To nostalgia and enduring friendships

I was talking to one of my best friends from school the other day when he remarked how he's never managed to find such a great bunch of people to hang around with as our gang back in school. Both of us were wondering about what had made school so special? It wasn't really the school, just our class that was so very different from any other bunch i've come across. We were wondering if we had been an elite batch? Perhaps not economically, but definitely intellectually ! TK - what you said about me reading Marquez back in 9th - the funny thing is that you found it remarkable now, but back then we never batted an eyelid about stuff like that , because everybody was into their pursuits. We never thought it remarkable that we had such a fabulous bunch of guys to interact with.

We had poor Vipin (a regular Dilton Doiley), who was a math whiz kid and his sidekick in all things math - Sachdev ! Then arjun, me and TK - we were into literature - though TK and I were also heavily interested in reading about business tycoons - yeah - to put it without mincing any words, u could say that what we were really interested in, apart from literature, was reading about making money! That was a never ending topic of fascination - TK, if i haven't thanked u yet 4 telling me all about George Soros, let me do it now ;-)

We had the football nuts (joe - that means u and jibu and deepak), the true ubergeeks (rashief - where the hell did u disappear to - new jersey isn't at the end of the universe, last i knew), the gurus of rock ( narayanan - thx 4 the musical education!) and a whole bunch of other nice guys!

Maybe it was the 'critical mass' (for want of a better phrase) of intelligence that matured all of us faster. By the time we left school, i guess most of us felt that we were in the 'been there, done that, now what!' stage. Pity people who didn't have the chance to live through school that way - the crazy all night house parties, the sleepovers and combined study during the term exams, the long discussions about anything under the sun while munching on burgers at mini's - man, it sure was fun !!!

What i gained from those years was a world view that most people our age are still struggling to find, also the sort of urbanity that seems rare in this country ! I'm sure u guys know what i'm talking about - most people in our age group i've interacted with since school have seemed to be about 3 years behind where we are! Did we grow up too soon? Or have we just become world weary? And is it just us? It definitely seems so, judging from the tough time that almost all of us had at undergrad, and what TK and I are still going through.

Undergrad was a in totally different league. Hell - it wasn't even the same game! It was like going back to minor league after pitching for the Yankees! That is when i really appreciated what school had been. Engg was a slice of mainstream society - all sorts of people. And most of them didn't seem to have anything on their mind other than girls and booze and dope ! A rather rude awakening - sort of like turning on the shower on cold full blast instead of doing it by degrees! But i guess it was bound to happen. TK - u say that even at L u r hardpressed to find guys like ones from our old gang. Did u hear that, thebvbclubbers!!! I guess that it must be why we r still regularly in touch and still close friends after all these years! (although most of the girls seem to have dropped out of the face of earth abruptly after marriage, except for the occassional spam mail). Do u realise that 2005 will mark the 10th year that has passed since some of us parted ways!

So here is to ever-enduring friendships - beyond time, distance, minor spats, relationships, and other complications of life ;-)

ubergeek, the