To be precise, twelve years ago. I wrote this.https://reefknot.blogspot.com/2007/12/3rd-dec.html
(I occassionally go back in time in this blog, and I did that because December just started. I am scheduling this post for the third, for obvious reasons.)
Last year, Su wished me 'Happy third of December'. I remember, not remembering.
This year, however, being in my old room, catching up with the senior after ages, I do remember.
In fact December 2003, I remember which movie I watched in theatre and with whom. It was a delightful experience. I have never watched the movie again (Kal ho na ho) even though I did catch the songs when I used to watch TV. I haven't heard the songs from the movie in a long time either. I digress.
Part -1, The path to the quiz competition
I am going to go back to speaking about December 3rd 2002. It had its roots in October of 2002. When we became friends with our super seniors. SaDa, AniCha, LaDN, TK being the main ones. We started taking part in college competitions with one of these people. When I say 'we' I mean Su and I. Su and I had already become a team of sorts and October 2002 trip had cemented the position for the third member if the competition(s) required it. And on December 3rd 2002, we did need a third member. We had spoke to SaDa and confirmed that he would be the third team member, because we a had a blast being a team for the literary quiz in October. And so we had assumed (very wrongly) that the SaDa would be there. We called his house, his mom told us he was at the ADC hostel. We called there and were told he was sleeping. So we waited for someone to wake him up and then called again. He was barely awake and told us he could not make it, because he was sleeping and had to wake upi and bathe and eat and then come. For those reading this and thinking 'oh probably this was not a person'. No correction. This was not a person. Period. This was just a 'Legendary' senior we were stuck with. It was post lunch and probably around 2 or 3pm. Our friends from class had left (in case we wanted to 'bakrafy' one of them as a filler). We needed a third member desperately. So we asked BDubey. BDubey was not a friend but a friend of my sister. So she was very friendly with me. (My sister's friends from school thought of me as 'that cute kid sister of the cranky prefect' so I thought I'd ask her. We needed someone who atleast knew basic English and pop culture, but we were very willing to settle for a benchwarmer. BDubey refused to be in the team but suggested that her sister could do it. So we went looking for PDubey. PDubey was a senior in school and we were always cordial. In fact, I spoke more to her than I did to BDubey.And it turned out that it was PDubey's birthday that day. Still, she was kind enough (I think it was kindness along with St.Ann's solidarity) that she said yes. And finally, after much searching, we had a third team member.
We barely made it on time to the competition. We were not known in college. We didn't have place to sit (there were limited benches set up in our dungeon canteen). The English department, however, was glad to see a team made up of only girls. And we made it to the preliminary round of the competition. Sitting on the slope that lead to canteen. It was written round where we had to answer a total of thirty questions. It was one of the best teams I was ever a part of. We got along great and we each knew answers to an equal number of questions. That was that. We waited around for the first set of results to come. There were six teams who were going to be selected for the next round. And the teachers announced five teams and we were pretty sure we didn't make the cut because they would have known by then. But then, the last team was called out for. It turned out that we actually did the best among all the teams and made the cut. There were no other girls in the remaining teams. (Not that I remember of). So even the teachers were happy about the fact that we made it to the next round.
Part 2: The competition aka 'What's the good word'
While the preliminary written round had a variety of questions, the actual quiz was divided into clear cut rounds. There was a round about books. A dumb charades round? A round about advertisements. Now this last round involving advertisements landed up being the most crucial round of them all. The teachers asked us questions which would probably make me want to go hide somewhere now because some of them were just plain pointless and ridiculous. But I should remember that we were mostly all still teenagers. And so the type of questions asked matched that era to an extent. By the time it had come to this last round of the quiz, it was evident that there were only two teams who had chances of winning. An all boys team made of boys from B.Com and our all-girls team from our good ol' life sciences. Ultimately, we the girls team won the quiz which almost became a tie. And the winning answer had something to do with the then 'mentos' advertisement. I frankly do not remember more than that.
Part 3: The celebrations
By this time in college, Su and I had made a habit of hanging out at LaDn's house after big events at college. We would buy nimbus and go make 'butler' soda at her place. A cheap and efficient form of celebrations. This lastest for most of the first year, after which we did go to LaDN's house but the frequency reduced because LaDN's timings had changed post-college. We had asked PDubey to join us but it being her birthday and all, she had to go home. (She probably curses us to this day for introducing her to all the crazy people Su and I had become friends with). Su and I, got out of the dungeon and walked past our main building, crossed the parking lot which was on the left and then took the turn. We crossed the junction and went to the Avva who sold Nimbus, took them and got to LaDN's house. Made our celebratory soda and left for our respective houses. THE END. Correct?
WRONG! So very wrong.
Part 4: The twist in the tale and the start of a bizarre friendship
These are moments you think back upon and realise that a single turn can change the course or path of your life. Everything was as normal as it could be up until we took the left turn past the parking lot of the college. We had just crossed the wall on that side of the college when someone called out my name. I looked up to see ShM, she crossed the road. Now I was already sort of friends with her because I was already good friends with her cousin(sisters) Mathur and MMathur. And with her was a tall guy. We had seen him before when he came to our adjacent class to meet a couple of people. Like Su and I did, we had a nickname for him because we had seen in him participate in some debate competition (where AniCha, SaDa and TK had taken part in). But we actually properly noticed him only earlier that day, at our quiz competition. He was part of the group along with Mohit and another boy (I wonder if Su remembers who the third boy was, I am guessing it was Brightie, but I could be wrong). The tall guy, walked upto us and told us how impressed he was by our groups performance. Although I force myself to talk to new people now, I was still my quiet self when it came to new people. But super social Su and even more social tall guy, stood there and spoke for a long time. When I say a long time, I mean over an hour and a half. It may have been longer too. And all through that, I did not say a word. It had gotten too late to meet LaDN so we just left after the conversation.
Part 5: The tall guy with the bad haircut aka CCutting
If someone told me that that little walk would make me meet someone who had a massive impact in my formative years of life, I wonder if I would have believed them. The said tall guy has been spoken about in the past on this blog. But I cringe and die when I come across those posts now. We had the world's most petty fights. Fights that I no longer care for or have the energy to deal with. Su and I have often wondered how things would have turned out if we had not gone to that competition that day. Or if we had not decided to go to LaDN's house that day. Su even reminded me a couple of years ago that it was I who answered the 'mentos' question (i have no memory of this). This was the basis on which CCutting started the long long long conversation on the side of the road. I don't think he himself realised what he was getting himself into.
Su, Cc and I have come a long way from there. Su and I aren't as regularly in touch with each other, but when we get back, we catch up in a good way. And for most parts, we know what is happening in each others' life. I know when she has the time, she will listen to all the sadness and madness I have happening. She isn't the easiest person to stay in touch with, but we manage more or less. In the last few years Cc and Su have become closer than they probably were in college. I was glad they could be there for each other. Cc and I are just 'old friends' nows. We have a cordial relationship but none of the deep conversations or bonding from before. In fact, it changed so much that last year when I met him alone for the first time in maybe almost a decade, the first few minutes were terribly awkward. I did meet him before that but always with Su around. Su did blurt out some details of my life to him (like she does) but he doesn't know much about my life.
That said, I honestly am thankful I was friends with Cc. I am glad he crossed that road that day. He made some personal drama much more tolerable. Our conversations were the perfect distractions to things that were unavoidable at home. There were even times when his perspectives made me understand things about life better. Do I wish we still had that friendship? Yes. Do I lose sleep about it? No. Do I think we can get back to that level of trust? No idea. Do I wish he tried to keep the friendship atleast now? Sometimes. Do I have expectations from him? Nope. Do I wish bad things for him? Never. (Although I distinctly remember wishing him something on the lines of 'as you sow you shall reap' but it happened and so I don't put such things into the universe anymore).Do I wish good things for him? Every time he crosses my mind.
But it has to mean something that Su or I (or Su and I ) still remember the exact day that Cc became a part of our lives.
Happy 3rd of December Su. Or like you called it 'Happy Ss Day'
(I occassionally go back in time in this blog, and I did that because December just started. I am scheduling this post for the third, for obvious reasons.)
Last year, Su wished me 'Happy third of December'. I remember, not remembering.
This year, however, being in my old room, catching up with the senior after ages, I do remember.
In fact December 2003, I remember which movie I watched in theatre and with whom. It was a delightful experience. I have never watched the movie again (Kal ho na ho) even though I did catch the songs when I used to watch TV. I haven't heard the songs from the movie in a long time either. I digress.
Part -1, The path to the quiz competition
I am going to go back to speaking about December 3rd 2002. It had its roots in October of 2002. When we became friends with our super seniors. SaDa, AniCha, LaDN, TK being the main ones. We started taking part in college competitions with one of these people. When I say 'we' I mean Su and I. Su and I had already become a team of sorts and October 2002 trip had cemented the position for the third member if the competition(s) required it. And on December 3rd 2002, we did need a third member. We had spoke to SaDa and confirmed that he would be the third team member, because we a had a blast being a team for the literary quiz in October. And so we had assumed (very wrongly) that the SaDa would be there. We called his house, his mom told us he was at the ADC hostel. We called there and were told he was sleeping. So we waited for someone to wake him up and then called again. He was barely awake and told us he could not make it, because he was sleeping and had to wake upi and bathe and eat and then come. For those reading this and thinking 'oh probably this was not a person'. No correction. This was not a person. Period. This was just a 'Legendary' senior we were stuck with. It was post lunch and probably around 2 or 3pm. Our friends from class had left (in case we wanted to 'bakrafy' one of them as a filler). We needed a third member desperately. So we asked BDubey. BDubey was not a friend but a friend of my sister. So she was very friendly with me. (My sister's friends from school thought of me as 'that cute kid sister of the cranky prefect' so I thought I'd ask her. We needed someone who atleast knew basic English and pop culture, but we were very willing to settle for a benchwarmer. BDubey refused to be in the team but suggested that her sister could do it. So we went looking for PDubey. PDubey was a senior in school and we were always cordial. In fact, I spoke more to her than I did to BDubey.And it turned out that it was PDubey's birthday that day. Still, she was kind enough (I think it was kindness along with St.Ann's solidarity) that she said yes. And finally, after much searching, we had a third team member.
We barely made it on time to the competition. We were not known in college. We didn't have place to sit (there were limited benches set up in our dungeon canteen). The English department, however, was glad to see a team made up of only girls. And we made it to the preliminary round of the competition. Sitting on the slope that lead to canteen. It was written round where we had to answer a total of thirty questions. It was one of the best teams I was ever a part of. We got along great and we each knew answers to an equal number of questions. That was that. We waited around for the first set of results to come. There were six teams who were going to be selected for the next round. And the teachers announced five teams and we were pretty sure we didn't make the cut because they would have known by then. But then, the last team was called out for. It turned out that we actually did the best among all the teams and made the cut. There were no other girls in the remaining teams. (Not that I remember of). So even the teachers were happy about the fact that we made it to the next round.
Part 2: The competition aka 'What's the good word'
While the preliminary written round had a variety of questions, the actual quiz was divided into clear cut rounds. There was a round about books. A dumb charades round? A round about advertisements. Now this last round involving advertisements landed up being the most crucial round of them all. The teachers asked us questions which would probably make me want to go hide somewhere now because some of them were just plain pointless and ridiculous. But I should remember that we were mostly all still teenagers. And so the type of questions asked matched that era to an extent. By the time it had come to this last round of the quiz, it was evident that there were only two teams who had chances of winning. An all boys team made of boys from B.Com and our all-girls team from our good ol' life sciences. Ultimately, we the girls team won the quiz which almost became a tie. And the winning answer had something to do with the then 'mentos' advertisement. I frankly do not remember more than that.
Part 3: The celebrations
By this time in college, Su and I had made a habit of hanging out at LaDn's house after big events at college. We would buy nimbus and go make 'butler' soda at her place. A cheap and efficient form of celebrations. This lastest for most of the first year, after which we did go to LaDN's house but the frequency reduced because LaDN's timings had changed post-college. We had asked PDubey to join us but it being her birthday and all, she had to go home. (She probably curses us to this day for introducing her to all the crazy people Su and I had become friends with). Su and I, got out of the dungeon and walked past our main building, crossed the parking lot which was on the left and then took the turn. We crossed the junction and went to the Avva who sold Nimbus, took them and got to LaDN's house. Made our celebratory soda and left for our respective houses. THE END. Correct?
WRONG! So very wrong.
Part 4: The twist in the tale and the start of a bizarre friendship
These are moments you think back upon and realise that a single turn can change the course or path of your life. Everything was as normal as it could be up until we took the left turn past the parking lot of the college. We had just crossed the wall on that side of the college when someone called out my name. I looked up to see ShM, she crossed the road. Now I was already sort of friends with her because I was already good friends with her cousin(sisters) Mathur and MMathur. And with her was a tall guy. We had seen him before when he came to our adjacent class to meet a couple of people. Like Su and I did, we had a nickname for him because we had seen in him participate in some debate competition (where AniCha, SaDa and TK had taken part in). But we actually properly noticed him only earlier that day, at our quiz competition. He was part of the group along with Mohit and another boy (I wonder if Su remembers who the third boy was, I am guessing it was Brightie, but I could be wrong). The tall guy, walked upto us and told us how impressed he was by our groups performance. Although I force myself to talk to new people now, I was still my quiet self when it came to new people. But super social Su and even more social tall guy, stood there and spoke for a long time. When I say a long time, I mean over an hour and a half. It may have been longer too. And all through that, I did not say a word. It had gotten too late to meet LaDN so we just left after the conversation.
Part 5: The tall guy with the bad haircut aka CCutting
If someone told me that that little walk would make me meet someone who had a massive impact in my formative years of life, I wonder if I would have believed them. The said tall guy has been spoken about in the past on this blog. But I cringe and die when I come across those posts now. We had the world's most petty fights. Fights that I no longer care for or have the energy to deal with. Su and I have often wondered how things would have turned out if we had not gone to that competition that day. Or if we had not decided to go to LaDN's house that day. Su even reminded me a couple of years ago that it was I who answered the 'mentos' question (i have no memory of this). This was the basis on which CCutting started the long long long conversation on the side of the road. I don't think he himself realised what he was getting himself into.
Su, Cc and I have come a long way from there. Su and I aren't as regularly in touch with each other, but when we get back, we catch up in a good way. And for most parts, we know what is happening in each others' life. I know when she has the time, she will listen to all the sadness and madness I have happening. She isn't the easiest person to stay in touch with, but we manage more or less. In the last few years Cc and Su have become closer than they probably were in college. I was glad they could be there for each other. Cc and I are just 'old friends' nows. We have a cordial relationship but none of the deep conversations or bonding from before. In fact, it changed so much that last year when I met him alone for the first time in maybe almost a decade, the first few minutes were terribly awkward. I did meet him before that but always with Su around. Su did blurt out some details of my life to him (like she does) but he doesn't know much about my life.
That said, I honestly am thankful I was friends with Cc. I am glad he crossed that road that day. He made some personal drama much more tolerable. Our conversations were the perfect distractions to things that were unavoidable at home. There were even times when his perspectives made me understand things about life better. Do I wish we still had that friendship? Yes. Do I lose sleep about it? No. Do I think we can get back to that level of trust? No idea. Do I wish he tried to keep the friendship atleast now? Sometimes. Do I have expectations from him? Nope. Do I wish bad things for him? Never. (Although I distinctly remember wishing him something on the lines of 'as you sow you shall reap' but it happened and so I don't put such things into the universe anymore).Do I wish good things for him? Every time he crosses my mind.
But it has to mean something that Su or I (or Su and I ) still remember the exact day that Cc became a part of our lives.
Happy 3rd of December Su. Or like you called it 'Happy Ss Day'
Comments