Living it!

It’s that time of the year when the calendar is filled with festivals – Eid, Navaratri, Diwali… Everyone…(well..almost everyone) is excited for some reason or the other…some for the thrill of festivities, the foodies of course have a feast all through, some lazy types like me thrive on the holidays and in the place I come from, they are more than elated about the 10 day term break they earned after four full terms of stress and distress!!

We have a Dandiya-Nite today in the campus. It promises to be great fun and energies are obviously running high!! I have one and precisely ONLY ONE memory of Dandiya and oh man what a fun it was!! This was about three years back – when few of us were planning for dandiya. After days of emotionally traumatizing my mom of how I would be missing on so much fun, and trading off by doing something which I dreaded and something she despartely needed me to do (which was getting a photo of mine clicked for 'ladke waale'), after assurance I would be in safe hands etc etc I finnaallly got the nod.

So, around eight of us went on an evening, all excited and thrilled. We ended up going to one of the expensive dandiya locations and that realization dawned upon us when we shelled out money for the entry ticket. Boyy….what a place it was - filled with laughter, colors, nonchalant chatter and music. There were people who matched the beat and the rhythm so well…..sooo very well…I was fascinated by the grace in their movements, rhythmic flow of steps, synch between absolute strangers (who for sure haven’t ‘rehearsed’ together)….it was amazinnggg….I was having fun watching them, when we thought it’s high time we try a step or two….so we all went in to dance or 'try' rather. For the novices that we were, we chose to form our own little circle. In total contrast to the veterans, we were totally out of rhythm, ridiculously clumsy and I wouldn’t even want to mention our co-ordination!!! But, it was absolute fun!!!!

Tired after a while, we decided to munch on something. We went around the stalls in search of food. We probably bought a plate or two of the super expensive chat and decided would share it. It very very obviously did not suffice the group of eight or six that we were. We decided it’s too expensive in there to have food and considering we had enough ‘hands-on’ of dandiya and more importantly, the perpetual 'kangals' that we were, we decided to move out and have food elsewhere. We left on our bikes, totally high from the excitement. Cool breeze, lovely night, empty roads – wait, did I say empty roads? I should rephrase it to 'totally deserted roads' – it was 2:00 AM and evidently, there was not a single food joint open. We checked out places where they served midnight buffet only to see that they were scraping out pieces of leftovers, if any!! It was already about 3:00AM then. We wandered randomly, in search of food and then decided to go home finally. This sensible thought struck us only around 3:30AM or about that time. With me was Nandu, whom I would rather call family than a friend, he lived right across the street from my house. I have known him ever since he was a kid (and he still remains so). This dude, me and his khatara kinetic – we definitely had some of the best times together. If I had a younger brother, he would be someone like him and I am convinced about that. (Getting back to the topic) Nandu and me bid goodbye to the other folks in the group. We were giggling, chatting away, driving in the cold morning and were still searching for food. We then found this blessing in disguise of a sandwich stall...realized it was the month of Ramadan and hence there was food available at that hour of the day. We hogged on the yummmmmyyyy sandwiches (well….if you are hungry at 4:30AM any food would taste delicious) happy and pleased with ourselves went back home around 5:30AM!!!

It was a day filled with fun, excitement, thrill, tad bit of craziness of driving at extreme speeds at that hour of the night (or day as you would choose to call 2:00AM and beyond - looking back it feels scary now!). I am sure I cannot relive the moment but I am more than glad I lived it!!!

P.S: Did I mention that in an attempt to play Dandiya, I managed to miff few fingers of the brave-hearted who tried to teach me a step or two!

Reason? Season? Occasion? Or...

You would be introduced to a person, share a joke, help each other and bid your goodbyes when it’s time to leave. When you meet subsequently, this person conveniently ignores you, you find it funny and rude, but care a damn! For instance, there was this one girl I met at a face painting competition, I helped her when she had her face painted, we joked on how she looked, we were sweet to each other and also said our goodbyes with a note of meeting again. Then, couple of days later, I meet her at the next event and she just walks past me...for sure she didn't manage to upset my emotions of anger or disappointment by doing that! People like these; they are there for an occasion, not a thing more or less – just that – an occasion!!

Some, you meet during a phase in your life, they help you get through it or get over it and then they vanish. Like, last year when I was preparing for my certification, I knew these people, a guy who was giving the exam with me and another, a faculty who taught us – who were very helpful and supportive all through my study. I thanked them after I cleared my exam; spoke to them relatively little after, exchange an occasional hello-hi e-mails and haven't met them again till date. At the cost of sounding self centred opportunist, I would say, we meet such kinds for a reason!!

There are others, whom you would strike a conversation with in a jiffy, continue keeping in touch after you part your ways, you share moments of laughter, which would nurture from acquaintance into an interesting friendship. Sometimes they are there forever and at times they just are not there. In cases of absence, your questions of ‘where were you?’ would be delicately put not to give away the concern and the demanding tone!! For all you know, these are friends for a season – not the fair weather, just a random season!!

Then there are people whom you meet pretty often, but neither would acknowledge the presence of the other. The kind whose very aura puts you off, to whom you would not mind being rude for no reason and you do not, at any point in time, intend or make an attempt to know them. (I have toooo many of them – so chose not to quote either here). People like these are just there – no reason, season or occasion – just there!

Again, there are friends, you hardly remember how you met them, the first introductions, how your friendship grew stronger by the day. It just feels these strong bonds have been there since the day one!! Over a period, you may not meet them day after day but moments spent with them are memories – memories of the crazy, silly, fun, low moments spent together which you reminisce every time you get together. You would know these are people not for a reason, season or an occasion, they are for a lifetime!

P.S: No reference to any instance in the season or the lifetime is a deliberate attempt, in a hope that the crazy people I met through the ‘season’ would be there through the lifetime and for the ones already victimized for the lifetime just don’t need a reference!