My thougts...

Whenever I hear the word ‘FRIENDSHIP DAY’, the next thing that comes to my mind is 6th August 2006 (Friendship day of that year). That is the most memorable one for me. Probably that is also an important day in the lives of 4 more people.



4 yrs back...

It was the last day of our engineering. For the last few months, though we were tensed about the exams and project, all our friends were busy in taking countless photos trying to capture as many memories as possible and trying to spend more jolly time with friends to build more and more memories. Finally the last day arrived.21st April 2006. All our classmates sat in the college ground and chit chatted for some time. Then everyone decided to stay back in the same town till the end of the month. As they have already payed the rents till end of the month, they have no issues. So... no classes, no exams. We have all the 24 hours of the day to spend as we wish. Each of the 9 days was a celebration.

The next day all of us went to a beach. After returning we met somewhere else the next day. The meeting spot might change but we all used to meet everyday. One day we had a picnic in the fields in the outskirts of the town, one day we all met in a park, one day all of the friends visited my home in the afternoon and my friend Kiran’s home in the evening ( both of us belong to same town. Others are from different places). Besides these meetings whenever someone is leaving to home, the entire gang used to go the railway station or the bus stop. We were never bothered that it was a public place. Crying before the train or bus starts, hugging each others and bidding farewell was a common scene.

After 9 wonderful days, all of them left except the localites. After spending 2 weeks at home , meeting Kiran now and then, I left to hyderabad to learn JAVA. Staying in my grand ma’s house, I used to..... strictly wake up in the morning every day, get ready, travel in an auto for some distance and on foot for some more, sit in a conjusted place in one of those ameerpet institutes where they teach for 250 people in a single room... and sleep (don’t ask me how much I learnt ;) ) After the class, I used to call my friend Harsha who used to live in a hostel near the institute. We used to roam around the city on his bike till we get bored. And then I reach home and start chit chatting on my mobile. This was my routine. With the help of ‘hutch’ plan of 49 paise per call and 2 paise for SMS, my life was passing so happy and joyful. As I was already recruited to infy, I never bothered to study 

May be because I used to meet atleast one of my friends everyday , or may be as I used talk to many of my friends either on phone or through SMS, I never missed my friends. After few months my friends slowly started joining their jobs or starting abroad for higher studies. Again I started feeling sad. I started worrying that I too am going to get into the so called ‘mechanical life’. At that time I heard that 6th of august is going to be ‘friendship day’. Till that time whenever I heard or read about friendship day, I never gave a thought about it. But this time my thoughts were different. I should do something , atleast on this day, before I join my job! But what to do? I have to send a mail to all of my friends on the day...Naa! That day every one sends an e-greating or an old piece of poetry which has been circulating in mails since ages. Then what to do.. what about calling all of my friends and wishing them personally? Sounds good. But still not satisfactory. Then came a thought on my mind.



I started with Aravind. My opinion about him when I saw him as one of the bright and sincere students in the call in the 1st year, the day when we met for the first time, the things that we spoke for the first time, the way our friendship grew, the important and interesting incidents that happened between us, the places we roamed together, the things we did together, the gossips that we talked endlessly, his habits, the things that come on my mind as soon as I think of thim... I started penning down everthing I could remember about him. My plan was to send all these to him on the friendship day. Once this was ready, I started writing about Harsha. And then Roopa, Bhargavi. At the end of each mail I wrote “I am writing these not just to remind you of all these incidents. But to save all these memories. I will open this mail on every friendship day. I hope you too do the same.” After seeing their replies filled with surprise , excitement and lot of happiness, I have no words to describe how I felt.

The first reply I received was from Aravind.

"i am veryveryveryveryvery much happy to see this mail and this made me to think all our days we had before made my eyes filled with those memorable moments which we had during those engg days.and hope we meet once again.
i am shocked to this surely i will keep this with me for ever and i will see this mail now and then ."

Roopa called me as soon as she read my mail. I could sense a great excitement in her voice. “Praveen I am very happy. I really glad to know that u remember everything since our first conversation. Thank you. Thank you very much.”

Bhargavi mailed me once after seeing this mail and again after a few days. “Last time I couldn’t read it with complete attention in the university. Today I could read it completely. How could you remember every little thing? I am stunned to see this”

The best response I received was from Harsha. His mail was the longest. It was almost like his diary written by me. He was in US. He was very sad to leave his family and friends , staying alone. He wrote “Buddy I started reading this and couldn’t resist crying. I really can’t control myself if I read it completely”. He again mailed after few days saying “I read it completely. It made me think the entire 4yrs of college life. Thank you very much!”

Seeing how happy they felt, I felt not only happy but also proud. I had many more close friends. I used to feel like pen down all my memories with them too. But at that time I was busy in journeys and after a couple of weeks I left to Mysore to join Infy on 21st august 2006.

Whenever I question myself saying “What is the best gift you have ever given to anyone”, my heart proudly says “Memories”. Every good incident is a beautiful memory. It is in our hands to preserve them or to leave them to fade with time.

Lastly,

                             BELATED FRIENDSHIP DAY WISHES DEAR FRIENDS :)