Right Now!

Well.. At present i hav technically finished my first year at college. I find myself left with lotsa free time and am at a loss in finding a way of disposing it. So i decided to resume blogging. "Resume?" u myt be thinking? This is my third blog on cyberspace. The other two are no more. Period. Mouthshut. Am not talkin abt them. Therz like a lot of things i can rant abt, and it is hard to pick out one specific topic. Give me a moment pls..

I still havent been able to decide. So far, what exactly have i told you? Just a bit abt me ryt? Well i'll build on it. That shudnt be too hard.. It myt be boring, but then you are free to click that 'x' and exit this blog anytime you wish.

Bombay, 1999

This was a turning point in my life. India is such a diverse country. So many variations, so many cultures, just too much diversity! Well, what happens when it all meets together at some place? You get Bombay (Mumbai). I still prefer calling it Bombay rather than Mumbai. I had until then lived in Cochin, Kerala. I was blown over by what welcomed me in this busy and buzzing city. Here is where I learnt to live.

If I were given a chance to relive a part of my life again, I would choose this period. This is where I defined myself. My first dreams and aims were laid in this city. I lived in Santacruz. Pretty near the Juhu beach. I was a shy and timid kid back then. Anything and everything about Bombay meant astonishment to me. I had never seen so many people, so many cars, so many buildings. I had never been to a place where I couldn't speak the local language. There were so many firsts for me at Bombay. Looking back, this was where I built my character (whatever of it is there!).

I had to adapt to so many things here. The fast paced life, the multilingual and multicultural society, and a new language to express myself. I succeeded in the first two. But failed miserably in picking up Hindi/Marathi. But well, I did learn more of English. I am proud of my English and this is where I learnt that as well. It becomes kinda easy to learn a foreign language when you have no other choice. Apart from that, I formed my first of friends here. The contacts that I got here are the oldest in my entire life. While at contacts, I would like to enlist a few of them. They all remember me, but am not sure as to what extent.

First of all, S Arun - my neighbour and one of my best buddies. My dad introduced me to him in the corridor of the seventh floor of the apartment that we used to live in. He is a year older to me. Was kinda my elder bro and mentor back then. I never admitted it to him, but I used to look upto him in a sorta way. I had always wanted to be able to interact like him with others. He was my first friend there and was my friend for all the three years that I spent at Bombay. Right now, my contact with him is "on and off". He is in Madras (Chennai) and I haven't seen him in the last 6 years. But we surely will meet someday.

When I think of whom to mention second, I'm in a spot of bother. But after much thoughts it has to be Aditya S. This guy was my twin. In every possible way. Man, we rocked those days. We were the closest of buddies back then. We had 'troublemakers' written all over us and maybe thats why our parents decided that we shouldn't hang out together. We had our good times and our bad times. We were a good combo. And I learnt quite a bit from him. Here is the guy who introduced me to 2 things - Video games and Books!! These are two addictions from which I have not recovered and will never recover from. Right now, our contact is like literally dead. Had kept in touch via Orkut occasionally, but now he doesnt come online much. He too has left Bombay and is in Chennai.

Up next is Ashutosh. Another one of my close buddies. He completes the 3 musketeers (Aditya, Ashu nd myself). We 3 hung out pretty much. This guy was pretty much attached to his family! Something that I could have taken after but just did not! He has 2 sisters (one elder nd one younger). By the way, I hav one too (younger). His sis and mine were friends too. I pretty much liked his family as a whole. To me, they were "The Perfect Family".

While at it, I must also mention Navin and Giridhar. Two of my buddies from school. The other 3 mentioned above lived in the same neighborhood. Navin and Giri were my mischief-making companions at school. I could write on and on about our misadventures. Sigh!

At Bombay, I also learnt to treat all people as the same. I was a person from a different state and culture. But the people there did not treat me as someone different. I was one among them. I learnt to do the same as well. Like I said before, Bombay was a learning ground for me. I learnt to ride a bike when I was there. I learnt a bit of French. And lots about computers, internet and games.

I'll take a break now. Come back l8r with sumthin else to talk about.