F.R.I.E.N.D.S

I have always been an emotional person. And it affected my choice of friends. I would always be comfortable around similar individuals, one who kept family above themselves, one who empathized with the miseries of everyone.

When I look back in time, I have carried my friendships with me, heavily investing in them, with the results that (touch-wood), I have a set of fantastic individuals as friends.

Today when I woke up I thought it was important for me to talk about my friends from the three most important stages of my life: School, IIT, and ISB. While there are many other friends, but I came close to them only outside these three stages. So here goes:

School: I was a very complicated kid. I had my insecurities, my reservations, and my inferiority complex. I was a no-body wanting to be someone, and even I didn’t know who that someone was. I don’t think I was well liked, and that further fuelled my angst against the world. It was here that two individuals changed my world-view:

Rishu: If there was a lesson in humility I would want my kids to take, it would be from him. He is grounded, God fearing, hard-working Family Guy. Had the best of times with him, while I lived a dual life fighting my complexes. I owe a lot of good times to him.

Varun: Varun was living my dream. I distinctly remember wanting to be him. He was smart, suave and charming: Girls loved him. He finally achieved the impossible, turning me into a confident individual. With him I felt invincible. It was a team of two and we hardly needed anyone. I was Shashwat with him and that to me was priceless.

IIT: When I entered IIT, I developed something strange within me. I became over-confident and arrogant. May be it was because I was dating a good looking girl, while studying at the best college, or may be it was a result of being non-existent throughout my earlier life. It was here that I met three very contrasting individuals who grounded me in their own ways and fashioned a better human being out of me.

Piyush: Piyush was the guy I took for granted. I blindly trusted him and knew he would never say no to me. But slowly and steadily he endeared me into being an individual who would be the “Piyush” to lot of other friends. If ever my friends have thought of me as dependable, I owe it to him. He is just the most fantastic friend one can ever dream of having.

Bhan: Bhan is someone I earlier envied. He would hardly study but ace everything that came his way. Slowly during the journey, he lifted me up as I took control of my grades. I even depended on him for teaching me subjects, which he was not enrolled in. I expected him to remember all he studied in the past semester, just so that he could teach me. And he never refused. Another friend, who would never say No. One of the few friends I have with whom I would not blink before asking for a favour. Today Bhan is a changed man. He is much mature and a darling of our group.

Amit: He was a person I would share all my frustrations with. We had an amazing time doing just about anything, from playing tennis to discussing girls on campus. We were each others wingman. Time would just fly in his company.

ISB:By the time I came to ISB, I was much more focused and grounded. And I had decided to let nothing come in the way of my goals. “There is no time to make friends”, I would tell myself. But boy was I wrong. I met three people, each of whom helped me achieve what I did at ISB.

Arpita: I never thought I could be friends with her. She was a little too popular for that. I cannot recollect how we became friends, but I can safely say that we became friends for life. Arpi, was the only constant in my life at ISB. She had seen my high and lows, and been there. We are the most different individuals and yet we never expected each other to change. We had most fun just reveling in pure, child like humor. I would go as far as saying that even she would not have shared as much with anyone as she has shared with me. Knowing her as much as I do, I can safely say that she would do something that would make all of us proud. She is destined to do it.

Kaushal: I gave him the name Coco and am proud of it  Coco was my biggest critic. He would be my go to person, if I wanted an unbiased expert opinion about anything. I felt he knew what I wanted better than even I did. I still remember when I didn’t get into McK, BCG he smiled and said “Now I am happy, you were not meant to be at these places”. Had the most awesome tea conversations with him. Coco, always wants himself to believe that he is strong, but get him drunk and you’d know that he is still a child, wanting his parents to be proud of him, looking for a nice girl to get settled with. I really respect him for following his heart, and wish in all earnest that he achieves what he set out to achieve.

Shobhit: I remember feeling sad when Shobhit told me that he got an admission offer from IIM Bangalore. The though of losing him made me shiver. Studying was so much fun when it was with him. We would study for half and hour and then get lost in meaningless conversation for an hour. People around us would get frustrated, but we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The fact that we were similar in our goals, made it so much easier to stay focused amidst all negativity. We always greet each other with “Kya macha rahe ho!” I hope we always have a ready answer for that.