Found, Lost & Found Again

School. Seems so far away now. We were kids then. All of us were so different, so naive, unsure of where life would take us, but sure of keeping in touch. Those wonderful friends, the first that we ever made, the groups that we had, the lunches that we ate at each other's houses, the farewell parties that occurred year round in standard twelve, the cricket, the tuitions, the stories, everything seems so removed now, so different from the now that takes up all of our mind's space. Somewhere in between a few friends drifted apart, a few came closer, a few were forgotten and a few rediscovered to be cherished all over again.

Ten pegs of vodka (that's just me by the way!), the best pub in town in which, to quote a friend who took me there for the first time, "It's the music that gets into your head and not the Beer...", and a set of friends to cherish for life. It doesn't get much better than this. All this was prompted by the visit of a friend, a doctor now, one of my closest buddies in school, and probably the one who drifted the farthest apart in the years that followed. They started with Yellow, Wonderwall and Iris and then moved on to Boulevard Of Broken Dreams and some AC DC and Ramstein which I hadn't heard. Then there was Hallowed Be Thy Name and Turn The Page to be followed by Toxicity and after that it was a blurr but yes I remember there was Roadhouse Blues too. We were singing along, arms on each others shoulders and shouting on top of our voices "chadh gayi hai yaar" . The doctor who's high even without drinking was ecstatic to put it mildly. He kept blabbering about school, our group, the times we spent together. It was almost as if the years had been rolled back. We so dearly missed some people. Especially the doctor from Aligarh. Everything was a haze as I somehow read the amount in the bill, made sure to give the waiter a good tip and signed on the debit card slip and grabbed my card. The auto took Rs 50 for a 2 km ride but I was too drunk to argue with him. When I reached home all I remember is that I was high.

He was a very nice guy. Always hyper, a good singer, pertified of exams, chubby, introduced me to english music with MLTR's hit album Someday, fun to be with in general and the best orator I have heard. I still remember his recital of The Highwayman.

The wind was a torrent of darkness upon the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.....

Then we went to college. He went to Vellore and I moved to Delhi. He didnt have net access, I didnt call. Initially it was at least the Birthdays and the New Years but slowly even that ended.
And all this while my relation with some friends changed for the better. As the world around us changed and we found oursleves picked up from our nice cozy homes in Bokaro and thrown headlong into it, we changed too. We came closer, got to know each other in a much better way, a more holistic way. Coming back to the friend from Vellore, in short, for all practical purposes we ceased to exist for each other and I only got to know about him through common friends. Sure there were periods of some activity when we met by chance in Bokaro or in Bangalore during my internship but we were more like acquaintances than friends, catching up on stuff we have been doing, generally asking about each other. I didnt like that. We didnt connect. Last year though things slowly started to change. He finished his MBBS, we talked a few times on the phone and he discovered Orkut. So when he got through his PG entrance and said that he would be here for a day, I was totally looking forward to it.

And yesterday night we did connect. Be it in the singing together of Free Falling as I strummed my guitar or the talk of how all of us have ended up doing fine or reminiscing about the school days or talking about what the future holds for each of us or even just abusing each other when totally drunk. And add to it a friend who has perhaps undergone the maximum change from a typical mummy ka laadla to a budding guitarist cum rock enthusiast cum super cool dude to hang out with; the ever confused soon to be married, eternal flirt who has a heart of gold; and the quietest yet a very dear friend (whom I know from Nursery!), and you have a night to remember for a long long time.

School was a great time. No tensions. Success came easily and there were so many people to fall back on. Life was good and easy and simple. We cant possibly hold on to time. What we can though is hold on the people who made it worthwhile, people who have in some small way defined us, people with whom the occasional drink and a chance meeting makes you feel happy to be who you are.
By the way life's still good, just that our demands have increased.