FRIENDS

Life has its own meaning when with friends – a life with a difference. Whatever it be, where ever it be or however it be, the company of friends close to you is more addictive than cocaine and passionate than the company of your beloved

It has been a nice time out with my graduation mates this month. A small party to hang out with before my birthday was memorable and a little awkward as well for I never wanted it to be the way things happened. Anyway, it was nothing great and nothing which could ruin or put me in danger. It is just that I hate meeting that friend of mine, that’s it.

The chloromint group (munching of chloromint was rampant then, now do not ask why!) as I used to call our group has undergone some corrections and is now perfect with we guys rocking the floor every time we meet. Meetings when we were students had a different meaning, in fact were meaningless – they were just for fun, just hangouts. Today, meeting the same group sans girls has a different meaning. It is not only fun or girls that we talk about but also the work culture we are engulfed in. The pattern is the same- on the bikes (at times 4 wheelers as well), smoking (not me), sipping into a cuppa tea from a road side stall, staring at the girls (really pretty huh!) who pass by and to include an extra element – boss talk and some serious discussion about business, projects and cash flows. What at times seeps into our discussion is the matter which makes us more matured than we are – tensions about career, marriage, family problems and of course, some emotional thought sharing.

Since some days, I have just loved the change that I see in my own self. Every time I meet Hemant and Bikash, life springs to life. To add to it, when Rijwan aka Raju meets, the group is ready to rock with cruel, intellectual and stupid jokes to crack and discuss something serious.

Today when I finished my college and went to meet Hemant and Bikash over lunch, nothing was planned. But then suddenly things started becoming more business oriented. Discussions about how we can break even and get better projects for aTs, Cuttack and calls to meet the prospective clients for a demo were some tasks planned out immediately. Then after that, once the work was over, we sneaked into one of the institutions which we approached some months ago. Lucky enough we were to get a chance to get a possible college project.

It was post lunch while chit chatting over a cup of tea that I gave them an idea of MI4 and we decided that if time permits after the meeting with client, we would go for it. Once the meeting with client was over, Bikash wanted to meet his relatives near Khandagiri. While he zoomed off to his relatives’ home, we both went to visit the Khandagiri caves. Hemant being a Jain, had a darshan of Mahaveer Jain on Khandagiri caves and a breathtaking picturesque view of the city from the top made me feel as if I was in space and viewing Earth from there. Foggy and green was the picture- there was nothing as earth and sky; it seemed to me as if both merged to give a splendid view of what God can create as a masterpiece.

Heavens if there be any in truth cannot be beautiful than the Earth that the Almighty created.

From there we moved to S complex to watch MI4. Lucky that we were, we reached the complex just on time for the 6.15pm show. The movie plan was great. Tom Cruise and action thriller seemed to cruise along and had it been a 3D enabled complex, it would have been an unexplainable experience in Toto.

The movie ended and we parted our ways- one towards Cuttack and the other towards Jatni.

The end of a meeting, tweeting (not Twitter wise) and trotting.

Govindaa Singham Pandey!

Must not have ever heard this like this…

“Machli jal ki raani hai, haath lagao darjaati hai, bahar nikalo…Govindaa”

My bhanji (sister’s daughter) Amrutha, just 2 years old, sang this when my sister called. All that I could do was roll with laughter. It did not stop there. There are several such instances where she uses “Govinda”. Ask her to recite any devotional song (Gayatri mantra or Hanuman Chalisa), she fills her forgotten lines with a Govinda namam with all the innocence that God gifted her and ends her rhyme or song.

At times one can hear “Om NamaShivaya” to replace Govinda and the forgotten lines. While she picks up rhymes, devotional songs and classics fast, she is not to be left behind when it comes to item numbers either. Ask and she will sing – Sheila ki jawani or Kolaveri di as a kid of her age would be expected to say a rhyme.

There was something which made me ROFL… she is afraid of high pitch sounds and also of the sounds of heavy vehicles honking and it so happened once that while out on a walk with her parents, a truck passed them in a distance. The monstrous look of the truck and its engine sounds were enough to make Amrutha clasp her mother’s Saree with all the might she can and to convince that she was not afraid at all, in her broken cute telugu and English words she picked up from her parents conveyed to her mother the following lines: “don’t worry, am not afraid…daddy unnaru (father is with me)…” with closed eyes and head resting on her mother’s shoulder- time to understand that she is totally afraid.

Well…woh Kisi ke haath na aane waali hai… 

Kids are always special. These tiny tots are said to bring happiness to everyone with whom they are associated and lighten away the tensions that burden the elderly. Be it my bhanji or any kid, their innocence and their fearless attitude makes them cutest of them all and an apple of every eye. However there is always a difference in the way a boy and a girl would behave I think. Child or grown up, the qualities are always reflected in their behavior and approach.

Take the case of my colleague’s son. His preferences change frequently. There was a time when he was Chulbul Pandey of Dabbang and used to do dhinka chika or run pants down to his mother for a dhinka chika pant (trouser with pockets) the moment the song played. Then after that spider man spun a web around him- every red shirt or a jacket that he wore became spider man dress for him and the enthusiasm would creep up his veins to an extent that he would try to climb the walls of his bedroom. While his parents have given him a beautiful name, he feels that in school everyone is ignorant of the fact that his real name is Spiderman – as he would confess to his father with the same air as would a detective or a whistleblower lay the facts bare. Baaji Rao Singham creeps up his steel nerves in the thin frame with spiked hair and with the same daringness he declares that he would finish off his opponents with clenched fists which he imitates with clenching sound –khat khat khat (thanks to the sound effects as borrowed from Tollywood, there is a sound for every action and reaction), verbally while clenching and swinging his arm as if hitting the bad guys.

“Kolaveri di”was on his lips for sometime till “Chikini chameli” dominated our screens and his head…

Hope so these kids are not so “Oh la la…” about the dirty item song that still rules some music files of androids and mobiles.

Well as of now it’s just Govindaa Singham Pandey ruling sir!