A tale of TWO stories!

Well.. I woke up today and stood at window… and I see so many kids, couples,etc in their colourful attires and hands full of tattoos and bands.. and im wondering..WHY? what is so different about today [did we decide to celebrate Olympics differently this year cz it s in RIO this yr???..Samba style maybe!!!!]..

…that’s when my ole friend pops up in his blue and white dress with the red icon and whispers-
FB wishes Swarup a very happy friendship s day!

So that solved the mystery behind those Sightings that I was talking bout…duhh!

So today was friendship s day..hmmm. I had a lot of friends too, but the busy truant ‘LIFE’ and his buddy ‘CIRCUMSTANCES’ took them away from me, albeit for a lil while.. so that one can enjoy and make new friends with the new kids on the block,viz ‘seclusion’ and ‘aloofness’!

My memories went back to the very first HFD that we celebrated …the good ole RUPAREL ‘deutsche div’ days! I still remember my lab partners’ woes[hehe]..

It was the first day of college and you start off with your Physics lab [gr floor..all ruparelities will know!] You re expected to do the experiment with your lab partner and the choice is[ not yours]… your roll no decides the pairing! So as I took the equipment tray and sat on my table.. waiting for the other one to join ..mins trickled by.. no one had showed up[or taken up the risk to be on the same table as me..haha]! I set up the experiment and in due course completed it! No sign of 1,2,3 or four! So on the next lab I repeated the same ritual and this time I did not wait..started arranging the stuff on the table when Ms S Phadke arrived. A gal with the ‘Titanic hands on greet pose’ [as I call it] uttered... "Hi im SP"[ with the outstretched rt hand pointing towards me, slightly plantar flexed at the wrist joint] I was taken unaware.. what am I supposed to do now.. my mind said run away, this looks like trouble! I looked around and saw Prashpaul with his sheepish grin staring at me.. the look in his eyes told me-" Beta aaj toh tu marega.. hum toh rulayenge tujhe!" Damn.. why do gals see Titanic and think that they re Kate Winslets.. Kate wore a glove when she handed her hand and Leo went down on his knees to acknowledge! Ab log real life mein bhi aisa karenge kya… I somehow managed to mutter "HI, lets finish the experiment".

As it turned out madamE' did not have the journal nor the rough book. And this continued till eternity. So my rough jounal would be traded after every practical and the readings would be copied in fair. I was really afraid of the opposite sex at that point in life[ now toh I ve nightmares ..thanks to the fairer sex!..but that’s beyond the point]..so whenever I caught a sight of madame outside the confines of the lab, in the huge corridor or on the stairs.. I would just make a run for the door! And behind me would come the whole PP gang of friends[.. or foes..dunno which was more true!] ..woh perennial chidana[ that’s how it starts at junior college.. someone s caught staring at you and/or vice versa.. and ur paired!] I soo wish I can narrate your stories too..prash,fahd,aman,arun,arvind but then I don’t wanna be thrashed by your better halves[ so next time, I ll do so but I ll change ur names] So im being good to all of you!

Coming back to ruparel XI std.. suddenly on one lab day I see everyone dressed in red and white/black..esp the gals and I wonder why? I meet my schoolmate Neha.W[she s in another div of ruparel] ..she s sporting this new hairdo..something like how the hair looks after the nuclear bomb blast and the smoke rising like a mushroom …the hairstyle looked similar..she comes and yells. .happy friendship s day man!
I ve known her since the beginning of school , but till the last day of school, I had never seen her so weird! Or colourful should I say..cz her hands were handcuffed with ribbons of all colours possible plus lots of graffiti too all over the forearms! That was when I realised for the 1st time in my life that there s this day too..and its different from raksha bandhan that we had in school.. [though neha only tied a rakhi to hari,all these yrs; and I would often wonder why? Whats so special bout hari… and now if hari happens to read this ..im sure he ll kill me..hahaha]

So after that as I made my way into the lab, I could see my KG buddies [kamina gang!] waiting to pounce..
I said to myself ..bas do ghante ki baat hai..lab khatam karke bhaag jayenge!yesss![that was my intelligent plan]

And then as I set up the experiment, a ‘lady in red’ arrives and before I know I ve a red ribbon around my wrist! Oh no… ab toh full waat.. then OUT comes a rose.. and you now know for sure that you are DOOMED! Thankfully those days we had no mobiles/fb/whatsapp so things had to be done for real.. no trolling someone on social media..it happened then and there itself!damnnnn!grrrr! I somehow managed to finish and run ..only to be caught by KG! and as they trolled and ragged.. out of nowhere appeared Ms M Mai[ jaan bujhke im writing it in German] and says- hey HFD and ties another ribbon..and the colour is RED! [ I ve never hated the colour red as much as I did on that day, simply cz its construed to mean something ..every coloured ribbon had a meaning.. and we all know what red stood for!] so after that .. I could not figure out when the kaminey guys left me in peace![the rants went on n on n onn..] Then I tried my best to undo the ribbons before I reached home cz I was HELL sure I ll be dead..[but mom dad were quite cool about it, much to my dismay!] and I told them that it was not my fault …[ thankfully I had a few more ribbons too apart from the reds at the end of the day..phew] ..blah blah.. [mom still has all the ribbons stacked in a box along with the school rakhis!]

And I just happened to remember how far we have moved on.. in life.. leaving behind the good ole days!!!!!!Days of innocent fun..

*******************************************************************************************************************
The next one Is about a good friend..lost in time.. but his story remains etched in my mind!!!!!!

As usual it has to happen at ….where else but..KEMH!

This one s about the guy next door..[sadly the gal next door didn’t exist during residency…gals had a separate floor in old RMO hostel]. Chahaveer was his name. He was doing Pediatrics, and this was his final year.. Veer had lost his dad as a child and his mom had single handedly brought up both her kids. Veer would soon take over the mantle and look after her and his sis! He wanted to fulfil that role asap!

As all parents do during residency, his mom too fixed up his match. [KEM has a history of kem-kem jodis esp during residency!..GSites will know this m sure] Urvashi was his match.. a sweet looking resident in another department. Though I knew her from my UG days.. she was the BJMC representative and we had fought for the rural bond earlier, I was happy that Veer was settling down with her. Soon the courtship started and one would often bump into them.. under the hostel tree or on the katta or outside the blood bank lawn or deans lawn…[couple spaces’ as In my lingo!]. I was happy for them and wished all good would happen to them. It was now engagement time..2 weeks hence and they would be engaged. I was thinking of what to gift them..and whether I was from the gal s side or veer s ?

Then suddenly one evening, that familiar knock on my door and a muffled voice!
I open the door to find a crestfallen and sordid face! "What happened re"..i ask him![ now, im really worried!] and then he slumps down and says ITS OVERR! What is over? [ I thought his thesis got rejected!?] I told him- "sit down and talk.. kya hua bhai?" He manages to mutter in delirium…"engagement tut gayi!" I am like –WHATTT!

Well as it happened, the engagement was scheduled after 2 weeks. And these guys were together for quite sometime by now ..and all was well.. so we were looking forward to the ceremony. Then someone from the gal s side suggested to do the horoscope match again..[a basic match was done earlier too, at the outset itself] . and at the second instance, our boy turned out to be a mangalik! And that evening, Urv s dad called off the engagement cz he didn’t want to marry his daughter off to a mangalik guy! And veer was broken. I said leave it.. u guys run off and get married.. we had enuff people to sign as witnesses!! Veer said that Urv had refused to go against her parents decision.. and though we tried and tried talking it out with her.. it wouldn’t happen! And we didn’t have any other option but to respect it..


Sadness was all around. He couldn’t handle it! Didn’t clear his exams..took to drinking..lost his confidence! And to see a good guy go through this was painful! We tried and slowly he came out of his shell.. started talking again, but the smile was gone! It was almost a year now after that incident...but sadness still prevailed!

It was match making happening at my end now.. a few proposals and then I got this proposal from a gal, non Bengali.. and she was a resident too . The gal s family knew everything about my whereabouts and I was pleasantly surprised. And I knew her ..on FB ..though I had never met her or spoken to her directly! It so happened that Rasika belonged to the same community as Veer. And I thought if we could pair them up somehow, our boy would find his lost smile AGAIN! But how? Her parents were constantly calling up my fellas! God! Something had to be done..and quickly!

That’s when my old friend in blue and white came to my rescue..
I typed in a message-

ME-Hi der..i kno itz kinda weird messaging you, but m doing it for a friend so I think its ok! My friend veer likes you and I guess his mom and sis too! I kno ur parents were talking to mine but veer and you belong to the same community so I thought it ll be nice if you consider him. He s a gr8 guy, nice, understanding and sweet and straightforward! But he s a mangalik and so he doesn’t kno how ur parents wud react! But all im gonna say is …luk at him as a person 1st..cz m not sure hw much one shud rely on horoscopes n al.. btw even he doesn’t kno tat im speaking fr him so let this b a secret! All the best to you guys and yes happy Diwali once again!

As I hit the enter key.. I just hoped tat she would consider this proposal.. and it wud be a happy Diwali for my friend!

I got a message after 3 hrs..
RASIKA- Hi Swarup-that’s really sweet of you as a friend to do al dis..but I thought my parents were looking at our match[ few angry smileys]..and you get a new proposal out of nowhere. I ll talk to my parents and see his profile. We don’t believe in horoscopes to such a deep extent but jus a basic match shud be done(I suppose)..newayz datz 4 my parents to luk 4.. m really happy to get a msg 4m u..bcz I jus wanna say ki ma I real BIG FAN of ur blog n ur wrk..its simple, realistic and funny..n above al v lively..thank u fr guiding me to kno ur frnd..n ve a happy n safe Diwali..tc..god bless

ME- thank u so much..surely my blog is not worth al tat praise!! Nywayz, al t best fr t future..bye tc

Needless to say I was sooo happy… [not cz she had praised my blog, silly!].. but cz she said that she ll consider!


I was busy with my 1st yr CVTS residency now..when one day Veer called..

Veer- Mar gaya yaar.. bada problem hai!
Me- kyu kya hua..
Veer- arre you remember Rasika na..jinka rishta aaya tha.. arre that friend of urs..ob-gyn rem?
Me- ohh yes yes.. but hua kya bhai.. itna kyu phudak raha hai..
Veer- yaar uske parents n she s comin to meet me..tonight at aditi 7.30 pm.. tujhe bhi bulaya hai..aur tujhe aana hi hai mere saath
Me- arre baap re.. but aaj toh mera emergency hai.. but tu call kar evening ko ..we ll see..na re
Veer- ok, but dekh latka mat dena..

Actually on that fateful day , I had an off call. But I wanted veer to go alone and talk. And get his self confidence going. Enough of someone speaking up for him[ ..and that had been done already, just that he didn’t know bout it.. my role was over..job done..over to him nw..ta da!!!!!!!!]
So from 7pm to 7.20pm I had 15 unanswered calls from him… I smiled, closed my eyes and prayed for a YES. Another heartbreak would shatter him completely.. and a yes will make his life.. !!!!!!!

After that day I was low key wrt him and her…. Didn’t know what had happened after the meet..CVTS residency means ur confined to your ward and floor, you really ve no idea whats going on in the world! Then after 3 mths I got an email … it was a cute card which read- Veer weds Rasika! Boyyyy.. I was sooo happy!

And that’s how that Diwali turned out to be the best for Veer…

Exactly after 2 yrs..in the autumn of 2013 I got a message from rasika .. and it made me really feel good!
It said..

So that’s how things can happen.. even when you re experiencing bad days… remember that nothing is permanent.. and eventually life will throw a surprise at you… and you will be smiling AGAINNN;-):-)

well thats how i remembered this day today...HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY! esp to all my friends whom i ve not met in a while.. its been a lil difficult phase, but this too shall pass...
till then.. keep SMILING!!!!