God’s favorite Child

 

Late last night, I got a call from one of my very old friends. He stayed with me for almost 6 years in Pune. He’s gone back now and looks after his father’s construction business.

 

There was a common joke in Pune back then – If Babu (thats me) asks Rishi (the guy), he will jump from our 4^th floor flat. And Rishi made no secret of his liking for me. He would do anything for me. And even though I had many good friends around me, I always knew that I’ve a friend who would do anything for me. He just couldn’t see me sad.

 

I still don’t know why he likes me so much. I mean I did treat him like a brother but at times I was mean too. But his affection was unconditional.

 

Even now, after 3 years, he’s the one who calls me almost regularly. At times he calls me when he is drunk and tells me how much he miss me and how important I am to him. Thanks to my busy Mumbai life, I hardly call him but he never complains. My cousin who stayed with us in Pune, says that Rishi thinks you are Ram and he is your Laxman (characters of Ramayana). I don’t know about this whole Ram – Laxman story, but I know I have a friend who would do absolutely anything for me.

 

And thats where I think I’m God’s favorite child. It is said that apart from your immediate family, if you manage to get unconditional love, affection and admiration from even one man/woman, you must consider yourself lucky. And by God’s grace, i’ve been very lucky to say the least.

 

Around a month ago, I got a call from an unknown number from Bangalore at around midnight. The caller identified himself as some Sahil who was working with one of India’s leading Software Company. He told me that he once played under me at some junior level National Cricket tournament and will never forget the support and help he got from me.

 

And to be very honest, I couldn’t even recognize the guy. But he was not perturbed by this and said he’d been thinking about calling me for a very long time but was not sure how will I react. But today he was going through some old newspaper clippings and saw my name as the captain of the team when he was chosen for the first time. So he somehow managed to get my contact number in Mumbai and called to thank me for everything (I didn’t even know what i did for him). He went on to say that he, along with few other guys from his town, has always admired me as a sportsman and as an individual. He thanked me again and said he’ll always wish the best for me in my life. I was almost speechless when he kept the phone.

 

And this was not just a one-off incident. Something very similar to this happened a year ago, when I got a call from this guy who was a part of some summer camp with me in Calcutta years ago. Though that time, I had some memories of the guy. He also thanked me told me how he’s always regarded me as a very good human being and wish the best for me.

 

And these are just few examples. I know so many people who love me and would do anything for me. I’ve not been a very good human being myself but I feel blessed to have such great people and friends around me.

 

I have always met great people and made great friends. Whenever I feel let down by anything, I have someone around me to pep me up. I have friends who know me for 15-20 years and we haven’t met for 10 years. But they still call me from all parts of the world. And no matter wherever I go, I end up making great friends everywhere.

 

Forget my school and college days. People say you hardly make good friends at your workplace. I can proudly say that I made great friends at both the companies I’ve worked in till now. Even after leaving Tata, I know I can call and speak with anyone there – right from the receptionist to the VP.

 

And thats why when I look at people around me, lonely and sad, in pursuit of happiness, I feel I’m blessed. God has always made sure that I have great people around me. And that why I feel I am God’s favorite child.

 

Wadia Days – introduction

 I’m not a movie buff. But at times you come across images which stay forever in your memory. One such image is from the movie Dil chhahta hai (one of the very few Hindi movies worth watching). This is one of the last scenes of the movie when Amir khan in driving his Merc and when he stops at a signal, he looks at a college campus and thinks about Sameer, Sid and Akash together in the college.

 

Now, why am I talking about a movie (the last thing that I’m expected to do) is because yesterday I went to a place in bandra with one of my best friends. Its a very nice place full of positive energy. The first thing you will notice (even before the menu) is the young and beautiful crowd. Its full of these young boys and girls all dressed up and flashing their million dollar smiles for each other (now don’t ask me what was I doing there – I’m not too old either).

 

Though my friend assured me (as usual) that even we are (still) young, I must admit that I was feeling out of place. And at the same time, I was nice to see them all – happy and full of energy. It reminded me of my wadia’s days. Good old graduation days!!!

 

I still remember the first time when we (the whole group – we were around 20 people then) walked to Madhuban after classes. and this went on for next 3 years. Though the number of people reduced to few (and I’m glad it did). And trust me, we used to do absolutely “nothing” at madhuban. Just sit there for hours and talk and gossip and pull each others’ leg and look at women (most of the time the girls in our group helped us in identifying “hot” women).

 

Though we had a huge group, let me introduce the core members of the group to you guys. I’ll start with the ladies (in no particular order) –

 

Gayatri – one of the first women I noticed in college. Beautiful young girl from kashmir (at times I wonder if I would have dated her if I didn’t already had someone (we will talk about this special someone some other time).

 

Atiya – The sweet little girl from Qatar – you could always count on her. From marking our proxies to making our projects to substituting as an alarm clock to wake up in the morning so that we could attend the practicals – she did almost everything for her friends

 

Rasna – I have never seen or met a Sindhi like her ( and trust me I’m an expert with Sindhis – men and women). She paid for our coffees at time (specially when Kishore & prashant refused to acknowledge the fact that they had coffee or tea and hence they wouldn’t pay for it). One of the matured ones of the lot (though I never understood how she managed to hit somebody or fall right in the middle of some busy road).

 

Niyati – In very few words, she was a “rockstar”. And I’ve always been an admirer.

 

Shilpa – Shilpa bindi (as prashant would have said) was this hard working girl who used to come all the way from Lonavla. She even tried fixing me up with a couple of ladies (but I was a very loyal man)

 

Sehnaz – She gets a special mention for entertaining us even now. The “KS” babe of our group. Something happened to her when she went to japan (thats all you get to know)

 

Kevin – This “Hero from Mauritius” taught all of us “Faalumama boostoliki da pilo da cukuut”. Though he’s disappeared, but a little bird told me he is married and has a little baby called Rosy.

 

Manoj – The handsome dude is a proud father now (and I hope he stops now – he already has 2 children). He always liked gayatri and this other girl (I don’t remember her name – some model).

 

Prashant   – God bless India

 

Kishore – God bless Dubai & now Spain

 

They need no introduction. But I still remember how I met Prashant. “Kaushik” came to me and said his friend is interested in my friend gayatri (what an irony – kaushik fixing somebody with gayatri). And then I saw this guy, wearing a brown waist coat in July, over a red shirt (and I thought Biharis had no dressing sense).

 

Kishore was this huge (trust me – huge) guy withfully gelled hair and a french cut beard. He was selling Pardeshi’s book to me (another irony – kishore selling books).

 

Prashant fell in love with every other girl in the town and Kishore thought every other girl in the town was hitting on him (I’ll never forget the famous line – Babu..dekh naa..dekh rahi hai).

 

I have a lot to share with you guys. Funny little stories, but some other time. Got to go now. But these are the guys who made my college worth living. I’ll never forget sitting at madhuban till late evening without any work. I’ll never forget parking our bikes and then run to attend the classes only to be thrown out for being late. I’ll never forget those trips on our bikes to all possible places in and around Pune.

 

Someday, I’ll tell you more stories. But as of now, I just want to say that miss these guys. I love them all and thank god for giving me friends like them.