Hum Nahi Bhoolenge.....part 2

College - Life had new dimensions, with new friends and new problems. We seemed to have too many issues, too little money, and too much work (little did we know then that we were in for a lifetime of REAL work later!!). But one thing we had no dearth of were good friends.....

- The toughest girl in the batch was my 'best friend' - she knew how to give a mean glare and whip up admirable one-liners (V.P. - love you!!)... and she was my guardian angel!!
- This other lady K.. with a formidable faith her career choice (she wanted to be a chef - and she did become one!!)
- And yet another one with a profound clarity of thoughts ... she knew what she wanted, where she was going, and I have NEVER seen her hassled..(T.G or S.G...hope you finalised the name)
- And the lady with a golden voice and towering height (A.P.)... both qualities had many admirers...

Here again, the men aren't far behind - the seniors first: the guy with an ape walk and cute smile who has a fantastic view to life's hurdles, the guy with light eyes and a heart of gold (he did not rag anyone..), the chap who scared the daylights out of us, but became a favourite with many of us... and many more who inducted us into the world of hospitality with PDP (Personality development programmes !!) and fun!

- And from my own class there was this garrulous chap who joined the hotel management course to become a pilot (yeah! we thought it was wierd too!)- who incidentaly kept every last bencher in splits (G.N. I know you will kill me for this!!)
- the guy who literally, wouldn't kill an ant (S.V.)....
- the guy who topped the whole damn country in the finals and yet, is far away from being a nerd!!(A.B.)......
- the guy whose height matched his sense of humour and who I guess was the favourite with everyone in the opposite sex(A.N. I see you grinning!)
- the shy chap who can tuck away a couple of pints of beer and a factory-full of cigarettes and still be standing (U.M. has lost a lot of weight proving he has determination if he wants....).
-The guy who would take one look at me and declare war against womakind (P- is one of my close buddies now, and his son, all of 3, just ADORES women!!....
- The soft spoken, assertive guy (J.G. caused mass heart attacks during our group trip when he nearly drowned) who writes up a charm in our group site and has a fanatstic sense of humour...
- this real good friend who feigned stupidity (called Jim Carrey of the class) the whole 3 years, only to be proclaimed as the person with the highest IQ in campus interviews...he went on to prove it by joining IIM....
- This true Mumbaikar (S.I.)- Mallu who spoke every language like it was English
- This friend who was, with me, the butt of jokes for speaking a dialect tinted with a faraway region!! (S.N. and A.A.)
- A chap who has turned out to be the ace event manager of the group!! (hats off, S.N.)
Happy Diwali all of you ...... am truly blessed to have known you all!!

Hum Nahi Bhoolenge.....

Ye Dosti, Hum nahi bhoolenge...
Todenge dum magar, tera sath na chodenge..

Just had to start today with those lines from an eternal song from an eternal film. The minute someone mentions 'dosti' one remebers this song. Well, today I remember my friends. From the little 6 / 7 year old girl (who has a lovely name - Firdaus) who was one of my first friends in school, to this highly professional go getter of a 'pataka' (sorry S.D. - just HAD to call you that!!)who is an integral part of my daily routine today - even if its just through a phone call!!

Girl / Lady (incase i offend some of them!!) friends have always had a special place in my heart. I remember this friend who was with me in high school - we were part of the team that represented the school throw ball team - I was the captain, and she a fiery little thing... the good times were many but the clearest memory is when we lost a match, and she came up to hug me...

Later on, as growing up took a toll on our skin, self esteem and hormones, girlfriends were the only others who understood ... they had the same problems, after all!! We had detailed 'solution meetings' for every problem - from guys to grades.. In particular this lovely lady (now - then, she was a freckled but beautiful young thing with long pigtails and unruly curls all around her face!!) who was my 'best friend' (oh we all had them then!!) had a sensible answer for every question. Also another 'best friend' was the class topper - but hey that didn't stop her from scaling the locked gate along with the whole bunch of us,to play badminton (and later getting caught and interrogated along with all of us) ..... Chethu, Rejna, if you ladies are reading this, I just wanted to tell you I miss you all sometimes...

Have to mention here that boys did make the list too.. there are many memories. This shy person who only spoke if spoken to, who was ever willing to help anyone, who became a dear friend after a class trip .... the highly intelligent, talented but quiet performer, who I acted with in a class skit, the fabulously talented singer who would be coaxed into singing at every possible occasion. And the chap with the light eyes and silly smile, but an endearing nature....you are all such wonderful friends - all the way from school!

College - ah .. the sweet smell of freedom, of innocent jibes and silly fights, where friendships attain a new meaning!! More to follow....

Mirror mirror on the wall .........

Whats it with weight and women? I mean, just when you think the worlds just begun getting fairer to you, someone just has to come by and say, "Oh Hi..... so good to see you. How are you? And you've PUT ON WEIGHT!!"

A college reunion, a long lost friend, a relative you really despise, or one that you love - it really doesn't matter..... those words mean the same coming from any mouth .... it spells hours of mirror watch to spot where EXACTLY did she see the extra weight. It means you were unsuccessful in hiding those extra kilos (attribute it to the valentine chocolates, the diwali sweets or the excuse that we love to believe - babies!!).

Also takes me to the next thought behind the whole obsession behind weight. Do healthy people (oh yeah! I am being polite!) think we are being judged by our size? I believe so...

I have come across two kinds of well endowed women...... those who constantly work at diet plans, calorie meters, exercise regimes and special slimming wardrobes to wish away their excess kilos. They may come across as less experimental when it comes to clothes, colors or food. They may also be very sensitive to the issue of weight. Example one liners : 'Oh no, I am on a rice free, potato free, fat free, etc. diet.' "Do you have diet coke?" "Just eat one roti - God knows why I put on weight - must be genetic."

The other kind are the diametrically opposite version of this. They joke about the weight problem they have, display audible and visible protests to Type 1 making futile attempts at changing their dress sizes. Their love of food is obvious, and they make all kinds of digs to make the obvious connection of food and weight. Example statement : "See the size? Well had to work hard at it." "Are you serving inversely proportional to size?" .... and a million other jokes.

Does that mean Type 2 is less concerned about the image they might be portraying? I think not - I should know - I am type 2!! I think we just want to take the attention AWAY from the weight thing...... what better way that to state the obvious just so that someone ELSE doesn't state it???

Having said that, why do we healthy chaps think that its inferior to be tipping the scales a little more than the average? Well let me just take you through a conversation that happens between a good friend and me:

FREIND (A) : I just cant stand her. What a hypocrite!!
ME : Well, she's ok I guess... talks well...
A : Ha!! atleast she's got that!!
ME : Whaddaya mean? she has one of the most motivated teams ....
A : What a loser! See the baggy things she calls clothes? All that to hide the tyres, babes!!
ME : Hey!! So what? I have tyres too....
A : Yeah.... but you are my FRIEND........

Well, my well meaning friend of course meant no harm to me..... but she manages to reinforce some kind of hate drive thats happening here.....unwittingly, I am sure, we all do so, don't we? Drive home the assumptions such as "no control", "Loves food", "lazy", "sad", "no discipline" etc.etc..... But hey, it takes all kinds to make the world interesting, doesn't it??