A Letter to my Friends

It took me 23 years, a B-School and 16 complete samples to understand that friendship is undoubtedly the most complex relationship between people – may or may not be of the same sex (in fact it’s worse if it’s the latter!!)

I wouldn’t want to compare the last two years of my life to any from before. School – well there were bigger issues like homework and growing up there. College – that is always the chiller gang that never meant serious business!! I’m not an engineer so all we did was nothing all day and still went to bed peacefully every night! (Boy!! Those were the days!!!) The B-School was the one that changed my perspective about life and the way I will live it henceforth. The fact that I have no time to breathe today gives me comfort; makes me feel useful. I think it becomes a tendency with our lot – to look so busy and wired up even if you are just going to get photocopies... it just becomes our fixed expression I guess!!

And here is where I found love, pain, support and rock-solid friendship – ALL on that one table of our cafeteria! Where a day began with a cup of chai, poha (with chutney) and gossip and ended with how many submissions due over the week – where lunch hour was WAR, survival of the fittest, fastest and strongest – where making a dinner or clubbing plan was equivalent to making a business plan to enter the steel industry – where managing egos taught us the biggest lessons an HR prof couldn’t in his lifetime – where ip messenger was oxygen and CS and NFS were fuel for survival...

The video was where I started to truly reminisce – a collage of all our happiest (and most candid) moments. And I realised just how much I loved my two years here. Not only for the acads, but also for the gamut of people I met. Being a part of a rather enthusiastic bunch, we were always the noisiest, most boisterous lot. Now I understand what made us this way. We are good – really good each one of us - at what ever we do, in our special way – we aren’t the ones that stay quiet. And this became that silent competition under all the friendship – not one-upmanship mind you – but a quiet upward push that brought out the best in each one of us every step along the way. And I really want to thank each one of you for that – for that push and for the prop up every time it was needed.

I’ve not been a good kid – I’ve been upto some serious mess and managed to ruin some wonderful relationships of mine with my very own hands. I’ll always regret it. If you observe, it always takes double the effort to repair than to make! (five times I’ll say!!) This gave me life’s biggest lessons – ‘impulsive’ is always an adjective for ‘idiot’ – NOTHING else can follow that word!! So be careful the next time you open your mouth – once it’s out, it can’t be reversed.

I also wanted to say sorry – for each time I seemed impossible to understand and even worse, control. And more importantly I’m sorry for each time I built up that mountain on your head called expectations and not lived upto it. It was hard to understand the high pitch emotions that ran through this lot (I’m sure you all will agree); I was just another cause and victim!! So after all the cold undercurrents, fights, arguments, sarcasm... I’m calling it PEACE!! Bury that goddamn hatchet – you’ll have better things to worry about like deadlines and targets!!

I said goodbye to some of my closest pals today – who’ve been as close as family – I have no idea when I’ll see them next. It’s a strange feeling – I tried telling myself I didn’t even know they existed two years ago (didn’t work!!) I can’t believe you are going... that’s all I could get myself to say!

Before I get senti again, here’s wishing you all the very best! Whichever part of India you are (Dubai for our exported goods!!), they’ll always be a bunch of guys somewhere in this country who’ll be watching after you (I say this for all of us!!)

Do your best and have a good life!! So until we meet again...