of infrastructure and facilities in place out here crimes are still perpetrated against women. The world superpowers prioritize agendas such as international terrorism and world economy….I wish a more conscious effort was made towards dealing with internal issues such providing safe surroundings for women.

Yes I’m aware that there are more important concerns that could be addressed….but as of now, if only someone could track down that particular rickshaw driver and pummel his brains I’d be a much happier person.

P.S. Dear “acquaintance”, It's really strange how these things keep happening to you...you must've been a real bad person in your previous life (Just kidding). I hope u're ok though. Good thing u called the cops. Be more careful please....