Flashback 1 - Junior KG.
We are an assortment of noisy four-year olds. And we are practising for a play. Lalita plays Bobby, a girl who falls asleep while studying, and then meets Emperors of historical significance in her dream. Sahil plays Emperor Akbar. Anirudh and Nachiket play two more kings (I do not remember who).
Flashback 2 - Class 4.
Omkar sits behind me, and Sahil sits behind Omkar. Sahil is tall, lanky and nerdy. Somehow he reminds me of a clown, I'm not sure why. Anyway, I turn around, grab the notebook on Omkar's table, scribble some gibberish in it and give it back to him. Omkar looks up at me, and shouts - "DRAKY, THIS IS SAHIL'S BOOK". I haven't a clue what 'Draky' means, but I'm embarrassed and a little freaked out about writing nonsense in Sahil's book. But he's nice enough to not yell at me.
End of that academic year, Sahil leaves school. Someone tells me he is moving to the US.
Flashback 3 -Vacation after Class 10.
Online chatting is the new fad. All of us are exchanging e-mail ids and chatting online morning,noon and night.
One day I get a request from someone called Sahil. I have no idea who it is, and it simply cannot be the Sahil I knew from school, but I still add the guy up. A little while later, he springs up online. And as it turns out, it is my former nerdy classmate. Except that he doesn't seem so nerdy anymore. I'm surprised he still remembers me, and a host of other people from school.
Then we both get into the same college - R.A.Podar. We become classmates once again. But this time, I'm the nerd. I am inside the class all the time, sitting through b-o-r-i-n-g lectures, while Sahil, under the able guidance of his older brother Nikhil (a senior well-aware of Podar rules and regulations, and how easy it is to break them) royally bunks one lecture after another and hangs out in the numerous eateries nearby.And he has an uncanny penchant for Idli-Vada-Sambhar, I don't know why.
Flashback 4 - Vacation after Class 12.
I am leaving Podar to pursue Mass Media. At his end, Sahil is recovering from a nasty bout of dengue. Somehow, during that period, we begin chatting on the phone frequently. Both of us are nursing our own broken hearts - those that are born out of childish crushes. And in those three months, former-nerd Sahil becomes a very good friend. Very often, he asks me, "Yaar Tanushree, mere ko koi kyun nahin milti? What is wrong with me?" I always laugh it off one way or the other.
In June that year, I join KC. Sahil stays on at Podar. We are in touch off and on.
Flashback 5 - Final year of Graduation.
I am at a gift-shop, trying to pick something up. Sahil has met a wonderful girl - Simran - at the gym, and has really started liking her, and I know he will ask her out that night.
My phone beeps. "It's a yes", says the message. I am so happy for him.
Flashback 6 - Vacation after Graduation.
Sahil decides to do his MBA. I decide to do it too, but more because I can't figure out what else I should do with my life. We both enroll in the same coaching classes. And go write those horrid mock-exams together.Neither of us make it the first year. The second year, both of us do. Two different colleges, but both in Mumbai.
The Present
4th February, 2010
The day before Sahil gets engaged. I ping him. "Kaisa lag raha hai last day of bachelorhood?", I ask. "Bahut Bura", he jokes. "All the best", I say. And then I add, "N I love you, okay?" "Yes, I know - I love you too", he says.
And then, I ask. "Sahil, will I ever find someone, just the way you found Sim?" (And in my mind, I smile at our role-reversal.)
"Of course you will, sweetie. It'll all happen at the right time.I don't know when, how, but there will be a time when everything will automatically fall into place - effortlessly." I thank him. "God bless you", I say.
5th February, 2010
Sahil and Simran just got engaged. When I went up on stage to congratulate the couple, I said to Sahil, "From Junior KG to Engagement!" Sahil grinned. "Arre, this is still Junior KG only!!" Then we posed for a photograph, and I left the stage.
Even as I write this, I smile, constantly. It's been one heck of a friendship, this journey of ours, from being four-year olds to being twenty-four year olds. It is funny how our paths kept crossing - but I'm glad they did.
And oh yes, now I know the answer to Sahil's question - "Yaar Tanushree, mere ko koi kyon nahin milti?" And I am sure Sahil knows it too. ;-)
Much Love,
Me.
