The same old silly kids..!!

Over the phone-

Me – “ Why are you following me like the ‘Hutch’ dog?”

Roshan- “ Give me an ‘Idea’ which can change my life.”

Me- “Dude, ‘Think Hatke’.”

Roshan- “I’m just Expressing Myself with my Airtel.”

Me- “I lost my ‘Virgin’ last week. Now I’ve started to wonder if I should ‘Express Myself’ or get followed by the ‘Hutch’ dog.”

Roshan- “Haha... Macha, you haven’t changed one bit. Not one bit.”

Me- “Haha. Same to you.”

This is the problem with school friends. Even, years after passing out of school within no time we end up acting like school kids.

Roshan- “ It’s been four years since we met. You comin’ tomorrow right?”

Me- “ No. I’ve got to meet this guy who cried after his senior in school, Pooja rejected his love letter.” (It was himself of course.)

Roshan- “ Haha. Fuck You. See you tomorrow.” We had fitted ourselves into the ‘spoilt kids’ category where ‘fuck you’ just means ‘Please be quiet’.

Me- “Sure. Cya.” We hung up.

The next day, a Sunday, I reached my old school gates. I was amazed to see the same watchman who was there during my time. My time doesn’t mean like a hundred years, just 6 years but even then I got that weird feeling. Today, I was in fact late by half an hour to the fixed-up time. Roshan wasn’t here yet. In our group of school friends, it was kind of an unwritten rule that the guy who came first for a meeting was the dumb guy. The number of different words with which I used to be addressed, the word ‘dumb guy’ sounded something like calling me ‘Gandhiji’(with due respect). I mean, such were the other words.

So, anyway I waited restlessly looking out for my ‘chaddi dosth’. Meanwhile, an old man asked me for directions to the shopping complex, and me- ‘Mr. Responsible Citizen’, held his hand and took him to the place. He gifted me a pen in return. I thought I should fall to his feet and take blessings, but me, ‘Mr. Shy’ just said thanks and went back to do the thing I’m so used to doing with my girl friend- Waiting. Just as I was about to get irritated I got a hard punch on my back bone and I almost fell forward coughing away. It was that damn Roshan. He said with his knuckles in pain- “Ouchh..!! My knuckles. What do you eat, you idiot?”

I was pissed off with that much pain and replied with difficulty – “ Cow dung. Aahhh…..! How hard you hit me, you asshole… Mr. Pooja.” ( As you know Pooja was his ex-senior girl friend, and Mr.Pooja was his nick name)

He hit me again, twisted my arm and said- “ What?? What?? “

I growled- “ Aaahhh..!! sorry. Mr. Roshan… Roshan.” He released my arm.

I stared at him and laughed and he stared at me and laughed. Then we shook hands and decided to take a walk. We were basically gentlemen. We did some formal enquiries, then talked about this & that and that & this. He asked me if I’m still using my cousin sister’s bicycle. I silenced him with a life threat. Through the walk, we generally talked about our school days, our teachers, life in general ( it was weird though), future, my new neighbour and so on.

We stopped at the bakery, which was our lunch time destination during school. Roshan used to preach and make us follow- “ An Apple Cake a day keeps the Doctor away.” Anyway, we bought and ate two cakes along with 300ml of insecticides, I mean Coke. We continued our walk-the-talk to our school playground and there we did sat-the-talk, what ever that is.

Though this sounds all funny and silly, we were having a great time. We were rekindling the fun of school life, which was the best part of our lives. I tell you, meeting an old friend can be the best rejuvenating experience one can have. We never know why we separate after school. Some never call, some call once a week, and then as time passes by it’ll reduce to a call per year. In a few years we ’d feel there is something missing in the jigsaw and when we meet up with those oldies (wink) it feels we’ve just found the missing block. I certainly felt it that way that day. I felt like I was 13 all over again, though my silly friends keep telling me to ‘grow up’ every now & then.

We then had lunch and left for a game of ‘Bowling’. Then roamed around, discussed matters of national importance such as – Who-is-Miss-India, he blabbered about bikes, we decided to keep meeting often followed by all such routine dialogues. We finally shook hands and decided to leave. As we were about to leave-

Roshan- “ U a ‘Virgin’?”

Me- “No. ‘Hutch’ dog.”

Roshan- “ You haven’t changed one bit. Not one bit.”

Me- “Haha. Same to you.”