I will be meeting a friend with whom I have been only speaking with for the past seven years or so. Each time we would make plans to go to the other's city of residence, but we never managed. Even when I went to Bombay for a short while, for a day or something, to get the Schengen Visa, it wasnt possible to meet up then either. And finally looks like our time has come, and we get to meet. Its going to be a pretty long stay for about 20 days and we sure are gonna have a lot of fun :) Am looking forward to it.

Talking of friends and catching up, I have met people on orkut with whom I have lost touch ... I have met seniors, juniors, long lost neighbours and predominantly people who like my work.

When you are a kid, you fight for all stupid reasons, and after so long, its great to reminisce on those idiosynchrasies, and have look at the other in new light. Classmates who had been damn quiet are now 'chatterboxes' and those who were the life of class are sombre souls. Its strange sometimes as to how life changes us, and the role that friends play in our life.

In childhood we have to play with them, be with them, all the time. Fight, make up. All that. As we grow older, exams are passed on glass after glass of coffee (I used to have 10 glasses a day in 10th std.,), snacks and no sleep, (tough to have a finly honed mind and a finely honed body) , my best friend Yasas was my call-in-at-anytime-for-doubts person. I used to call up with the silliest queries and she used to be sooo patient explaining all that, with her all, even though most of the time it never penetrated my thick skull. Math is still my biggest nightmare ever. Then trips outside.... there was this one trip to Dizzee World. There was a time, when I and Yasas had fallen out, maybe for a year or two, but that trip was the one which brought us back together. We all had 'partners' to go to the trip with, but at the end of the day, I think I as going on a lot of rides with Yasas. Then there was this ride called the Ranger which used to go upside down and I was praying to save my life, or so one of my classmates recently said. Why she cant forget it is because she was hoping that my prayers would save her too.... Also one more thing which was very interesting is trying to score with the newest entrant in class. And there was this fight sometimes as to who will go with the birthday girl/guy to the other classes to give chocolate to the other teachers. Escape from class for a while, butter up birthday kid and get a few extra chocolates in the bargain.. Though I personally dont remember accompanying anyone...

When I joined school, Yasaswini and Shankar were the two most brilliant guys in class. An they remained that way until they left school. Shankar came All India first in CBSE 12th boards, yep you read right, and Yasaswini got into NUS, majored in Life Sciences, and I think the way she is giong she will find a cure for cancer. And in 6th std., I went upto them and told them, "how come you score so much? You dont even look intelligent"(!!) God knows what was going on my harebrain.
Trip to Hyderabad, in an exchange program, stayed at a school for a few days, had great fun, and at that time Yasas was my partner. 9th and 10th passed in whirl. And then I quit regular school and joined NOS, no attendance but I can still finish 12th with the same CBSE board. I never made friends in NOS as I had made in Hindu Senior. We had the best Principal ever, Mr V Venkatachalam, super dynamic man, and unfortunately for the other batches, he left the school when we finished 12th.

I am not in touch with everyone. Now people are busy settling down with work, lives, building houses, building homes. Its amazing, when at a point in time we thought we cant survive without our friends, that we have drifted slowly but surely, but somewhere down the line, there is an unseen skein which links us. I have thought of classmates I wasnt even close to, outta the blue. Wonder what they are doing, stuff like that. We grow up, grow apart, and life keeps grinding. And by the time, we all catch up properly, and bond as we used to as kids, we'd have probably retired, and then we would probably talk about our grandchildren blogging about their friends..