life stage changes - i hate em :(

the other day I was browsing through Samchos blog (senior of mine from IIMB - gem of a guy!) - and came acrossa paragraph where he recommends a small excercise.. remember the time of your life when you have been very happy.. and look at the people around u then.. and now think of how many of those you've spoken to in the last week, maybe even a year..

i know i know - nothing nobel leaureatish about that - nothing that even a BCom couldnt figure out... but try it - it can throw up a few really interesting things..

For those of you who have been waiting with bated breaths for my example.. here goes.. I actually thought of two/three diff ones and in the interest of political correctness (the bane of a public blog where ur gf reads ur articles ;) ill mention the relevant one..

In room 34, Cauvery block (1st year hostel in RV College of Engg) - All of us sitting in the room, discussing Kamus birthday and feeling guilty at wat happened at his birthday celebrations: with good reason i may add - having kicked him in the most unmentionable places, having smashed an egg or two on his head and the star: ponks pouring a can of rassagulla syrup on him. Raja is proposing that we buy him a cake and despite Sandy the farmer and Chippar Ghosh's vehement protests at having to spend an additional 10 bucks, Gopi the 'daadu' calls it out that we will do as raja says.. As usual, 10 people end up sleeping on 3 beds cos no one wants to leave and go to his room lest he misses out on some fun!

That brings me to our gang during Engg - the ten of us + the girls (R2, Suki, Dra, Eex, Du) . The girls are an integreal part of the gang - but being a hostel buddy is somethign else.. honestly! Ive been putting off a post dedicated to each of these folks but will do it soon .. lots of dirt there :p

Anyway - back to the point of the blog - once I got to thinking about the gang and the times we've had, to the nostalgic point of picking up the phone to call some of them on full charge ISD, I decided to stock of where my relationship stood with respect to each of these guys... one by one, deliberately... almost unhealthily clinically :(

The reality wasnt that tough to figure out - I was in regular touch with 3- maybe 4 of these people... Id no clue what was happening to almost half of the people who are part of the happiest times of my life..

From a time where we discussed, argued and fought over what colour of jeans should one buy to a point where i was told by a stranger that one of these guys is getting married .. from a time where one person having something to do in the city meant that all of us went with him, to a time where 3/10 attend a wedding.. the heart starts to sink at the mere thought of the level of degradement..

Dont get me wrong, its not that we are all not frends anymore - I know that today also - I can bank on most of these guys to stand by me - come whatever (and id do the same - no matter wat) - but everyone seems to have moved on.. onto other things that matter just as much as this... or more.. in fact 'more' is probably more accurate... i believe the term they use is 'life stage'..

Which brings me to the official announcement of the fact that I hate lifestage changes, the evil force that tugs at threads of past relationships trying hard to make it rip - that causes close people to move on - that causes ponks to come to singapore with his wife and stilll not want to meet up .. that causes Rohit and Gopi to stay thousands of kilometres away in a context that i dont understand.. that changes your expectation of strong frendships to a sick point where you almost expect that a frend who has moved out of the immediate vicinity of your life is probably a lost cause..

Save me the speil of the good things that come with lifestage movements - i know it - but that doesnt stop me from cribbing over the fact that Im not eating dinner with the BAAGS tonight (For those who came in late : BAAGS = bhatti, anirudh, ashwin, gopi, shiv hehe)..