Sunday 4 August 2013

Of glow worms and butterflies....

Thank you blogadda!
Friendship Day!
 
Friendship- always evokes strong memories of my childhood, the sweat, the games, the falls, the tears and the unlimited happiness. The childhood spent in one of the most picturesque villages on the foothills of Western Ghats...complete with a waterfalls, a flowing river, lush green paddy fields, plenty of friends and mischiefs. Those were the best days of my life!
Who wouldn't love a serene moment here?
We were awesome together- she a terrific introvert, ever smiling and soft. Myself- the proverbial chatterbox. My memories of Sharmila are ever green- the idlis and chilli powder her mother makes for us, the happy moments spent in the dance classes, the dance program we both performed in the temple of her hometown, her brother and his dance moves...The sweetest memory is that of how we bred a caterpillar in captivity, hiding it in a coconut shell, feeding it with leaves, watching it pupate and slowly limp out as a wet butterfly! Probably the best moment of my life was watching the brown butterfly dry its wings and fly unsteadily..as we both watched mesmerised!
That is me!
And how do I not mention Vallabi? Still remember how she used to draw two love birds in her notebook's last pages, a secret! And her passion for songs, how she taught me there was indeed a turquoise blue ink and her mother's special rava laddus! My math tution partner Siva...the long walks from and to the tution together, the magic of stealing guavas while master was busy teaching Sin and Cos...My cycling partner Velmurugan- our 6 kms cycling everyday watching the gloriosa flowers in full bloom in the mornings and adoring the glow worms in the dark. The long discussions with him on politics, tamizh language history, poetry...The numerous competitions, dance floors, debates, quizzes...
 
How can I forget the two years in Chennai? Senior schooling in Chennai's SBOA- the pranks, movies, fights, football matches, cycle tests, competitions and happiness. This is where I learnt friendship crosses all borders- gender, language and everything else. The VCRC Batch #3 is one of the 'worst' and 'notorious' batches would vouch all our poor teachers. The cycle tests...yuck! The early morning homework copy sessions...Cut+ Copy+ Paste..."Hum aapke Hain Koun" with almost all thirty seated in a single row at Woodlands, that football boys Vs girls match...
The gang then...
I discovered what life was- how the thirty odd people overcame every obstacle and finally how we all have settled down. A bunch of hardworking, intelligent and tough nutsThough now in every nook and corner of the world- my best pal Prasanna in Washington, Bhuvana in Dubai, Gnaneswari, Vijayan and Sushmitha in Chennai, the loveable pair Triju and Jinie, Karthik in Bangalore, Geetha in Hongkong, we are a truly scattered group who regroup with vigour and warmth that remains just the same after all these fifteen years! Special thanks to Facebook and our group mail for keeping us together.
The gang now- complete with spouses and kids, after 15 years!
Those years made us what we are now. The get together we arranged a couple of years back brought every memory rushing back. That our children could hold hands and play, taking forth the bond of friendship further is just magic. The magic of friendship!
 
This post is part of Write Over the Weekend an initiative for Indian bloggers by Blog Adda!

7 comments:

  1. Friendships are for ever.Lucky you people,you are all still in touch with each other thanks to FB and other modern medium.May the bond grow.
    An apt and well written post on Friendship Day

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  2. 1.super! now u idiot..pushed m e in to nostalgia?!
    2.one thing irks me.. we all say now..THOSE WER HAPPY DAYS..but did we feel so then??.. similarly at sixty + we may feel this 30+ wre all happy days...??
    3." chatterbox"- appavu, ippavum!!. eppaavum??
    4.Dance class - really good..nw i had put my gals in to it.
    5.Butterfly - caterpillar story - a gud hykoo.
    6.Isai -may b ur good company as she was good in studeis
    7. Velu bhai - was good person to giv u company to commute to school. did he ever been to ur house?.
    8.ANd what made +1,+2 was the age and levl of maturity we get by +1 , and +2 . we bcme more serious.add to some good reference grp, exposure level, all mkes a difference.
    9.if some efforts wer made ..wit proper guidance.. a good learning environment and good team wrk cud hav beeen developed atAVRMV too..
    10 here some grp.. kept themselves closed to name a few (shiv subb, u, sundar, isai, velu..) i know these ppl even will nt show their home wrk notes to others..(they want to earn good name frm masters). thn how will a good team will evolve??
    11.why did nt mention SAS sir, Rames sir, bhaskarn sir,(hope they wer legends)?
    12.sivasubu - ur quiz partner, sundar C - ur competitor for 1st rank race, esp ur right hand Rajeswri...did nt find space?

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  3. Long comment, yar! Yes, I agree we wouldn't let you bad guys anywhere near us because you were so rough and tough back then. To be successful, we lower middle class had to sweat I out, while the rich and powerful guys enjoyed lives in the hostel. May be that is why Vel moved out. You were already quite settled that you never understood our thirst for marks, ranks and recognition. So we stayed out of your league. Sundar was a competitor, wouldn't have forged that healthy relationship with him and as for sivasubbu, I really forgot to mention him! I loved our team in sboa because we were all from almost same lower middle class background- all of us with the sole aim of reaching the top. And like hell did we succeed!!!

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  4. Wow I just saw a long long comment from one of your friends it does something to me. I realise how much such posts evoke in another person no? Its great to see your gang's latest picture complete with kids and everything..

    I was thinking of discussing our posts at blogadda forum for wow, what say?

    Richa

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    1. Richa! Glad :) welcome to my blog dear. Yes, nostalgia always grips us when we write of our friends. Please feel free to discuss in the wow forum...go ahead :)

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  5. Quite unbelievable, that was you in the picture. And, cheers to friendship!

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