Testimonials to 12 year Friendships

This post is dedicated to my most wonderful friends whom I've known for 12 years and the bond just gets stronger and stronger with each passing day...with each passing week...with each passing month...with each passing year.

We all started off together in 1995 at a not-so-well-known college in Mumbai. At that time little did we know that our association will go on for such a long time. Together we have shared a lot, many of which have become the most memorable moments of my life.



Let me start off with this guy who I'll call King of Chal Ho Jaye (KCHJ). KCHJ embodies undying enthusiasm. He's got enthu to do everything. During 3rd year of engineering, he was hosting a game show during the college annual function and my friend and I, we were the participants. Naturally, we wanted to win and so did he. So he leaked all the game show questions to us. Inspite of this, we goofed up on the stage and this guy still wanted us to win so badly that he was prompting us on the stage, with the mic on in front of everyone. WOW!! He has a can-do-anything-for-friends attitude. His house in Sion - being almost equidistant from from far flung western and central suburbs of Mumbai - was almost always the meeting point and a beginning of all our outings and then when he shifted to Ghansoli, it still continued to be the meeting point. Whenever you're with him DONOT mention the words - "Mujhe laga ki..." (which can be translated to - "I thought.."). His prompt and instant answer would be "Tere lagne se duniya nahi chalti" (which can be translated to - "The world doesnt work the way you think"). So true my friend..so very true.



"A fast bowler prepares to bowl. He's reputedly the fastest bowler in college. A senior. At the other end, a diminutive batsman, a fresher getting ready to face. Bowler runs in and bowls. The batsman swings his bat through the line of the ball. Its a six. What a shot!!" Thats the first time I saw this guy - someone who would go on and bag the top honours in nearly all the semesters. All throughout college time he was always seen in formal shirts and trousers. We decided to change that and this one birthday we bought him a pair of jeans, but to avail. He still continued to be seen in formals. :-)) Now-a-days its a different story. He's nearly always seen in Jeans. Nobody knows how this transformation happened. During college days, I used to have a crush on girl and I went out of my way to help her. So this guy, even today, pulls my leg for that and enjoys a hearty laugh.



Only one thing comes to my mind whenever I see this guy. We used to call him the ultimate TK. TK expands to Tommy Kutta (Tommy the Dog). What does that mean?? Well, it means he's goes behind girls just like a dog would follow his master. :-)) Wherever he goes, he begets attention. We went to a picnic to Alibaug beach and in a game of truth or dare he was dared to propose all the girls. Flirty as he is, this was a no-big-deal for him and he did it with ease. During the 1996 cricket world cup I had 3 free tickets to watch the IND-AUS match in Mumbai and by virtue of asking me first, he came along with me to watch the game. I can never forget that evening. The other thing I cannot forget is the TAPLI (hit) I gave him on his head from the moving train. I thought it was just a playful hit, but apparently just at the moment of the hit, the train picked up speed and he experienced such a hard hit that he plonked to the ground absolutely dazed. The incident ranks quite high on my regret list, but sporting as he is, TK just forgot about the seriousness of it. Even today whenever he introduces me to his friends, he makes it a point to pull my leg by exaggeratingly narrating that incident. :-)))



In my opinion, the most underrated guy of all in our wonderful group. He and the two above form the TULLU TRIO. They're all from Mangalore, a part of Karnataka and they all speak the tullu dialect. Honestly, I didnt get to know him much during my early college years but by the time we passed out of college we were pretty good friends. Midway through engineering his parents bought a house close to our college and that became our "adda" (hangout) for nearly 2 years. All our DPs (Daru Parties) happened in his house. All our DP sessions were such that everyone used to get drunk and pour out their hearts. He was a part of my final year project team and one of the components of the project - a wooden box was made in a workshop owned by his cousin. Once, we had a celebration at Geoffrey's pub and we'd taken two cars - my Tata Indica and his Maruti Esteem. On the way back his Esteem ran out of gas bang on Marine Drive. It was late at night the nearest gas station was closed. So I drove around for about 10-15 minutes found a gas station, begged the attendant to give us gas in 2 one-liter cans, took it and then emptied the cans in his car. I can never ever forget that night.



One of the first persons in our group to join an IT company. The story of how it happened is also quite interesting. There was this guy who was working with XXXXX in the HR dept and he "leaked" the aptitude test questions and answers. We memorized the answers and appeared for the test. We even ensured that some of the answers were purposely marked wrong so that no-one suspects the "leak". So in 45 minutes the results came out and as expected all of us who "knew" the answers had passed and we all got interview calls. At the interview, I goofed up and this guy was the only guy that was selected. As they say, rest is history. This guy is the first one from our group to step outside India. In 2001 he got a chance to go out of India to Ireland and since then there's no looking back, he's been to Sweden, Italy, Canada and many more places. There's one incident which I am always reminded of whenever I think of this guy. He shouting - "Do you know who I work for? Do you know what T-Shirt I'm wearing? Its from is NORTEL you asshole." What happened is we all (8 guys) went to this club called Abyss in Mumbai. Most of the clubs in Mumbai dont allow entry to single guys and if they do, they charge exorbitant. This guy offered to pay for all of us and we went in. Once Inside, a couple of us were dancing and some others were loitering around the bar. After a few drinks, this guy was a bit high and some altercation happened with somebody else of our group and tempers flared and abuses were exchanged ultimately it resulted in we getting kicked out of the club by the bouncer. Thats the time he shouted. Somehow we were able to calm him down put him in a taxi and drive to KCHJ's (the first person in this post) house in Sion. I'll never forget that night. Another thing which I'll never forget is watching 'Dil Chahta Hai' with this guy in a Bangalore cinema hall.



Yaaaaaaaaaaah hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Eeeeeeeeee eeeeaaaaaaaaahhh hhhhhhhhhhh ooooo ooooooohhhhhhhhhh. We affectionately call him JK-Boy. Why?? Sometime during the first year of engineering he started shouting loudly and somebody said shut-up jungle king. And the name stuck like Fevicol. I used Fevicol purposely because at one point he was working for Pidilite Industries makers of Fevicol. hehehe. Of all the guys in our group that graduated in Instrumentation engineering, he IS THE ONLY ONE WHO STILL WORKS IN A FIELD RELATED TO INSTRUMENTATION. Everybody else has moved to software. That says something. Kudos to you my friend. His amazing Gaaliyon-se-bhari (abusive) comments in his emails are a joy to read and shows his creativity. hehehehe. During the first semester, we used to go to his house and study during night. One night JK was rather tired and went off to sleep at 03:00 am or so asking this other friend to wake him up at 04:00 am. This other guy, smart-ass as he is, wakes up JK at around 03:45 am and tells him that there are 15 more minutes left for 04:00 and he can sleep for 15 more minutes. Seeing JK's expression and reaction when he woke up was so so funny.



Lazy, Intelligent, Baldy. He's no longer a baldy now I guess. Need I say anything about him at all. I had a whole post dedicated to this amazing person. If you're interested read this. One correction from the earlier post. He got 98 percentile in CAT and not 94 as I mentioned in that post. :-) And now, its just unbelievable that this guy is in love. I am so happy for him. I just wish him all the very best. Honestly, this whole testimonial post should be attributed to him, because it is his nostalgia email which he sent to our group mailing list that triggered this post. Thanks buddy, without your email, this post wouldnt exist.



"Bhaiyya" (Brother)is what he's known as in our group. He's LIB's (the guy just above) side-kick. Or maybe LIB is his sidekick. Either ways, they both are partners in crime. Always!! The whole idea of teasing and troubling me - when I had this crush in my first year - was their brain-child. Like LIB he pulls my leg almost at will. Take this incident. It was KCHJ's marriage that day and the same day happened to be LIB's B-School interview in Pune. So Bhaiyya and I, slept at LIB's house the previous night and drove early in the morning to Pune. All of LIB's formalities were finished by around 01:00 pm in the afternoon and we left. During the drive back to Mumbai, both Bhaiyya and LIB dozed off. When they came-to, I yelled at them "Chutiye tum-log so rahe the aur main yahan pe gaand marwake akele gaadi chala raha hoon". (Assholes, you guys were sleeping and I'm getting fucked driving all by myself). No sooner did I say this, pat came the reply from Bhaiyya - "Achha iss liye hum log itni der se pahunche". (Oh thats the reason why we reached so late). I was spell bound, absolutely lost for words. Bhaiyya and LIB were laughing their nuts off at this comment. I started to laugh too. I didnt feel that good but still you gotto to hand it to the guy - that was freaking witty!!! Inspite of all this, I still know that if I ask him for help, he'll go out of his way to help me out. Its great to have him as a dear friend.



Last and definitely not the least - Chabru. The name is concocted from his last name. He's an Iyer, a tamilian to the core. Has imbibed the Iyer-values so much that sometimes I think his blood is sambhar (a traditional south-indian lentil soup). He's the taangu (someone who fails to keep his promise) of our group. No matter what plans we make he has some "excuse" or the other for not making it. But I always pray he comes so that the focus of Bhaiyya and LIB turns to him and I dont have to bear the brunt of their puns. :-)) So once we decided to give him the mother of all taangs. The new year of 2004 (or was it '05) we decided to lure him into a trap of a group new year celebration. We discussed in group mailing list about a celebration on the outskirts of Mumbai. Chabru agreed to meet us at CBD Belapur. We just didnt turn-up. On reaching Belapur, Chabru calls KCHJ who tells him to go back home because it was a taang on the taangu. hahahahaha. Yeah I know it was mean but honestly all those years of giving taang to us, all of us thought he deserved it.

And finally, I should mention someone who I christen SOMIG. It expands to Silently Observing Member of Instrufriends Gang. Unfortunately, I dont have any picture of him. This guy does truly what his christened name means. Most of the time he's a silent observer. His participation in the group is rather less, but he does contribute every once in a while. He was the first in the group to get married and have a kid too.

LIB once said - "It is very difficult to express in words what somebody means to you". Thats so very true. I mention it here again at the risk of being repetitive. It is indeed very difficult to express in words what somebody means to you. I have tried my very best to describe at length some of the time that I have been privileged enough to spend with you beautiful people. There are many many many more wonderful moments that I think of every time I read any email from any of you guys. Unfortunately I cannot do justice to all.

I just cant be thankful enough to all of you for being such fantastic friends for 12 long years. I'm sure this friendship will go on for many more years to come.

Cheers to InstruGang !! Cheers to all !!

Updated based on requests in the mail. Love you guys for all the comments through mail.