My Thoughts, Feelings & Experiences

It was another rocky shore… as usual. And it was raining. I was all alone. All of a sudden I noticed an orange glow on the horizon.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when I witnessed a huge machine making its way thru the sky. There was a faint hum of motors and it seemed to be moving towards the sea.  After sometime it disappeared from view. The rain stopped and it was bright once again. Chrome glow. The sky wasnt blue anymore or overcast and the sea looked shallow.

I waded through the water and it sent a tingling sensation up my spine. I heard someone calling my name. I turned to look at a figure approaching me. It was Dipankar my schoolmate. As he drew closer I could see his ear to ear grin.

‘Where have you been ?’ he asked.

‘Where were you ?’ I asked.

Shailendra has been looking for you. Santosh told us you had gone out for a walk. The bell would ring in another 5 mins. We got bio practicals after this. Then we made our way for the schoolgate but I didn’t have to reverse my course. Went on wading through the frothy foaming waters for quite sometime. We talked abt homeworks, PT sessions and NCC. He told me that I was going to be nominated for the captain’s position of Shivaji house. We were all excited about the sports events for the following month. And then I noticed something starnge. Grey hair. His hair had turned grey. I didnt have to ask. I knew. It had been a long long time.

We found the gate open when we reached near the campus. and there was this whole group waiting. There was Shahid, Ranga, Chitra, Rajesh & Brajesh, Pijush, Nitin. I went to Nitin and hugged him.

‘ I missed you’ he said.

‘Did you marry ?’ I asked.

‘Yes’ he replied.

‘A Bengali girl ?’

No’ he answered.

I remembered… Nitin always wanted to marry a bengali girl. His was a painful childhood. With just a mom who almost couldn’t see.. almost blind he had to fend for himself and his mother at an early age. His relatives had cheated the family. Once when I had taken him to a bar a couple of years back and sat at the table to order something I noticed tears in his eyes.

‘You know Sourav ?’ he managed to say. ‘People have no have respect for others.’

He had taken to auto-driving. And then he had told me how he always wanted to fall in love with a bengali girl. He was Gujarati.

..and now marrying a bengali girl was too far fetched an idea… something he had stopped dreaming a long time back.

Everything came back to me when I saw him.

A few feet from him was Mohd. Asifuddin. We always called him the biggest story teller.

‘kaisa hai Asif ? ‘ I asked

‘tera baap ab bhi personal plane mein fly karta hai kya ?’ I said jokingly

..and then everybody burst out laughing.

‘Arey Mainak ? where is Arpita ? ab bhi uske ishq mein diwaana hai ?’ I said

‘nahin yaar. uski shaadi ho gayee hai.’ he answered.

It was a strange happy kinda feeling with all of them..the same group.. the same school… but in a different time

‘suna hai tu bahut software bana raha hai ? ‘ Rajesh asked me

‘zyaada kuch nahin.. bas pet paal raha hoon’ I answered
‘aur tera sister’ ?
‘shaadi ho gayi’ I answered
‘aur teri ‘ ?
‘pata nahin yaar.. ab chod bhi.. sabhi to yehi poochte hain’ I asnwered

we went to the classroom after that. somebody had managed 2 crates of beer. We poured drinks into each other’s glasses..

‘To old sweet old times’ I cheered.

‘To old sweet old times’ Everyone followed as we lifted the glasses high up in a gesture of celebration.

there were strange experiences shared across the table… some told us sweet experiences… others had tears to share.

I remember Ranga saying that he had got into a job where he had to work so hard that he got ill  and and after battling it out for a quarter he recovered.

Brajesh had another story to tell. He was selected for the Ranji but dropped after a couple of months. Someone with a better backing had obviously made it and knocked him off his place. He had taken up a job as a salesman.

Dipankar was doing well inspite of the market recession for architects. He said that he always had enough to design and eat.

…and then everything changed. One of my clients entered.

Then the afternoon saw us discussing some serious project …over a cup of coffee. I don’t really remember how it tasted.

All I recall is that it was something hot.

They ought not to have left so early..

I woke up late in the morning only to realize it was a dream. I smiled at myself in the mirror as I washed my face.