Going Out

After a decade of companionship and regular interaction, the seven of us split and went our separate ways. Once again, out of the seven of us, three went to the same institution and the rest of the four had one each. Sugar, Tom and Ray were the three lucky ones whose regular interaction continued and thrived. And all our good marks notwithstanding, I had prepared myself because I knew I would be broken apart entirely in any case. That was the one dark side of choosing the Arts.

However, though this separation was dreaded at every moment during our final year together, we came to realize its benefits only after it happened. This way, we were able to expand our own friendship circles, and ultimately the number of people we all knew well would increase. I have my own friendship circle now, and it consists of seven others. I would have liked it if the symmetry had remained, and if we had been seven again. But each of these people is much more important to me than maintaining that coincidental and practically useless statistic. A small compensation is that one of them happens to be my cousin, and so technically I have six friends again. I have chosen to name them as Link, Azura, Bonbon, Elix, Slicker, Annie and Teensie.

Now that I think about it, considering the events as they happened, that bit about ‘one of them happens to be my cousin’ is a gross understatement. What I would rather say is that most of the credit for me having the others as friends goes to her. Furthermore, she is my cousin only because that’s how it is in the English language. We have spent our entire childhood together, and I know for a fact that Link has a hobby of forging connections. Determined as we were about it when we studied, Link and I ended up in the same college. She seemed to decide there and then that establishing new connections for me, too, came under her purview. You see, this group had already formed by the time I was clumsily making new friends myself. I did manage to be ‘good’ friends with three other boys, and chose to remain an ‘acquaintance’ for the rest of the class. As a side fact, one of these boys is now a part of this group, and the rest are all girls. Having never considered that possibility before, I would have tried to look for other boys in my class had it not been for Link. And I can’t say if I’d have been disappointed with my choice, but I am nothing short of thrilled at hers. Link has really been a tower of strength in this phase of my life, and I have learnt a lot about these things from her. All because she was under the impression that I was an introvert. That’s nice; I should create such false impressions more often.

Actually, that’s not entirely how they all became my friends. I had known Azura for a long time before we ended up in the same college. She went to the same school as Link’s, and what with Link’s Campaign of Open Friendship we had ‘seen’ each other on numerous occasions. During those days Azura was under the impression that I was an oddball, which was perfectly fine with me. Then one day in Class X, I think, she pinged me when I was checking my emails. That itself was so ridiculously rare that I was certain we were meant to chat that day. Anyway, such things began to happen more and more frequently up to a point when we talked just to hear each other’s take on the day. Finally when Link informed me that Azura was joining us, I was able to tell her that we were great friends. Though, it transpired, she knew that already, having heard it from Azura. We’ve had our ups and downs, and I am happy to say that the down times are part of a Discrete Distribution (can be counted on fingers and I have the normal ten) whereas the up time is part of a Continuous Distribution, where measurement is not necessary.

My friendship with Bonbon started through a rather funny occurrence; because she had talked about me before she talked to me. It so happened that she shared philosophy class with me and Azura, and on the very first lecture I had expressed my views with a touch of the dramatic. Apparently, Azura narrated the whole thing to Link during lunch break but failed to reproduce my stupid crack in those exact words. And Bonbon, who was sitting behind, quoted me. And I was told of this whole incident several days after I had made friends with Bonbon. Our friendship developed a little through philosophy, largely through logic (another subject we shared) and mostly through all those times we spent the History lecture off together. She, apparently, found me extremely witty. Not that I wasn’t. But every time I used to make some crack she would burst like a bonbon and everyone else would laugh at both of us. Sometimes I wondered if she did that just so I wouldn’t have to reap silence out of a substandard joke. Not because I doubt myself, but because I am fully aware that she is kindhearted enough to do so.

Elix, as I learnt later, shared some school time with Bonbon and Teensie. For a while we spent time together only because I was with Bonbon who was with her. In Logic. But only for a couple of times. Then the same sort of occurrences followed when we shared a bench and opinions in Logic and walked back home together. Elix is a nice, sweet-tempered girl except when someone provokes her aggression (from personal experience). She is the only one in the group apart from me who can be nerdy when required and proudly so (The others being far too modest to express pride as such). She likes to designate herself as the Devil, and to join forces with Azura in ruthless teasing. And she is good at that. Something I’ve always liked about her is her earnesty of expressing everything. She once told me that I was a true friend. People say that to me a lot, especially after a big row. But only she can mean it. Others in the group go with ‘actions speak louder than words’ whereas she uses words extensively and makes them sound sincere. She also criticizes me in ways I find extremely helpful. Told me once that my notions were much too materialistic (Kind of like ‘trousers much too soiled’). I am glad to think that, when one is unsure about oneself, in Elix I will find a very strong ally and supporter.

I met Slicker outside the class after our Vice Principal’s first talk with us. We kind of gravitated towards each other, both being thin and skinny and pole-like. Then we just spent time together and it grew. Then one day I was told that he was an amazingly great actor by none other than Link, who had seen his skill at a workshop. He was excited when I acknowledged this, and we spent the next several days enacting stuff out of old Marathi plays, sometimes including Bonbon or Elix with us. During those sessions I learned that I read much too fast, and that he was every bit as brilliant and professional at that as I’d heard. I stuck to him like a faithful sidekick until I realized that he respected me for some things. Not everyday you find a professional your age in the same boat, as I appreciated then and later when I made friends with a masterchef pal of Link and Azura. Slicker regarded me as a professional in writing, and fantasized about himself acting in a sci-fi film based on my stories. Moreover, he shares almost all my tastes in the world of  entertainment, making me sometimes confuse him with my other cousin (but as close as Link). Now I stop confusing myself and proudly say that he is as like a brother to me as were my school friends.

Annie, as I recall, was a part of Link’s campaign. On our first day of college when we received our instructions, Link and Azura invited her to share a double bench with us, because she was sitting all alone. I remember that perfectly because in doing so they nearly pushed me off from the other side. Then she began to spend more and more time with them (I was clumsily making other friends) and became a close friend of mine when I finally joined these people permanently. Someone once remarked her resemblance with some ‘Annie’. What with that, and with her unparalleled excellence at the English language, I chose to import this name for her. In this group, we were all stand-up comedians in our own ways, and her way was mimicry. She once repeated some lines of one of our teachers with such uncanny exactness that we unanimously elected her as our group’s official comedy expert. It is worth it all to beg her to do some of her standard teacher impressions, watch her acts, give a mesmerized round of applause and watch her laugh in one of her many styles.

When I learned about the incident where Bonbon quoted me, I was told as a fact that she was at that time accompanied by Teensie. But I first met Teensie when we were all enjoying one of our rare lectures off (rare as of then) and I was trying to read in peace on the back bench. The rest of the group was listening to her talk about something. I considered her overbearing at the time, but willingly supplied a piece of information when she failed to recall what The Lord of the Rings was called in Marathi. Then we became friends slowly and steadily, when we shared German classes. She is not the least bit overbearing, and a nice girl underneath it all. She shares with Elix a very good singing voice, and she can compose poems well. She’s the only one in the group apart from me who always tries to maintain good relations with all the teachers; the difference being that I choose to reap some benefits (lectures off or rescheduled for instance) whereas she does that out of pure goodwill. And, at the end of the day, pure goodwill and mutual respect is what lies at the base of our friendship.

I stop here on a contented note, and express delight about having the chance to spend the first phases of my life with all these people, and I will welcome every chance to continue this. They say you are blessed with two families in your life : the one God blesses you with and the one you get to choose. Here I salute the family I got to choose : all of the nineteen people I have talked about in these three write-ups. I have no regrets, and I pledge to go out of my way to strive to keep it all nice, warm and comforting. Lastly, you must have been wondering what all these three groups called me. I would be very happy to answer.

They all called me ‘friend’.

That is all that matters.

From the junior to the senior in gofor