To My Friend

Friends are forever they say but it only sounds good in proverbs not in reality.

To keep in touch with friend, you need time and time is money for some. Even if you make the effort to stay in touch, it’s not necessary that they will too.

With the advent of smartphones, the world has become a smaller place and one can stay in touch with each other on real time basis through apps like skype, whatsapp, etc. The distance barrier becomes a mere line drawn on maps of the world.

Still you will find friends who would choose to disappear on you. No matter you how much you try to get in touch with them.

I have such a friend.

She has gone AWOL on me and my attempt to get in touch has been futile. She had informed me beforehand that she will do that but I took it as a joke….

We had met three years back, when I had resumed from my leave and found a girl wearing a while salwar sitting on my desk. As I went to her and told about it, she got up and sat at a different place.

Turned out she was a new joinee.

Few days later she approached me once when she had a query and observing her I thought she was a quiet one. That was it and we hardly had any interactions on day to day basis.

We had a change in the seating arrangement and she ended up with a desk behind me.

I take time to open and don’t really recall what lead one thing to another and we hit it off instantly. We could talk on so many topics/subjects that I start to feel that God finally listened to me and have sent some like minded being to mingle with me.

It does feels damn good when you find such a person to talk to as it can be considered as a rare find.

She liked to read books and watch movies that I enjoyed too. We used to end up chatting at the station before we departed different ways.

In a very short span of time, we become close friends say in a span of three months. For me, that’s nothing short of a record for making friends in such a short time.

Like every good things that comes to an end, this too had come to an end. I got moved to a different location and yes, we still kept in touch.

I have noticed that every time a girl becomes a good friend, they drift away from me in such a way that I cannot contact them. This has happened twice in the past. I was seriously hoping this should not be the third time.

If the fate is written, you can only watch it happen not change it.

I met her the time when saw came to my office and thereafter she went on leave, never to return.

Though we still stayed in touch, she informed me that she is going back to her native place to settle down over there and yes her family was finding a match for her.

She finally did found one whom she said yes. Her marriage got fixed for which I was happy but then she informed me that she hated the idea of being away when the people she knew were here. She indirectly hinted that she might not stay in touch as it would not be easy for her.

I did tried to cheer her up and informed the ‘importance of staying in touch’ & ‘friends forever’ and thought my words made her understand my point. It was not meant to.

I texted her on her marriage day and then tried getting in touch with her after a few weeks but the numbers were disconnected. There were no replies from her online account either.

I ended up losing my friend.

It’s been two years now that we have not been in touch with each other. I still miss her as she had become one of my closest friends and we had so much in common.

That reminds me that we share our birthday.

This is for you my friend, hope you are living your life happily and god blesses you for your wishes and dreams to come true.

Wishing you a Happy Birthday.

My First Motorbike Road Trip

Ever thought of a travel plan with your friends where you decided what you are going to do and then come back with happy memories.

Except in my case, nothing ever went according to the plan and will be memories that we will use on each other to chide.

It was a routine office day when one conversation let to another and we were conversing on going out on such a good weather of rainy season. Everyone got hooked and places were discussed to go. This went on for quite a few days and finally it was locked on to Lonavala.

The part of arranging transport for our journey turns out to be a tedious one. We were six people and one car was not going to be enough so we discussed on it and renting a bigger car was out of question as budget of the trip would have going high.

As we fixated on the date we were going to depart and confirmation taken from people; that one backed out. It was the guy on whose car we were going to travel started dilly dallying saying he will let us know. We had a back-up car with us but six people were going to be a problem.

Finally, the guy confirmed he will not be able to join. As we worked on an alternative, one of the friends suggested that we go on bikes since three of us had motorbikes. Everyone was game for it and it was decided that we will be going on motorbikes.

To be honest, my heart came to my mouth as I was going to be one of the riders. I have passed through those roads as kid with my Dad driving the car on our way to our native place. Who can forget the ghats? Ghats can be a nightmare if you were not a good driver.

Ever seen a traffic jam on a steep slope where you lose your foot on the break and you will find the shortest route to reach the base of the ghat. Memories of my previous trips came back to haunt me with my inexperience in driving in such roads.

As the day passed by my heart beat started to beat faster than usual. Somehow I managed to get rid of my negative thoughts as I discussed our journey with my friends. Later on, I was looking forward to go on my first road trip on motorbike. I was so excited that I could have left a week early than the scheduled date :)

Got my bike serviced and it was all set to burn some rubber.

The day arrived when we were going to embark on our journey. Before we could leave, one of the bikes got stalled and was nesting on the mechanics garage for repair. Two more people joined us and another friend bought his bike along.

Once it got sorted we began our journey by gassing up our bikes and v roomed our way to our destination.

I was also the official photographer for the trip as I made good of our short breaks in between by taking snaps.

We were supposed to be stuck together while riding but that did not happen. The guy who knew the route would speed away. While I and my friend would tag along, the other bike was nowhere in the picture.

It was supposed to be a two hour ride but we took more than that. We would meet at certain points, get together and then again be on our way.

It was evening when we reached the ghats, the road were not that scary from the one that I had seen. The roads leading up to it were beautiful. We even made a stop on top of the ghat and screamed with our lungs out.

We reached our destination around 8 pm and our journey was still on as we searched for accommodations. The climate was just awesome with chilly breeze blowing.

It was 11 pm in the night when we finally found accommodation and then went for dinner and stayed up late in the night.

The morning was another day to look forward to as we went to sightseeing and had fun which never went the way we expected.

It was in the evening we decided to head back to Bombay as we took with us the adventure of coming on a road trip on a motorbike.

The best part of the trip was one of the biker search for ‘power’ fuel which led him to 10-15 petrol stations but none to fill up his gas tank. He (who was the pillon rider on his own bike) and another friend reached all the way on reserve fuel and it was simply hilarious to hear their both conversations.

I really enjoyed the road trip on a motorbike and this could not have been done any other way. I am waiting for another road trip to happen. I guess there is no turning back ha :)

Being Anonymous

I have been holding on to this blog for quite a while now and yes it makes me reminisce about the time when I start blogging and making me realize that I have come a long way as I have grown with my blog getting older….

One of the things that I do end up doing these days is help people draft mails, sometimes to write stinker mails or to reply one :)

Many a times, I wondered if I should be there out in the open along with my fellow bloggers who have been blogging with their real identities and not hiding behind a pseudonym like I do.

When I started, I used an alias probably to test the waters and not get in conflict with people about whom I sometimes have blogged about. Those who have been following the blog must have come across me change my pen name quite a time until I found an apt nick name the “Tall Guy”

In real life too, I have more than one name. My real name is unknown to many of my relatives, friends and neighbors around whom I have grown up and the irony is that despite telling my name to people, they come up with their own version of what I should be called. People who do know my real name don’t know about the other :)

I did give a lot of thought of coming out of the closet though I have nothing to hide (hope you are not able to read my mind).  Probably letting people around me know that yes I can write and yes have my own space on the internet whose rights only belongs to me.

Then again, the benefits of being anonymous outdoes of being known.  The ability of people judging your post basis of what you wrote instead of who you are. May be I am thinking too much about it inside my head but that’s the way it comes to me. It’s what you write that connects you to others.

Somehow letting go of this identity does not come easy to me and I don’t think I will be doing it at least for now. Though the thought does come to my mind from time to time.

Wonder if other anonymous bloggers have given a thought about it. Please do share your thoughts.

P.S. It came as a surprise that the blog is six and half years old and probably one of the things that I have stick too for such a long time.

I did though published an e-book of short stories that was well-received and surprised many :)