Friends Forever...............

Spent the coffee break today by regaling myself with some of my ol' private moments with dear freinds...through my growing up years . The years that I spent there in Bangalore with these people was hands down the best time of my life!!!! Sadly life has taken me & my friends far away & busy in each one's lives that we hardly meet,though at time we were the best of friends there and don’t think there is a day when their names don’t come up in my conversation.Got all nostalgic thinking about the crazy wonderful things we have done.....& d feel good factor seeps even ,even today !! Then it makes it seem just like yesterday!Sigh!Wish if we could rewind time!!

Our hangout: Malleswaram 18th cross bridge & surrounding grounds
Time frame :Glory decade.1980-1990
The Gang:
Mahesh-"MACHI" : Bold and full of energy, was called DON by everyone in our school/college circles. A typical B'lore Gowda guy, always ready to try anything.I must thank him for my explicit knowledge in bad words:):). He always had the best selection of words for any given situation, he made the worst of jokes ever and managed to irk most of our seniors(many of the times without meaning to..wink). He was an expert in ragging and was always the centre of attraction everywhere. He could be pretty kool and we discussed at lengths the silliest and stupidest topics & yet was a big hearted koool mate who would make up with some funny acts/words & the whole group would be all smiles soon again. (ya there were silly issues when we fought over MORAL acts like lil BIY GUYS & followed by sudden quietness around.... where we dint speak- for maybe a few minutes hahahaha...I cant even remember why we fought:):)), but must say he is one gr8 friend. A true blue ,happy-go-lucky fella who could make jokes on himself & his family to have us in splits! He was the BBC of the group. Usually got the news about what was cooking in out other classmates gangs :):). Today, Mahesh is running a Corporate bank, a few nusing institutes around the country, running a school & also takes his social role as a Youth Janata Dal president very seriously! I wont be surprised if one day I hear him winning some ministerial post in the Karnataka Cabinet!Ya ya ,was always a dimplomat n with a way with words to soothe people even then.............But ofcourse,how could I not mention about his various loves,affaris, infactuations for which I was always the ears & now should disclsoe here that all the love letters he wrote to his girl friends were all penned by me..wink heheheh.He woull byheart the content !yes!byheart all that I penned , then go out with his girls to deliver a knockout perfomrance thrown in with lot of dramatics, as if it was his heart which had written all that he mouthed!!! Guess he would have been a great actor!! He is one guy whom I adore & never miss to call/meet whenever I get back to B'lore.Within minutes we rewind to good old days & I never miss a single event over the last one year since my previous visit. Machi dear,please be the same!Never ever change please!You are the one whose comments/expressions & talks keep me bemussed even 1000s of kilometers away!Wish God makes more of your tribe! U are absolute fun!

Vikram-"VICKY" : wacky and crazy, forever the butt of most of our jokes. Poor guy also got beaten up a lot by others,especially Mahesh n me.( sorry Vikram but u did deserve it at times...like when we played criket & Vikram would just walk away with his bat if he got out!!! ya ya those were the days when anyone who owned a bat was a big stud...:):), remember) He was also the one with the stupidest sense of humor and the worst handwriting of all time. He slept in class with his eyes open and wrote notes in Tulu:):) to me...& I just could not understand as he wrote in Kannada script & I was pathetic in reading Kananda. He was the most handsome n fairest in our gang with typical English young boy looks. We called him DAVID GOWER -he had the same Golden English looks.So was obviously the main attraction of all the school girls n neighbourhood females.He also got pinched the most during our journeys from School to our adventure zones and back:):) (still don’t know why this happened to him!!!) He always made us laugh :):)All his studying was last minute and he had like a million likes and dislikes. WE hated it when he fell ill, cause he would get all cranky. Need a smile, just spend some time with him!! But alas,,when were were in our 7th std...His dad who was with Indain Airliens got a transfer to Chennai & my best ever friend had to leave town!! My God!!I never wept as much in my childhood & still get goose pimples recollecting the day he left..ya ya as a parting gift..we had a wrestling bout on our bed & lo..he fell down n went away with a big lump on his head......Vicky, did come down once a year till we were in 10th & that was the last I saw of him!! Did try to reach or get to know his & family whereabouts but never succeeded. Somewhere deep within I still miss u dear! U were my true blue buddy!!!!!:):) Wish we had the Orkuts/Facebooks etc in our times & we could have still been in touch! Know not where he is today but know for a fact that he is one good wisher for me!

Prashanth -"PANI": Cool and calm. He was the voice of reason in our gang…but then there were days when he went just plain crazy!!! He spoke the least most times and usually gave us one of his sweet innocent smiles(even when he was up to no good:):) n no one believed us when we told that he was the instigator of any prank (remember the school antics we indulged in & someone else got caught :)). We usually went to him to air our grievances and eventhough he dint give much advice just speaking to him helped:) He is an amazing charmer n I will always be in awe of his way with words & acts :), He is the ideal eg for good things come in tall fair hadnsome ,heroish gud luks.:).His dad was away in Japan n Bahrain & so he was most fo times at home alone with his grandma.So obviosuly his house was our adda to watch all sorta movies n fun games during our growing up times. Somehow he woudl awlays be the captain of our cricket team though he never was a good player himself.He demonstrated awesome diplomatic n poltical sense even then!He would hate gals n always bad mouth one particular classmate of ours! But lo...today she is his wife! Now sitting bakc I can understand why he used ot pester me to go to her house during summer vacations & act/talk for some picnic or old students association meetinsg etc...winkkHe is one classic example of what luv can do to a man!He was doing his Engineering..feel in love with this classmate of ours who was a brillaint student!She soo went away to USA & lo,our majnu was left with incomlpete BE! Now...to be with her..he did his nursing n part fo a happy family in USA!! HMMMM interesting it will be to meet aftre nealry 20years & exchange words!! I'm luking forward ot it.........but wunder if he remembers me at all.......

Subash-"SUBHI" : An absolute sweet ,soft,silent guy. Extremely laid back except during the exams,when he would just absolutely loose it and would get all tense. My bench partner from school, he was always next to me in exams/tests as his name was just ahead of mine in the register. From what I recollect he loved to eat,espeically the chats and is one person who absolutely refused to dance during our parties.He will always be in your corner no matter what.He grw to be my closest buddy through time!We shared a lotta common interests.Cricket,cycling,chaats, gossips & just enjoyed eachother's company! We grew up together.He was the cricket team's wickekeeper & a good TT player. I learnt my favourite game-TT,thanks to Subash.We used to play on his dining table during most of our summer vacations. It was that friendly induction to TT that I owe him till date as I just love that sport & play it whenever I get a chance. He was into playing the mridungam & so was part of many cultural acts ,which helped me as I had a massive crush on a girl who was a good dancer & dance to his mridungam.He took up Commerce in XI & I moved to Science!There on..it has been a distance that we both have tried to overcome & managed it pretty well till about a few years back when I moved out of Bangalore in 1997 !He does not seem to be a very hands on person with emails/social networking sites & so the distance has only broadened now a vee bit.But then, I just wait to meet him & the last time I saw him was a shocker! It was our old school reunion in Dec'08 & what I saw was a fair balding man with two little daughters tagging him!I was left wondering where is the Subash I knew? Phew!Time flies & how? But then..he wass the same...soft..quiet..seemingly skpetical & himself! Subash love you dear, wherever u r!U & your frinedship meant a lot to me mate!!You are one person whose Birthday I never forget & it is on that day ,every year that I thank God for having blessed me with a very special friend-you!I might have not said it to you Subhi , you were that special friend I really cared for & would continue to pray for you well being!!

Harish-"Kutti": Don’t think I should write much about him cause I will surely get several mails saying that I was lying about everything. i.e if he reads this!! He was the quietest of our gang!The most mature & yet the most timid! He was always seen brooding & in self pity! He was a nice punching bag for all of us! He always poske as if the whole world was against him.I found it funny & agreed with him as every single day -on on way to school , he was ridiculed,laughed at & made fun off ,leaving him crying & running away from the GANG! He would avoid us in the school & not talk a word to us. Hence we the gang would always play tricks as if ignoring him ,knowing fully well that he was all the time only eyeing us & within hearing range wherever we were. I can vividly recollect his expressions on hearing what all we used to talk about him!Yet in the evenings, we all had to be at his house & he would be the perfect host .All would be soon forgotten n fun times had.Yet the next morning it wold be the same story of we teasing him & he crying away without a word spoken!!! Yet,I had the soft corner for this gentle giant!He was my anchor so to say .He knows every single thing in my life! Atleast till my wife came in2 my life!Somehow I always felt releived if I confessed to him! Hope he is not writtinga blog somewhere detailing all that I had confessed to him...errrrrr . He was the most silent,sober n kinda father figure to the entire team.He seemed to from a different galaxy most of the times to us as we were having fun & there was Harish in a silent corner asking us not to overdo this etc etc...with his never ending series of gyaan sharing !!:). Harish,is still the same old silent ,soft,perfect guy!I wish he gets married soon & settles down.Hope I can reach out to him as much as he did to me whilst we were younger!I feel he has a lot to say n yet hasnt said anything!Dear o dear...I have not been abale to meet him for last 6 years.Last I remember was he came home soon after Igot married & leaked out a v.v.vsafely guarded secret of mine..that the luv letter thta I gave my wife was actually my feellings,but in Harish's handwritting !eeeksssss dat was it! I hv not met him many times after that..especially with my wife around me...hehehhee , Harish-U were my Brother mate!!u wld always b!I miss you dear!Wish you were more active on emails/calls!

Me:Well anyways think i was just as bad n as good as the rest of the gang.(this is my blog n I just cant bad mouth myself now can I???:):)

We had the craziest nickname…for eg: we were the original crazy guys..ie Mahesh was Machi, Subash was Subhi, Vikram was Vicky, Prashanth was Pani, Harish was Kutty and me=Pandu/Bond :):)…& yes, we had decided to name ourselves based on the first letters of the name of the gals whome we had a crush on (I know, I know sounds complicated and dumb doesn’t it,especially since machi , pani n me had a crush on every other gal in school and Harish just dint like any of the gals…poor guy we forced a name on him too!!!! Cant believe we were so stupid:):)We also had some weird traditions on our bdays for eg: where the bday guy would bring a Black Forest cake n then we would lock our room door and eat the cake before anyone caught us eating it (we dint want to share u see:):))….well we usually enjoyed the whole sneakiness of the event more than the cake.Have had the most fun talking and doing absolutely nothing with these guys. Had some of the most unforgettable incidents with them ...the list just goes on n' on n' on........:):) We had our bad days, when we absolutely hated each other but think the good days totally out numbered the bad ones:):)But the fact remains that every time v talk or meet, we just get back to where we had let off the last time:):)...its like we were always meant to be friends, and hopefully will always remain friends no matter how far away we are.Well anyways, back to the present....Sighhhhh

U guys r the best...hugs :):)

"Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends"