Twenty ‘nineteen to the dozen’…!

31 March 2019.

Do you sometimes look around your circle of friends and wonder what you are doing with them? Friendship, they say, often has its beginning in the most unexpected of places.

Ours does, too.

31 March 2007. A morning that arose like any other, but a day which didn’t quite progress so smoothly. 7 clashing personalities locked gazes. And turned up their noses immediately!

A nerd. Who would rather live in his world of books than interact with people.

A jock. Who would rather be out dribbling his basketball than bother with studies.

A newbie. Who had joined school not so early enough to have known all his batch mates.

A stud. Who was everyone’s “dost” and always much too enthusiastic.

A pushover. Whose only agenda was to relay information from the field to his “friend out there”.

A scatterbrain. Who went through life on her own terms and somehow always got away with it!

And me.

‘What a wonderful beginning to the summer…’, each one of us sarcastically sighed. We had just finished our Board exams, and were heading to Ranthambhore. However, due to some ‘technical difficulties’, the original group meant to go on this trip had backed out, and here we were….stuck with our ‘classmates’ (I use that word particularly since it was that phase in life where you were very clear who was classified as a friend and who was just a classmate!).

It was going to be tough, the next 6 days, trapped together to share the same experiences.

The only thing we could bond over….the school we studied in.

And the books we all liked to read.

And the card games we loved to play.

And our lack of knowledge about birds and animals.

And the enmities we harboured toward the same people from school!

Those next 6 days suddenly turned upside down and the group of randoms, suddenly became constants!

And then suddenly….somewhere down the road, we began to lose touch. We read a little less and didn’t travel enough. We struggled with our new – found lives, which somehow didn’t include these people. We made new friends, of course, but there was always something missing.

As landlines gave way to SMSes, which upgraded into WhatsApp groups…..we lost touch. We kept up with the trends, we had a group, we had the occasional ‘Hope you are all doing fine chats’, but we stopped really having a conversation.

And then just as suddenly, everything seemed to fall back in place.

12 years ago, we weren’t meant to go travelling together. Today, we head out on a trip planned for ourselves.

12 years ago, we filed into a train and sat on seats allotted to us. Today, the car is being driven by one of us.

12 years ago, those 6 days laid the foundation of our friendship. Today, this one night promises to revive it.

The chats cease and the conversation strikes up once again. We giggle uncontrollably, drunk not just on the alcohol but more so on the high that this friendship has always provided us.

There are no longer 7 clashing personalities, but only 5 that remain. Closer than before, yet as contrasting as ever.

A nerd. Who just won’t stop studying.

A jock. Who still finds his peace in playing cards, just like we did so many years ago.

A newbie. Whose tag is no longer valid.

A scatterbrain. Who keeps us on our toes.

And me. Who is finally glad that ‘that something’ is no longer missing.