F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

To most people, the word ‘friends’ brings a surge of excitement, love etc. but for me, ‘friends’ reads ‘alarm’. My mind and body become sharper then a commando, hair on my head stand up and panic fills my stomach.

Trust me people, that’s what your reaction would also be if your friends were to throw you into ice cold water on every winter morning, or drag you early morning without breakfast into a forest full of leeches. These are only some of their atrocities. Not my fault. Not my fault at all but it’s the magic of that word ‘friends’ that compels me to be their slave!

Oh how I loved my Royal life! With a book and a bed, P.C. and T.V. , spending holidays watching action movies curled in a couch that was my temple until…

I began to hang out with them.

My friends have made me rediscover myself. Thanks to them now I know that not only am I weak, skinny and under-confident, but also devoid of a sense of style and my communication skills are terrible with girls.

‘The builder’ fortunately has agreed to teach these to me. He is the captain of the gang. His balding head only supplements his well built body and the naughty glimmer in his eyes is not even hidden by his glasses. No matter how thick they are!

“Look at you man!” he said to me the very first day of our girl communication class. “Even the skeleton in our village field is healthier than you! We have to work on your body first.”

And so we all went swimming- at 6 am- on a November morning in the Nageshi temple pond. There, before I could utter a word of protest, I was picked up and thrown into water. If I hadn’t known swimming, the world of literature would be at a great loss.

Another outstanding feature of his personality is his obsession with all kinds of food-no he eats Indian food only but by all kinds I mean all qualities of food- from highly hygienic to unquestionably unhygienic. He ones suggested that eating street food will help me build my resistance. I told him it won’t work; I told him my health was a dangerous affair to play with. But he was only ‘vaccinating me in a different way’. Still, he is a good guy- brought soda for my acidity next day!

Completely opposite to the builder is ‘thunder burn’. Thunder burn’s brain is not made up of cells and tissues. Its ice. If you tell him “you’re going to die tomorrow” his reply might be “relax, I’ve done my will”. He is a very cool yet tactical and practical guy and I suspect he speaks very good half truths. I am finding it difficult to describe this guy because his personality is somewhat like a corporate executive-professional and down to earth yet he’s got a pinch of spirituality in him which gives him a human touch. He has taken it upon himself to spread the message of ‘inner peace’ unto the ignorant human beings namely the builder and me. The spiritual dialog between him and the builder is quite enlightening. “what is the purpose of life? Why are we all in this world?”-thunder burn. “to eat drink and be marry”. “What is the meaning of GOD?” “I know it! Generator Organizer and Destroyer”- my curt reply “nah..” the builder says “its Girlfriend On Demand!”

However when he is not suffering from such ‘spiritual attacks’, thunder burn is an engineer working 10 to 5 in a shipping company and traveling to places like Andaman and Nicobar, Chennai and wherever else his job takes him. What surprises me more about him is that despite his busy schedule, he still finds time to accompany the builder and co. in their all quality food feasts. Later he visits all kinds of doctors to combat the after effects of that food.

That reminds me, I have come to suspect that visiting all kinds of doctors and taking all kinds of pills are thunder burn’s secret passions. And he uses these pills for his half truths! If he badly wants to accompany the builder and co. on their wild picnics, he will say “I wasn’t well but have taken the pills now and am OK.” And if its no at all costs then it’s “I took some pills yesterday, feeling sleepy now!”

The third member of this gang, ‘Mad’ is ‘seriousness personified’. They say he was a normal guy but years of late night studying has transformed him into a supper mugger! Sense of humor in Mad is like Taliban in the mountains-you know it’s there but you cant find it. Mad is a commerce student and numbers and economic theories dance on his tongue like pole dancers in clubs of Paris. Mad’s working hours usually start at 10 pm and after long hours of mugging, its coffee time at 2 am when the gang accompanies him to a 24/7 coffee stall. I never paid any attention to what Mad and the gang talks about at that time. All I do is to sleep on the builder’s bike after sipping my coffee. I have never completely understood Mad because he is a good student and I am a study hating, TV loving normal guy!

Anyway, these are the people that have made me what I am today. If it was not for their will and commitment to educate me in the ways of stylish life balanced with a dose of spirituality and mugging, I would have never been what I am.

Thanks to the builder that I have a well exercise body with terribly aching muscles; thanks to Mad and his ‘late night study better study’ theory that I am using stylish goggles to hide the dark circles below my eyes and above all my special thanks to thunder burn and his spiritual vision that is yet to convince me “all that happens, happens for good!”