E, Pank, Bar and Dil Chahta hai...

I remember having watched DCH 12 times in the hall. I was a student then@KMC... I remember having taken the Rs. 20 tickets at Batra/ Alpana and having watched the movie with different people at different times.

I also remember having watched the movie with Dad. I guess he enjoyed the movie too.

In the movie, there is a sequence when, at Goa, one of the friends tells the other two that they should, together, visit Goa at least once a year. The character played by Akshaye Khanna tells them that...saal mein ek baar toh chhodo, dus saal mein shaayad ek baar bhi mil nahi paayenge...

The end of graduation brought with it mixed feelings... the excitement@joining an MBA...and the disappointment at my friends leaving for different places...

Pank (Pankaj) joined IIM-Indore, however was spotted in Delhi every quarter. E (Abhinav) joined NITIE-Mumbai... Doctor (Harsh) joined MDI-Gurgaon and was never ever seen in Delhi again... Bihar (Sidharth) left for IIT-Chennai... Paul joined IMT-Ghaziabad, steadfastly refusing to come out of his campus...Bar (Luvkesh) joined Fore and we used to meet at the oddest of hours once in 3-4 months...Proole and Buzz left Delhi to join Infy@Bangalore... And none of us knows where Anand vanished...

I joined D-skool...back in north campus... every single visit to my new college filling me with nostalgia and emotion for the 4 preceding years in North Campus.

Only a person who has lived his life (mind u- "lived", not "existed") in North Campus can appreciate these emotions.

Slowly, there were new friends in my life...

I kept meeting my old friends once in a while, however, we have never met- together..all of us... Trust it would be somewhat difficult now...

But I guess they were "there" all the time... be it to chitchat online...on the phone... or to meet up over those Sweet Nothings... or even to counsel me after each of my heartbreaks (with the same girl ;-) )... or to sit by me when I was crying a couple of hours after my MHROD farewell ended....or by "being there" silently... I'm sure all of us realize that after a point in every relationship, we do not need "words" to communicate...

I kept meeting Pank almost every quarter; After passing out, he joined UTI bank in Mumbai. Bihar joined ICICI bank...in Mumbai. Doctor joined Deutche Bank... in Mumbai... Paul joined Citigroup... in Mumbai...E joined ICICI bank...in Mumbai...
Everytime, I was in Mumbai, I met atleast 2 of them...


Proole got married and is now in Mumbai..

Bar joined Citigroup too... in Coimbatore... Now I call him Madrasi...

Buzz eventually moved on to Germany and is now in the US of A... every time he is here, thanks to the proximity of his residence from where I stay, we get to meet...

Sometime back, Bar called to say that he's quit his job with Citi and was shifting to join another organization in Delhi. Pank called to say that he has been transferred to Delhi. On Independence day, the three of us met...and together we had a ball...

Doctor, it seems, is looking forward to a Delhi shift soon.

Sometime soon, I'm sure, we will all meet together- seems difficult, but am sure it will happen.

This one is dedicated to our friend Anand. None of us knows where he is. But I'm sure, wherever he is, he is doing well for himself.

Even as I get sentimental over all this, I'm reminded of an old song...
"Zindagi Ke Safar Mein Guzar Jaate Hain Jo Makaam, Woh Phir Nahin Aate, Woh Phir Nahin Aate.... "

Pata nahi... But,I wish they do....

Watch this space for more on this...