The Perfect Circle
Art: Circle of Friends by Susan Vannelli I pen these lines to say ‘Thank You’ on what my little one says is Friendship Day
There are indeed things to express and today’s as good as any other day
Always maintained and truly believe that friends are the family one can choose
Our most potent weapons always ready at our behest to convince, corrupt or confuse
To all the friends who befriended me or I ever made
At work, the university, the neighbourhood or first grade
Close or distant so many of you have had a role to play
In shaping me into the person I am from the proverbial clay
To those who really don’t fit the classical definition of a friend
The ones that are always around to support with hand to lend
The parents, siblings, the teachers at school and yes even bosses
The hands of God, the guardian angels, the mystery sauces
To those with whom I stayed the course and they’re but a few
You have a big heart, I know what it takes for being there, for staying true
Then there are those that distances and time pushed away
Mere pauses in our friendship for whenever we meet we just press play
To the handful and hopefully all of you know who you are
My rocks of Gibraltars, my partners in crime, my guiding stars
For a man of words I search for ones that’ll convey what I really want to say
I live and breathe metaphorically and truly it’s because of you I’m here todayएक ऐसा यार
Art : Rachel Coles न पूछे क्यों न सोचे कभी दो बार लड़ जाए भिड़ जाए सुन के बस एक पुकार रब करे सबको मिले बस एक ऐसा यार खाए जो बड़ी क़समें उठाए जो नख़रे हज़ार निभाए सारी वो रस्में झेलकर भी सितम करे प्यार दुआ है संग सदा मिले बस एक ऐसा यार पूरी करे जो तलब कश हो या जाम मिले तैयार महूरत मान ले फ़रमाइश को न दिन देखे न देखे वार जब मिले तेरे सा मिले बस एक ऐसा यार
यारी
यादों के लम्बे पाँव अकसर रात की चादर के बाहर पसर जातें हैं आवारा, बेखौफ़ ये हाल में माज़ी को तलाशा लिया करतें हैं ख्वाबों में आने वाले खुली आँखों में समाने लगतें हैं फिर एक बार बातों के सिलसिले वक्त से बेपरवाह चलतें हैं वो नादान इश्क की दास्तानें वो बेगरज़ यारियाँ समाँ कुछ अलग ही बँधता है जब बिछडे दोस्त मिला करतें हैं यादों के लम्बे पाँव अकसर रात की चादर के बाहर पसर जातें हैं
दोस्ती की expiry date
क्या दोस्ती की भी expiry date होती है या उम्र भर साथ की guarantee होती है कल की नोंक झोंक आज जाने क्यों दिल दुखाने लगती है अचानक कोई भूली बात जबरन आ आ के सताने लगती है ना मालूम क्यों उम्मीदों का traffic one way हो जाता है कभी हँसते थे संग जिसके वो क्यों रूला रूला के जाता है जो चैन देता था कल आज वही चुराता है शायद हर दोस्ती में ये दौर भी आता है ख़िज़ा की रुत होगी ये कभी न कभी तो बदल जानी है बहार जब तलक फिर न आए तब तक हर हाल निभानी है कहाँ दोस्ती की कोई expiry date होती है यहाँ तो उम्र भर साथ की guarantee होती है
चलो… (कुछ करते हैं)
चलो आज रात कहीं बैठ के पीतें हैं कुछ पुरानी बातें कुछ रूमानी संग भरते हैं बादलों में अपने रंग भूली यादों की लड़ी पिरोते हैं याद है जब चौक पे गाड़ी रोक के कभी नयी कभी अध जली सिगरेट जलाते थे फटे स्पीकरों से ऊँची आवाज़ में गीत गाते थे दोस्ती की क़समें खाते थे सीना ठोक के एक बार तो छोड़ भी आया था ना बीच राह में बनाया था कुछ अजीब सा ही बहाना ख़ूब हुई मिन्नतें चला था रूठना मनाना शब गुज़ारते हैं ऐसी ही किसी क़िस्से की बात में चलो आज रात कहीं बैठ के पीतें हैं कुछ अलग बातें कुछ बदले ढंग उड़ाते है क़िस्सों की नयी पतंग किसी की याद में एक ताज़ा याद बनाते हैं
दोस्ती का हिसाब
एक रोज़ बस यूँ ही दोस्ती का हिसाब करने बैठे मस्ती, समझदारी, वफ़ादारी और बेवक़ूफ़ी के नाम हिस्से बटे कुछ दोस्त इधर बटे और कुछ यार उधर बटे कुछ तो ऐसे थे जो सोच से ही छटे एक रोज़ जब यूँ ही दोस्ती का हिसाब करने बैठे सिर्फ़ मस्ती करने वाले दोस्तों की कसर न दिखी बेवक़ूफ़ियों और बेवक़ूफ़ों की गिनती भी कम न थी जब आढ़े वक़्त ने आज़मा के देखा तो एक-आध वफ़ादार भी मिले एक रोज़ जब यूँ ही दोस्ती का हिसाब करने बैठे हमने जाना की कुछ दोस्त ऐसे भी थे जो किसी भी खेमे में न बट सके कुछ नायाब जो दोस्त से ज़्यादा थे, कुछ वो जो दोस्ती के ही क़ाबिल न थे
एक ऐसा यार
Art: Rachel Coles न पूछे क्यों न सोचे कभी दो बार लड़ जाए भिड़ जाए सुन के बस एक पुकार रब करे सबको मिले बस एक ऐसा यार खाए जो बड़ी क़समें उठाए जो नख़रे हज़ार निभाए सारी वो रस्में झेलकर भी सितम करे प्यार दुआ है संग सदा मिले बस एक ऐसा यार पूरी करे जो तलब कश हो या जाम मिले तैयार महूरत मान ले फ़रमाइश को न दिन देखे न देखे वार जब मिले तेरे सा मिले बस एक ऐसा यार
Kuch Kahaniyan – Ep5 The Final Take
OK here is a different take on growing up. One that does not involve alcohol. Well, after all its not just alcohol that makes people do silly things…. right?
Yes, this one is about Love and to some measure about Sex and Dhoka as well 😉6
The late 80’s and the early 90’s had lots of stuff happening for, around and to us…Trysts with alcohol, Driving Licenses, Rock Music and Girls!!!!
We were in our mid-teens and the other gender had started making its presence or need felt amongst us. Believe me, for those of us who spent long years in Boys Only schools they had a lot more importance a helluva lot more early!!
My final take is actually about 2 different takes on what the protagonists thought was “First Love” and the instances that made their way to for lack of a better term “friendship-lore”. So brace yourself for a longish read.
6.1 Love
Mr. Fool for Love (FfL) was an average student. He was an average looking guy too. But…the young man had a phenomenal voice. Not the singing kinds though; it was one of those deep throaty voices that were tailor-made for voice overs.
Staying with our theme….Our man had the hots for this rather petite looking girl (for the sake of this story we will refer to her as Ms.G) who stayed 2 blocks away in the same residential complex as FfL. This tale is about the lengths that FfL would go to just to get a glimpse of Ms.G.
FfL had decided that he was in love. He had also decided that it was time to announce it to the rest of the world (i.e. classmates at the Deprived Boys School or DBS).
One fateful day he did just that. The close friends were promised what was called an “Intro” during those days with Ms.G and who knows a possible intro with ahem..Ms. G’s school mates. The final bell was eagerly awaited and a bunch of us were outside in a jiffy. Meeting Ms.G had its share of logistical challenges as well. It meant we had to go all the way to FfLs house and then home. Now cycling the additional distance just to meet Ms.G was not exactly an appealing thought for the rest. FfL quickly sensed this and a deal was worked out. We were to leave our bi-cycles in school, FfL would sponsor return auto-fare (the equivalent of which in current day terms would be someone sponsoring a stretch limousine with booze and blonde’s thrown in)
We piled into the auto and reached the rendezvous Ms.G’s bus stop and waited. FfL had ensured we were well in time and Thums Up was promptly thrown in to prevent anyone of us from complaining about waiting. A rickety DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation for the unaware) school bus pulled up and a flurry of students Ms.G amongst them got off. FfL marshaled all of us and we were hot in pursuit when we finally got in-step with Ms.G.
“Hello G, how are you?” said a visibly excited FfL. “These are my friends from DBS.”
“Hello guys” was Ms.G’s reply and even before one of us could put his hand out for a shake, FfL nodded in the other direction hinting/pleading for us to vamoose. While FfL walked 10 more steps with Ms.G till her doorstep.
“What? No Intro?? What about meeting Girls???” said one us grudgingly promptly being hushed by the others and making the disappointed and oddly silent ride back in the auto.
That examination year, FfL took a major chance as a proclamation of his love and memorised only 1 Sanskrit essay that had Ms.G’s name in it. He got Lucky!
Last heard, FfL got another opportunity to walk with Ms.G. He did not invite his friends this time.
6.2 Sex aur Dhoka
It was the first winter in college (grad-school). Mr.High on Hormones (HoH) had now been dating Ms.Aphrodite (Ms.A) for over a year now.
The passing out of school and entry into college had brought along with it a new found freedom. Freedom from wearing uniforms, having to attend lectures or classes continuously and freedom to spend more time with a certain “special friend”.
HoH and A would invariably bunk a lecture or two and make sure they got “Quality” time together. A day spent scouring the streets of Delhi on foot, sitting and talking endlessly in a favourite joint or sometimes cosying up at one or the others homes.
It was one such occasion HoH and A made their way back from their respective colleges to A’s place. A’s mother was out of station and her dad was driving to the next city for a meeting and was expected back only late that evening. This meant a lot more “Quality Time” for A and HoH.
They got back ordered some take-out and settled down to watch a movie (that was, at least, the stated intent). Some way into the movie the door-bell rang. A and HoH froze, they’d already received the take away!! A tip toed to the door and peered through drawn up curtains.
She came back running and uttered “Its Dad!!! Hurry Up!!! Hide!!!”
Those are not exactly the words one is waiting to hear while cosying up.
“Whoa!!! Where???” HoH sprang up. “I don’t know… anywhere” said A, almost bursting into this rather rare tearful anger. HoH promptly slid under the bed.
From underneath HoH could hear A’s Dad narrate how he had got a flat tyre someway out and had rescheduled his meeting for later. Having done that he thought of returning home and changing into a fresh suit!!!
Well it was a rather interesting view from the “spot” that HoH found himself in.
I am sure all of us know it was not really A’s Dad that HoH had hoped to see undress!!!
To officially bring to close this series that occupied my mind-space for over a year some lines from a song which sums it up for me.
Love, love is strange
As made popular by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton
Lots of people take it for a game
Once you get it you never wanna quit
After you’ve had it you’re in a awful fix ….Kuch Kahaniyan – Ep4
5
They say going through the grind of an engineering course does, if not anything else, hone inquisitive thinking. You question the way things work, move yada yada yada. Mind you the inquisitive thinking takes an experiential form when slightly inebriated.OK, that is just a technical way of saying you get stubborn and stupid when you drink your self silly.
This was the final year of engineering for some of us. The last few months of any course often witness an increased level of bonding (read alcohol consumption) between friends.
Our institution was located in Tumkur a fair way away from the city of Bangalore, a town devoid of any night life. This particular incident is about one of our nights out in the city.
About 8 of us joined up for dinner and a session of beers. Post the sizzlers and multiple rounds of beers it was time to say our goodbyes and go crash at the pre-assigned pads of the friends who were from the city.Being from the city meant all of the following possession of a bike or a “Kiney”, knowledge of liquor vends that would oblige and a list of must do drives.
As we stood around in the parking lot over the mandatory parting smoke
“Awesome weather man, would be great to get some wind on your face…” said the Adventurous Guy (AG)
“Dunno about the wind but I wouldn’t mind another beer” said Silly Guy (SG)
I did mention that there is a cast of characters, so you will have to bear with all the names (which obviously have been carefully coined)
The Teetotaler Guy (TG) said “You guys have had enough..lets just get back home” to which the Profound Bong (PB) started to nod. He was not even half-way through the nod that the Tam Dude with his face beaming came up with
“Machan lets drive to Nandi Hills that way AG gets his wind on the face and SG his beers, God knows I can use a few too. If we start now we can catch the sunrise”The normally Reclusive Prof did some mental stuff and said
“Yeah! You know guys, this probably will be the last time all of us can be out together… the semester end exams start 3 weeks from now”I guess none of us questioned the finality of the what had just been said, not even the Overbearing Guy (OG).
We all set off in the direction of Nandi Hills a 65 km drive from where we were.
True to the promise the drive was laced with a lot of wind on the face for the riders and more beers for those on the pillion.
We had stopped for a bio break, we were now on the ghat section and barely a kilometer or two from the top.
Suddenly Silly Guy said “Hey! I want to ride the bike too..”
“Shut Up and sit behind AG” said Overbearing Guy
“Its just a kilometre to the top…Come On!!” said SG refusing to listen.
“Is it OK with you if I take your Kiney?” he turned to the Matter of Fact Guy (MfG).
Tam Dude butted in and said “Guys we are going to miss the Sunrise if you keep arguing”
Overbearing Guy continued ” No Da..this bugger can’t ride the ghats here are steep”
“Let him do it OG…” the Adventurous Guy said “I will sit behind him do not worry”
“Yeah..its just a Kiney…all he’s gotta do is balance it” opined the Prof which was met by yet another nod of approval by the Profound Bong.
That said the group set of OG and PB zipping out first in anger and protest with Teetotaler Guy and Prof taking wing side to OG-PB duo.
Murphy’s law “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”
Spotlight on the Silly Guy. Bolstered by all the support and mildly irritated with the OG, SG set off with AG riding pillion and having achieved the initial momentum started to negotiate the bend.
SG realised he was almost off the road, saw a small rock jutting out, tried to avoid it, swerved and ended up sprawled on the road. AG somehow sensed the impending disaster and managed to jump off.
Meanwhile, Tam Dude and MfG riding the other bike took the bend only to find SG sprawled on the road with AG laughing away.
MfG ran towards them saying “Shit! Shit!! Shit!!!”
Seeing him run one would have almost thought it was his love for his roomie of 4 years who lay sprawled. Well as I said almost.
MfG ran and picked up his Kinetic and his cry of angst was because the sides were scratched and the rear view mirror broken.
SG for the life of him could not understand why AG was laughing away to glory and the fact that the Kine got more attention than him from MfG had not escaped his notice.
Adrenalin rushing in his stream and blood oozing from his eyebrow SG declared “I am feeling very hot”, suddenly unbuttoned his torn shirt, pulled down his jeans and plonked himself on the embankment.
Tam Dude came around and said “Machan you want me to light a cigarette? You’ll feel better.”
The other four had made it to the top in the meanwhile and were getting restive wondering what was taking the rest of us so much time. After a few minutes decided to turn back and check.
They reached the spot to find SG on the embankment with Tam Dude, MfG and AG standing around him.
“Damn you SG….I told you its not your cup of tea you stubborn prick!!!” shouted OG “You’ve spoilt it all..now lets head the hell back”
Adventurous Guy continued his devilish laughter, while MfG rued the broken rear view mirror.
Teetotaler Guy the only compassionate soul took a look at SG’s bruise and said “Guys this ones deep..this guy needs some medical attention”
In this entire melee someone, I guess the Reclusive Prof said
“You know guys..in the beam of the headlights of our bikes..with SG lying half naked and you guys standing around smoking..it looks almost like a highway gang-rape”
Even SG managed a smile on that one.
The rest of the story…
• The guys did make it in time for the sunrise (must admit it was a sight to behold)
• SG got 4 stitches across his eye-brow albeit four hours later that too without an anesthetic at some shady nursing home in the village nearby
• SG never ever rode a bike againKuch Kahaniyan – Ep3
4
I forget the year but this incident happened during one of my visits back to Delhi from my engineering college.
It was a cold winter evening, of the sort that called for a rendezvous with friends and needless to say a couple of stiff-ones to beat the chill. Money was scarce and we were consciously frugal. The venue invariably used to be one of the parks or parking ares in the neighbourhood. The colony folks had kinda resigned to the fact that these kids were incorrigible. We would also get by scott-free because we were the kids who did enough and more for the Residents Welfare Association during the annual Diwali Melas.
Be that as it may, we were a few drinks down, and catching up with things that had happened during the interim (those were the days when internet did not mean anything, mobile telephones were gizmos only the rich could afford and you could not do a conference call from and STD/ISD booth). During the course of conversation one us mentioned about some trouble his parents were having with their next door neighbours over parking. The irritating neighbour would invariably park her Scooty where his parents used to park their car. After a minor argument in this regard the neighbour would do it at times just to spite his parents. That was it, the group decided it was time to teach the errant neighbour a lesson.Here is what followed:
The group reached the scene of the reported offense i.e. the place where the Scooty was parked (our friends parking space).After a few moments of whether the best way to teach a lesson was to deflate tyres, drain the fuel, etc.
One wise guy said “Park in a manner that they themselves wont be able to remove it!”
Even before someone could ask what he meant there was another voice that said “Let’s put the damn Scooty up on the terrace!!”
The group tried lifting it up and they could! And the next fifteen minutes were spent taking the Scooty to the common terrace of the block up 3 floors by the stairs!! (The block consisted of 2 flats to a floor on the Ground, First and Second floors with a common terrace on the third)The next morning, imagine the surprise of the old lady on the second floor when she went up to dry clothes and found a Scooty parked over there!!!
The neighbours were only too happy to have found the Scooty which they thought had been stolen. For some strange reason though that Scooty never ever got parked in our friends car parking space.Alcohol has the strange ability to aid seemingly rational decision making. Cinema of the day contributed with plots wherein the end justifies whatever means are used to reach it.
My take on it does have some measure of regret. But, to this day, I find it extremely funny when I think back what justice meant in this case and more importantly I always wonder where we found the strength to drag that Scooty.