Last days and a lonely ride 3

Day 3 : Good-byes and...

It was most certain we wouldn't be meeting again... 'cos I'd decided so. (though 'Time' had something else in store). I'm wanting to say one last goodbye to my musketeers. They've meant the world to Monsieur d'Artagnan when he was away from home... and I'm grateful to them for all that they've been.

Though I get a very short time out of their busy day., those few minutes, as they say, "Time had no meaning." in my world. Ab Lincoln has apparently said "If your biggest weakness is your friends, you are the strongest person you know". I don't know how true the second part of his saying is, but I sure realize the weight of that first part. Yet again, those whom I open doors for, are bidding goodbye.

"What is this?""Just a something for you, and this one for you" ... "You're not supposed to open them now."
"Why?"
"Just so... Please, not now. You can open it after we leave."
"Are you sure?"
"More than sure."..."And that's for you... Does that compensate for the three Roche I owe you?"
"Ya, Ya..."
"By the way, I got something more for you... I'd promised you this one..."
"Yeh to iska ************ hai. Dekh ke hi pata chalta hai."
"Seriously?"
"Yup."
"SERIOUSLY?"
"Yup. You'll have to spend about *** rupees to get it back in good shape. I can help you with it if you want me to."
...
"want to join for breakfast?"
"Nope... got other plans... and I know you want to open 'em too..."
... and then we all leave the place.

(Every so often, I spend nights at the MIT ground... replaying every moment of that day as it unfolds...)

After what's been a wonderful adventure, Monsieur d'Artagnan is alone on his path now... 
And the musketeers...? Well, that will only be written "twenty years later"... ;)

Praful, Tübs, Buzz... just as much as I can say...
"Na saathi hai koi, na hamsafar hai koi...
Na hum kisi ke, na hamara hai koi.
Par aap ko yaad kar ke dil kehta hai...
hamara bhi is duniya mein ek pyaara dost hai koi."    -Anon

In the hope that Monsieur d'Artagnan will see his three Musketeers "Twenty Years Later"...,

Last days and a lonely ride 2

Day 2 : The Great Escape and a few quarters down

A lousy day has just gone by in a place that's slowly being devoid of its charisma. This place is wonderful when you've got friends, and students skirting around. But right now, exams finished and holidays dawned, everyone's bidding adieu to the place for the next few days. And it's just about time when it's time for all of mine to be off too... "Just one last get-together" we say, and decide to dine together.

A fair chunk sits in "Spicy n Ice" waiting for the latecomers, me being one. Just as I'm about to reach the place.,
Trrrrring Trrrrring... (my cellphone ringtone was the classic telephone ring then...)
"Hello"
"Dude, there's a change of plans... come to KMC ground, we'll decide things there."
"What the bleep! why this change of plan all of a sudden?"
"Stories when we meet."

"Okay" I say, and walk back half my way to catch-up with the rest. While the rest of the party gets back, the story goes:
"We were having some time-pass fun waiting for you people. Irfan was rocking on one of the chairs there... and he fell on his back." and they all burst out in a laugh. Only after a few minutes, when all the laughter subdued, is the reason revealed. His rocking had broken the chair's leg, and immediate evasive actions were taken to avoid a show-down. Given that an entire table of people evacuate without ordering for a thing... and without evoking suspicion from the manager., I'm sure he's cursed everyone of us for having broken his furniture and gotten away easy-peasy. I wish I were at the scene when it happened... All said and done, the owner was bluffed, one perfect escape effected, a few hundred bucks saved, and we're all back at the KMC grounds not knowing where we'll be having our dinner.

Even before the place is decided, is the host named... "KC, your treat today.". Raghu's proposition, and on public behest, we all head to Pancharatna. Over an hour and a half, it was probably one of those rare dinners where people had less to eat and more to drink, and even more to talk. Let the point be taken that most of us were full by the time we stopped ordering starters. ("What on earth did we eat then?", you may ask...) When it was time for the bill, which was worth it, Bhautik, I've honored your words (though I must accept that was the most expensive treat I ever hosted...). An extraordinary dinner and we disperse.

But since it's been begun, it has to be taken to the end. One mere pint of beer during dinner wasn't good enough. Hello to T-spirits, where  all of those of us who wanted to, had a couple more... and then, it was time to decide what next. T-spirits has some more good business, and it's Sam-n-Suri's. That's our "Adda" for the night. Our bar-tender for the night, Raghu mixes fruit pulp and drinks and coke like he's been doing it all his life. Every mix he prepares has the exact same flavor. Perfect proportions they ought to be... "Dude, you should've been a bartender at some point to do it so perfectly every time!" I say of him. By 2:30, the last of them are finally empty. Time to go to bed. Good Night!

Last days and a lonely ride 1

P.S: Quotes unquoted...

Day 1:  May 27th 2012.

MiB or MI? When Men-In-Black seemed like Mission Impossible.

When I thought I'll set right a li'l big mess with MIB-3, and make an exit from Manipal (and from among them...) for the time-being.

~0730 Hrs : A walk down to Udupi and from there, towards Malpe for no reason.

~1130 Hrs : Walk back from Malpe unable to enjoy myself. It was here that I'd decided. The li'l big mess ought to be set right. Phone rings...

'Hello!'

'Hi, free?'

'errmm, we're not in town right now... ad-hoc plans.' (and I learn that the plans are MIB-3...)

'Oh! fine. Enjoy.'

~1630 Hrs : Back to Udupi to blow up ten grands, and nobody knows why or what it was. The loneliness and the "good-bad" argument in my head have driven me insane. A moment's decision was all it was... maybe it was a thought of dying out of exhaustion on the way that made me do it...

~1730 Hrs : Still not all right, and my plans to leave early next morning are seeming to vanish into thin air. Phone rings again...

'Dude, what time do you think you'll be back?'

'Not sure., but surely not before 9.'

Damn! shouts my head, and another split moment decision... plans of leaving postponed by another day. And in the meanwhile, a few pending jobs *though unimportant, could be completed.

~2030, I get an SMS... 'Hey, won't have to stay here anymore and again.'

~2130 : 'Hey, just got down at TC. catch up after a few min for dinner..." and I message back saying "okay...'

finally, about an hour later, I just get enough time to meet up and say 'Congrats, and hope you had good fun. Thought I'll be leaving tomorrow morning. Your treat shall be pending. Hope to see ya again...'

'Yeah. How about treat at KC? Breakfast on me.'

'Maybe... okay.'

The conscious lie about leaving next day morning isn't leaving me comfortable. So I SMS again 'I'll be staying back the next day for some last minute work. Treat need not be at breakfast... take your time at waking up... need not wake up all so early to bid farewell...'

'Okies...' I get a reply, and that was the last one.

Day 2... next time...

Before I came to college, I wish I had known...

That I could change so much and barely realize it.

That you can love a lot of people in a lot of different ways.

That college kids throw chalk and airplanes too.

That if someone wears polyester he was bound to answer "why you're so dressed up?"

That almost every clock on campus shows a different time.

That if you were smart in high school--so what?(really!)

That one can know everything and fail a test.
That one can know nothing and ace a test.

That I could get used to almost anything I found.

That home is a great place to visit.

That education was meant to be outside of classes.

That friendship is more than getting drunk together.

That breakfast served until 9:30 every morning is gone by 9:20.

That Sunday is a figment of the world's imagination.

That when someone wants to 'borrow' something, they mean that they want to keep it forever.

That it's possible to be alone even when you are surrounded by friends.

That friends are what makes this place worthwhile!!

a never-ending wait...

I want to go back, stop it from happening,

the truth... it's past and nothing can be done.

first--sarcasm fills the air
striking remarks then follow.
small grins, dubious eyebrows,
oh--let the arguments begin!
time passes by...
only acquiring the habit we've begun.
though the longer the mockery is,
the harder it is to reveal each other's identity.
...ironically--my only desire is to show you me.
unfortunately, there's just too many sarcasm,
and barely little of the real us...
I asked if we could change it,
you said "yes--we can."
deciding that nature will take its place
we set aside our worries and proceed with life.

while in our minds, there is,

I feel, still a boundary keeping us apart.
will our friendship ever be like it once was?

...in my mind, every morning, noon and night,

I hope to be among you, once again...

I pray that we stay forever friends...

I wish we laugh together, like we once did.

I'll wait till the end riding on my hope,

for hope is a good thing and it never dies they say.

The story of two...

it was a story from once upon a time... (as narrated to me...)
In a green, romantic place, stood he near a cliff. She was beautifully robed in pristine white, and casually, walked towards him. He hadn't noticed her coming, but as she approached, his heartbeat rose in tempo. She was standing so close that he felt her in his breath. And then, she took his face in her hands, kissed the loveliest one any girl in romance would, said that this was the last that they would see of each other, and walked away into the dark...

thereafter... until the other day. This time, he was riding a bicycle along a crossroad of little significance. His princess who was sitting in the front, as soon as they approached the crossroad, got down to go home. They continued a few meters further when the soft touch of wet lips touched his cheek... the left cheek, to be precise... wondering if that was a caring one, a loving one or a romantic one, he woke up...

And now, I'm wondering how this story should be taken forward...

the three musketeers...

For years, my passion had been buried deep inside. Every morning, the only thing I wondered was how long further into the future... And then came that fine day, when the dream-chase actually began. Here I am, in a little coastal town, in an institution (one I'd always wanted to be a student of, in my childhood days...) that has all that I need to end that dream-chase and to start living it. But then, things don't stop at what's in stock at the academics alone. I come across a plethora of people, each with their own distinct attitude to life. Then, a story seems to repeat itself...

When in the time of King Louis XIII, one young fellow met three wonderful people. When Monsieur d'Artagnan reached Paris in chasing his dream, he met with three friends Arthos, Porthos, and Aramis, and became a part of their friendship. They became so close to each other, that they became inseparable in all their adventures. But as time would have it, one big one that none would ever want to forget; and they were all separated for a long long time.

I'm here, like d'Artagnan, in search of my dream. And I know I will be away from these three fellows I have met here after a short while, after all these wonderful experiences we're having together. But I'm so indulged in their friendship, that I've revealed (or so I think...) myself to them more than even to my own family. There are hardly a handful of people outside of my own blood that I've ever taken to be important; and now these musketeers, as I'd like to call them, have in no time managed to get into that 'elite list' of my heart... All that I perceive is left, is to cherish these times. Thanks Tübs, Praphool and Buzz, for whatever you are for me in 'this world', as long as you don't promise to be with me in the next one and the next... and the next... and... and... and...