It took me 4 months to gather courage and watch the last season of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. I didn’t want it to get over. I connected so much with it, it was hard for me to leave my friends in India, and then when I had so many great friends (family like) in Madison, I had to leave them too. I miss every bit of the time spent with my friends and today I feel I need to talk about them and the way I feel about them.
Let me start with my childhood/school friends Sumeet, Kailash, Nilesh, Snehal and Swapna. Holy Cross School is the place where it all started. Sumeet and I go a long long way, right from 2nd class and having a common crush. Then it was Kailash, I can’t even remember how it started but I am sure happy it did. Nilesh ,Snehal and Swapna, well what can I say about them, they have been always there. We use to have so much fun, making small skits, plays, speeches and what not together as a team. We were always in the “D” division for obvious reasons. The most notorious class, with the class which had the boy with the most “naughty eyes” as described by Miss Ashwini.
When I look back there are so many sweet memories, the KEY incident with Sumeet and Prof. Rajendra, or the incident you guys used to tell about the Students Academy and Sumeet’s non-existent younger brother. The accident when Nilesh was riding Spirit and Sumeet was the passenger, and which had Sumeet’s arm displaced for sometime. All the NCC days with Kailash and the gang. Also, the most important advice given by Sumeet at Rastaj, I cherish all these and many more memories. It may be Sumeets health, Nilesh’s dilemma, Swapnas problems or Snehals other issues and to top it all our relationship troubles, nothing changed our friendship. We always stuck together. It might have been our easy going attitude, or the feeling that we are there for each other whatever it might be, but I am happy to have stuck around friends like you. I know I have friends whom I can talk to, who have been there during my school days, who know how I think and who care for me. Thank you for being my friends.
I was afraid when I came to Madison, I didn’t know the people I was going to stay with. I didn’t know how they were, whether they were like-minded, whether we could adjust or not. Being out of Aurangabad after 22 yrs surely did not help. But then I had excellent roommates in Vinit, Raghunath (Raghu) and Atul and not to forget Sharanya (Sheru), Neharika (Nehu) and Nagateja (Teju). These were not the type of people I would hang out with (sorry guys). Raghu and Atul are prospective PHD candidates. They seek details in everything, you can judge them when Atul was actually reading the probability of a person picking a position in Men’s restroom. It was hilarious, but it was different.As a person who had his own room, I would not sleep in the room if it was not pitch black and noiseless, but when there is a thermcol separator between two rooms, and an huge AC compressor right above your head, one doesn’t get those luxuaries. I was out of my comfort zone and had to adjust. It took me lot of time to get some sleep but at the end 6 months, I was unable to sleep without that noise or light. To add to that, there was a classical music lover in the room besides me in the name of Raghu. I never heard anything, which he use to listen and I bet I will not find it if someone told me to. Then, there was Neha, I can remember many things but the cat fight I had with her was just awesome. I bet, I don’t want to do that again. I met Teju in the most weird circumstances, her brother came to drop her from Chicago, I didn’t know her but I was helping her take her stuff to the her room. After doing one project with her, I understood few things, you never tell her how to do things and never ask her what she did, because she didn’t like being directed and she couldn’t explain what she did without confusing us.
And then there were 3 friends, who boarded the same flight to USA, were in same program in UW, who graduated on the same day with practically same grades, and same courses and who got the same job in the same company, Sharanya, Vinit and myself. There are some people with whom you have a rappo immediately and vinit was one of them for me. I learned so much from him, he was and is like a big brother to me. About Sharanya, I can say she has the best convincing power. She can make you play Mafia anytime of the day she wants. She can never cry in front of the camera and she can never let a dog go by without saying “Sho cuteee…..” . Through my days in Madison, I also made friends with Aswini, Gurpreet, Rishi and Vasishta. I found some similarities in Vasishta, and myself but one difference was that he is not afraid to be what he is and do what he likes to do.
This weekend when I was sitting at home, all alone, I was thinking about the time I had with my friends here in USA and also in India. I want to spend those happy moments again and again and again. I want to go on a road trip with Raghu again, I want to group study again, I want to do a KAIZEN project with my team again, I want to go riding with my friends to Mahismal. I want to sit at Rasraj and have some serious talk, I want to go out to drink with Atul, Raghu and Vinit and have them do the shayari. I want to talk to Teju and see how she twists her nose and says you have gained weight and I have lost it. I want to go on random bus tour with Vasishta. I want to party all night with Gurpreet and Rishi and talk all the crap I can. I want to argue with Neha and end up fighting, I want to listen to all the hypothetica stuff my iPhone can do from Atul. I want to fight with Sharanya and lose. (I still don’t want to listen to classical music though)
This is certainly not an interesting blog but I wanted to let you guys know that you are important to me. I am happy to have friends who are so near and dear to me. Thank you all for being there, always.
