It was an unusual evening, right from the start. I broke my usual routine - instead of the usual half hour walk, I caught a bus to Andheri. The traffic was lighter than usual. I reached there by 8:00. Then I caught a bus from Andheri, instead of the usual train ride. Again the traffic was light on S. V. Road. I reached Goregaon in 20 minutes flat! Another unusual occurrence.
Yes the evening was certainly unusual. But it was far from over. As I began to walk my way home, the phone buzzed. It was Gattu. A school-time friend.
"Hey, my friend, my darling! Where are you?", he says. He is a boisterous fellow... pure nautanki... but charming in his own way...
"I just reached Goregaon"
"Great. Come meet me at Ambamata temple" he suggested... no, asked... no, to be precise, he ordered me to come there... But thats Gattu.
To tell you the truth, I was in no mood to go anywhere but home - have dinner, read and then go to sleep. Instead I landed up spending the evening with Gattu and another friend of ours.
This other friend is Mehul. After visiting the temple, Gattu suggested lets have some beer. I was no game. Not that I don't drink beer. But I don't like it much.
"Lets call Mehul." he suggests.
Smart move, Gattu. Mehul is a beer lover. Gattu knows that if Mehul will come, then I have no choice but to give them both company. It would be a quick affair. Just a glass per head - nothing more. So I agreed.
So Gattu calls Mehul "Yes Mehul. My darling. where are you.. At home? Then come meet me at Pop-n-Dine. Lets have some beer man... Why not?" It appears Mehul is using evasive tactics.
Both Gattu and Mehul are married. Each has a cute little daughter. After you become a "husband" and a "father", its a rare occasion when you can take out some time to be a "friend". So Mehul's reluctance was understandable. Usually when Mehul and I went for a late night movie (a once in a blue moon affair, when Mehul's wife is not at home and he is temporarily a bachelor for a day or two), Gattu would give us a "dacchu". This time Gattu was free (later it turned out his wife was not at home. No wonder you found time today, Gattu...) But Mehul wasn't.
So I stepped in.
"Let me speak to him"... I spoke to Mehul. Told him, if not beer, we will just have some soup. Just come over and spend some time, that's all. Mehul is a sport. He finally agreed.
And so we ended up spending the evening together.
Few years back, on an equally unusual evening, I met Mehul and Gattu after a very long time.
I am never good at keeping in touch. After school, I lost touch with the both of them. For years, we hardly ever talked.
So imagine my surprise to receive a call from Mehul, as I was about to reach Goregaon. On his insistence I met them both.
We had dinner together in Image restaurant. Then we went to Gattu's home. His family was out. We ended up spending the night at Gattu's place - talking about old times, happy school memories, and having fun in general. I ended up creating my Orkut account that day (Facebook was virtually unknown then, but Orkut was all the big rage). They made me create it. Not that i was more social on the net than i am in real life - which isn't much in the first place.
But I still remember the good times we had that evening so many years ago.
But things have changed now. Gattu's boisterousness has always been superficial, but it was more so now than ever. The years and the growing-up has probably subdued it a bit. Under all that superficial boisterousness he is a serious philosophical contemplater... And the rare times we do meet, we sometimes end up talking about Life, the Universe and everything, But not today. While we waited for Mehul, Gattu tells me about him being sick recently. He had an operation. But now he is fine. I had no way of knowing, thanks to my usual reluctance to keep in touch. Then he suddenly changes topic and shows me his new mobile. Samsung galaxy S4. He sold his previous one (S3) and got this one. I look at it. Not being a great fan of technology, I try to look awed. For a while we talk about the mobile. Then about Gattu's daughter. Then about the recent movies each of us saw. But soon the conversation falters and dwindles for a while.
Then Mehul arrived. I would have expected to get back the spark between us with Mehul's advent. But it was not to be so. Usually Mehul is not so quiet. he is a cocky fellow, sometimes prone to making big claims, mixing some facts here, some fiction there, and making it difficult for you to guess whether what he claims is really true? Or a figment of his overactive imagination? But today he is silent. Contemplative. Something is bugging him thats for sure. But I am not so close enough to him to get him to divulge his worries. Either ways, he was always a difficult-to-read character...
Starters and beer arrive. We drink and eat. And talk. Mostly, they talk. I listen. The two of them have always had a good chemistry. Unlike me they kept in touch. So, I can't help but feel like an outsider between the two of them. Some of the topics I do follow. Some go way above my head. Both of them have their businesses, and are somewhat better off than me. But the tensions of their respective businesses is there under the surface... But it still feels nice to be with the two, after a long time. Something different from the daily routine.
Finally, we leave. As we walk along our way back home, we remember the good old school days. Mehul and Gattu talk about the school time friends they are in touch with on FB. Am I missing something by not being on FB? We remember our head-girl, about whom Mehul used to tease me, just because both our names sounded similar... 70% of the guys in our batch had a big time crush on her :) Yours truly was certainly not one of them. Yes, she certainly looked beautiful. But for me she was like an angel. Beautiful but way beyond my reach. So I never really pursued...
We also ended up talking about how difficult it is now-a-days to find an affordable house in Mumbai. I mean, Gattu owns an S4, and its difficult even for him...
We parted ways, and as I walked home, I mulled about how things have changed. We are still school-time buddies. But that innocence is lost now. We talk mostly about serious stuff. The labours of work and family life weigh heavily upon us. We try to mask them, hide them. But they are there, visible in our bent backs, our balding heads, and our serious conversations. And yet in all of it, we try to capture the nostalgic magic of the times bygone... Ah, the pangs of growing up...
We will meet again, Gattu, Mehul and I. And may be next time, we might succeed in reviving some of that old magic? Who knows.
But for now, the unusual evening is over. And its time to call it a day...
Yes the evening was certainly unusual. But it was far from over. As I began to walk my way home, the phone buzzed. It was Gattu. A school-time friend.
"Hey, my friend, my darling! Where are you?", he says. He is a boisterous fellow... pure nautanki... but charming in his own way...
"I just reached Goregaon"
"Great. Come meet me at Ambamata temple" he suggested... no, asked... no, to be precise, he ordered me to come there... But thats Gattu.
To tell you the truth, I was in no mood to go anywhere but home - have dinner, read and then go to sleep. Instead I landed up spending the evening with Gattu and another friend of ours.
This other friend is Mehul. After visiting the temple, Gattu suggested lets have some beer. I was no game. Not that I don't drink beer. But I don't like it much.
"Lets call Mehul." he suggests.
Smart move, Gattu. Mehul is a beer lover. Gattu knows that if Mehul will come, then I have no choice but to give them both company. It would be a quick affair. Just a glass per head - nothing more. So I agreed.
So Gattu calls Mehul "Yes Mehul. My darling. where are you.. At home? Then come meet me at Pop-n-Dine. Lets have some beer man... Why not?" It appears Mehul is using evasive tactics.
Both Gattu and Mehul are married. Each has a cute little daughter. After you become a "husband" and a "father", its a rare occasion when you can take out some time to be a "friend". So Mehul's reluctance was understandable. Usually when Mehul and I went for a late night movie (a once in a blue moon affair, when Mehul's wife is not at home and he is temporarily a bachelor for a day or two), Gattu would give us a "dacchu". This time Gattu was free (later it turned out his wife was not at home. No wonder you found time today, Gattu...) But Mehul wasn't.
So I stepped in.
"Let me speak to him"... I spoke to Mehul. Told him, if not beer, we will just have some soup. Just come over and spend some time, that's all. Mehul is a sport. He finally agreed.
And so we ended up spending the evening together.
Few years back, on an equally unusual evening, I met Mehul and Gattu after a very long time.
I am never good at keeping in touch. After school, I lost touch with the both of them. For years, we hardly ever talked.
So imagine my surprise to receive a call from Mehul, as I was about to reach Goregaon. On his insistence I met them both.
We had dinner together in Image restaurant. Then we went to Gattu's home. His family was out. We ended up spending the night at Gattu's place - talking about old times, happy school memories, and having fun in general. I ended up creating my Orkut account that day (Facebook was virtually unknown then, but Orkut was all the big rage). They made me create it. Not that i was more social on the net than i am in real life - which isn't much in the first place.
But I still remember the good times we had that evening so many years ago.
But things have changed now. Gattu's boisterousness has always been superficial, but it was more so now than ever. The years and the growing-up has probably subdued it a bit. Under all that superficial boisterousness he is a serious philosophical contemplater... And the rare times we do meet, we sometimes end up talking about Life, the Universe and everything, But not today. While we waited for Mehul, Gattu tells me about him being sick recently. He had an operation. But now he is fine. I had no way of knowing, thanks to my usual reluctance to keep in touch. Then he suddenly changes topic and shows me his new mobile. Samsung galaxy S4. He sold his previous one (S3) and got this one. I look at it. Not being a great fan of technology, I try to look awed. For a while we talk about the mobile. Then about Gattu's daughter. Then about the recent movies each of us saw. But soon the conversation falters and dwindles for a while.
Then Mehul arrived. I would have expected to get back the spark between us with Mehul's advent. But it was not to be so. Usually Mehul is not so quiet. he is a cocky fellow, sometimes prone to making big claims, mixing some facts here, some fiction there, and making it difficult for you to guess whether what he claims is really true? Or a figment of his overactive imagination? But today he is silent. Contemplative. Something is bugging him thats for sure. But I am not so close enough to him to get him to divulge his worries. Either ways, he was always a difficult-to-read character...
Starters and beer arrive. We drink and eat. And talk. Mostly, they talk. I listen. The two of them have always had a good chemistry. Unlike me they kept in touch. So, I can't help but feel like an outsider between the two of them. Some of the topics I do follow. Some go way above my head. Both of them have their businesses, and are somewhat better off than me. But the tensions of their respective businesses is there under the surface... But it still feels nice to be with the two, after a long time. Something different from the daily routine.
Finally, we leave. As we walk along our way back home, we remember the good old school days. Mehul and Gattu talk about the school time friends they are in touch with on FB. Am I missing something by not being on FB? We remember our head-girl, about whom Mehul used to tease me, just because both our names sounded similar... 70% of the guys in our batch had a big time crush on her :) Yours truly was certainly not one of them. Yes, she certainly looked beautiful. But for me she was like an angel. Beautiful but way beyond my reach. So I never really pursued...
We also ended up talking about how difficult it is now-a-days to find an affordable house in Mumbai. I mean, Gattu owns an S4, and its difficult even for him...
We parted ways, and as I walked home, I mulled about how things have changed. We are still school-time buddies. But that innocence is lost now. We talk mostly about serious stuff. The labours of work and family life weigh heavily upon us. We try to mask them, hide them. But they are there, visible in our bent backs, our balding heads, and our serious conversations. And yet in all of it, we try to capture the nostalgic magic of the times bygone... Ah, the pangs of growing up...
We will meet again, Gattu, Mehul and I. And may be next time, we might succeed in reviving some of that old magic? Who knows.
But for now, the unusual evening is over. And its time to call it a day...
No comments:
Post a Comment