Reunion

Good company always makes me happy and when that company is made up of some of your closest pals from college, there’s nothing like it. Last weekend was special. There was a PhD student from the US, a future entrepreneur, the bade sahab, a would be investment banker and of course the totally confused software engineer. And yes, there was some Fosters, Signature and Smirnoff for company at times.

Almost nothing had changed. The stud from the US could still describe certain things with the sort of detail that would make you see them, the would be business tycoon had retained his prowess to crack the silliest of jokes and then justify them, the bade sahab had not lost one bit of his paunch or compromised on his defining principle in life – “is edible, will eat” and the future investment banker was hyper enthusiastic as ever though he had started talking more about the Indian retail scene and the risks in the life of a trader. We didn’t party as such. Most of the weekend was spent sitting in my home and gossiping, reminiscing about hostel days, watching snaps, singing a few songs, listening to more and just lazing around. The usual anecdotes were told and retold. The ever green topic of ‘life ke funde’ was brought up when we got high. The trek to Neuli was relived through the photographs. Some more close buddies were called up to make up for their absence. The usual policy of ‘more laughter less words’ was followed at the other end of the phone by one of my friends. Everything was right with the world.

Then there was the trip to the malls for our friend to get some cheap clothes for himself. The usual dinner and lunch outings followed and the exploits of the bade sahab and yours truly were remembered amidst peals of laughter. As usual the four of us ended up ordering food for about six people.

Like the morning earlier, Sunday morning started with us having ‘maddu khana’ for breakfast on the insistence of our guest of honor. We then went to Barista where we sat for about an hour drinking coffee and just relaxing. Suffering from the effects of the super spicy noodles of last night we decided to have a light lunch and ended up having ‘Chicken & Turkey Ham Sub’, a bit of ‘Gobhi Paratha’ and ‘Dahi Vada’. As they say, when bade sahab is around, the food simply flows!

Soon it was evening as we were joined by the timely arrival of one of my flat mates and a fellow software engineer. A few snaps were taken as my flat mate and friend brought up his favorite topic of discussion – “To do a PhD or not to” and found ample advice flowing from the mouth of the stud from the US. To say that it left him more confused would be an understatement!!

It was a strange and nice feeling at the same time. I was very happy for the moment that we could spend together, doing nothing, all our worldly worries put to someplace else for the time being (although the bade sahab did have to answer to the call of duty on Saturday afternoon) but at the same time I was thinking of a few years down the line when most of us would hopefully have ‘settled’ into the life of our choices. How would we be then? Would we manage to stay as close as we have been till now? Most importantly would we find time to meet again for a reunion? I would like to believe we would. Till then though, courtesy my entrepreneur friend’s awesome Digital Camera the 40 odd snaps would be a nice reminder for the weekend we spent together.