It was Pateti (Parsi New Year) yesterday. Being non Parsi the only memories I have of this occasion is Bawi bringing home jalebi religiously every year. Dad and me fighting over who ate more (jalebi is a family favourite). Just like every year yesterday was no different. When I got back from work bawi accompanied by guj came over. W joined in later. It's really funny on how even though we don't meet as often as we used to, when we do, we reminisce about the good old days as if they are not even over.
You must be wondering what weird friends I have. Bawi, Guj, W? Well of course they have real names but this is how I am going to address them throughout this post. This is how we know each other even today. I also have a rotten and a powers mind you. With this case of confused identities let me introduce you to this aspect of my life: My gal pals :).
Let's know them separately and let's know them together.
W- Double U
For all you avid F.R.I.E.N.D.S watchers, remember how Joey had an identical hand twin in Vegas? Well here's introducing my iden
tical name twin. Ah! my identical school, zip code, laziness and lots of other things twin :). W and I are similar in way too many ways and different in the same amount. I went to school with her for 15 years and didn't meet her then (To quote her sister "You both must bunk school on alternate days or must've been too lazy to socialize"). Anyway we met for the first time in computer classes right after our boards and the merry times began. I've known W for 8 odd years and it is practically impossible to share the memories. She doesn't cry as often as I do being number one on my list as I try
We've lived in each others houses, have very similar likes and dislikes, laziness being a strong bonding component between us. Whether it is The Great Punjab story (when we ate like Gluttons), the taking rickshaws through all the flooded rains in the monsoons on purpose (apparently at the time, it was the best way to get the feel of the season), or that near death experience with had with the rickshaw driver (Remember the one with the ciggie? which no one believed) we've shared some amazing moments together. Going to a kid's birthday party who lived in Suchit's building and who we didnt know only to watch Spiderman 2 for instance.
Now before this begins to sound like a memorial or rest in peace speech (w is still alive and kickin by the way!) we've also shared lots and lots of not so good times. The times we almost got into the black list (paid the peon and it backfired), failed in French innumerable times, lost in taboo to Suchit and Rishi (Man!!!!), to playing something we called football on Suchit's terrace and lost AGAIN it's been an era.
I miss those days of Logic tutions which we so religiously bunked, those arbit test series where we so decently cheated, running compartments while traveling (why oh why!) you throwing my bag on the platform only to find my railway pass in your pocket :), trying to wake her up or giving blank calls when uncle picked up the phone, random drives, fake seeing of filmstars..phew!
The stay overs in her house, her family (family to me too), cheese dosa for breakfast, waking me up at 7:00am and making me believe its 10:00am, all our fun moments in college, Lonavala (the whole rain and muck scene), that dog n the bone stay over in my house, to my surprise party we have fantastic memories attached. Whether school, college or work we have religiously prayed for floods so as to bunk that day or even the cheating and stealing of gifts at S's baby shower (ok we arent that mean..actually maybe we are)
W is stubborn and by stubborn I mean STUBBORN. I can never forget the fight with her dad when we wanted to play cricket at midnight disturbing her neighbours. The night where we only laughed. No kidding! we only laughed all night!! I have no idea why. Crazy you may think but She's quite wise otherwise, I often take advise from her. We shared innumerable hours on this cement block outside my house discussing our so called "future". I miss our phase dubs. Although sometimes I hope it never comes back. We've shared our first drink, first nightclub and many other first's. And before I forget this is only the beginning. W lets now show them how it's done ;)
Bawi- Queen of Good Times
Bawi very true to the name sleeps at 10:00pm on sleepovers. Seriously, while the others decided how we were going to spend the rest of the night, curled up in the corner of the bed Bawi will be fast asleep. We hardly slept through the night and when we crashed into bed in the morning Bawi was ready to go to breakfast :).
She's the one who will always be bonding with our mom's more than us. She used to come
home and take off with my mom only to find me sulking (As to "when will my chance come?") that's how lovable she is. Although she is cruising or rather jet setting to various world renowned places all year round these days, there is little that has changed. She is still that mad bawi she always was :).
I will never forget the pains we took in making her a scrap book for her birthday. Us getting all over excited to what gifts V would send her for Valentine or Rose day or even telling our other friends proudly (that we knew an actress in a hindi tv sitcom where she was a child artist for one episode :)). Bawi lovessss talking and reading Mills and Boons. She has her own most amazing fantasy world which has a prince charming, oscar awards, red carpet and everything. (Man! I want that)
Besides..W, Bawi and me would kickass in taboo or any other team game we would set out to play. It's hard to forget her passion for Mani Dosas's (Mysore masala) See i still remember :), anything, just anything that has or had cheese (Our cheesy lunches at New Yorker where we all fought for the last bite of the cheese corn balls or the nachos with cheese sauce) or the world famous "Sizzling Brownie Sundae" out of which she scraped each and every bite rather unsuccessfully (We were tough competitors too :)) to Guj's mom's homemade tacos.
She is the single most content person I have come across in my life, the one with the most positive attitude in life and I really mean this. She stays away from controversies or the so called negative life most of the times.
Even though we may not meet as often as we did because of our hectic schedules I always know that she's only a phonecall away.
Rest assured you may not find bawi with you in your good times, but she's ALWAYS there with you in your not-so-good-times. More importantly the times when you need her the most. You rock hawttie!
Guj- Machami TukdamI have promised Guj that the day I retire in the Himalayas I am writing a book on her. For those who have met her know, she is a character. Sometimes its unbelievable. Her one liners, actions, statements seem surreal. But life would be dull without Guj. She has like the best sporting spirit ever. Cracking jokes about Guj was the sole purpose of life 6 years ago.
She is one of a kind. She is a misfit in her gujju household and has spent most of her early college days in w or my house. She is free spirited and just as positive as Bawi. When Guj and Me are together things just go wrong. We miss the train, the movie, it begins to rain or something that disrupts the normal has to happen when we are together. I remember ironing her curly hair with a normal iron (this when ironing hair did not exist in India, we were only experimenting) only to find W's mom freaking out. We've shared some crazy times together...eating plates and plates of tacos in her house to one month of religiously going to her house and screaming out her name every single day when her phone was out of order.. from giving her silver tshirts and saas bahu rings as presents.. to making her the butt of all jokes we have really troubled guj a lot, but the best part is.. she cant handle it when we stop.
I'll always remember the day Guj got emotional and wrote us all a letter on friendship. Haha she tried to use her creative skills on that letterhead only to make it impossible for anyone to figure out what she had actually written.
Now a days Guj is busy doing the whole "seeing boys" ritual and it's a treat for all of us when she comes home and describes every single meeting. Can't type more in detail about this on a public medium all I can say Guj is "Aaaoo" :)
Things you should know about Guj
Her favourite word is byatch (pronounced exactly like that)
Dogs don't like her (Refer to Ruffles my baby story and Carter Road dog bite story)
She has never eaten paan in her life
She has a job but doesn't go to office (ha! tricked you..go figure)
She embarrassed herself on S's sangeet with bringing props when she was not supposed to
She touched an egg for the first time when she was 21 years old
She claims to fast during "pollution" (our version of a Jain custom called "Padushan") but doesn't
She uses the term "I'll slap you" at least a crore times in a day but hasn't managed to do that yet
I better stop before the above comes true today:). All and all Guj is a friend and will always be. She is considerate and knows when to stop talking (when she sees the bored look on my face). I've shared some most awesome times with her and we still do share some fun moments together, the latest being a hypothetical trip which we all hope to materialize.
Jai Shree Krishna Guj! Jai Hongkong! :)
Rotten aka Hrithik- Workaholic
The only friend I look upto in terms of hardwork. Hrithik was the diligent, attending lectures student amongst all of us. She always got the highest marks and was very serious about her studies right from the very beginning. We have all spent the least time with Hrithik as she moved after college to complete another course and after that for her MBA but the fun times spent with her were not less.
Hrithik is alwa
ys late and by late I mean veryyy late. We used to call her when we left our house which was 15 minutes away telling her that we were below her building only to not find her there even after we actually arrived. She has the cutest dog ever called Ruffels. He doesn't like Guj and bit her when she was trying to show how well she knows him to other friends.
I can never forget this night in Rotten's house when she tried to teach us classical dance (hahaha radhna kaise na jale) with pen's in tow as dandiya sticks (we were such nuts). Besides this one weekend where rotten, w and me just randomly pushed off to Pune for a short break.
Oh my god! that was sooo much fun, 3 whole days of random rubbish, air hockey and of course lots and lots of eating. Hrithik was always very particular about her hair owing to which the whole "katka" episode happened anyway! ( I will describe the episode below later) and comes out with new terms for everything all the time. Effie, eewie, and other gibberish and all words so religiously used by Hrithik.
Everyday before we reached Churchgate station Hritihk would come out with this bag, which had a huge shampoo comb with which she would comb her tresses and then this fruityy deo (Which i hated) but the memory of it is awesome. She has been our partner in crime in all our idiosyncrasies from playing holi on Diwali night (Yeh we actually did that) , random drives, innumerable meals so on and so forth.
Hrithik and I have always had these intense career discussions. You know the how to make money, how to talk to your boss, office culture, job scene which have really cleared my confused thoughts on a number of occasions.
We were all scared of Hrithik's dad and I think so was she :). Come live in Bombay Rots, so I have more to write about :)
Powers aka Roshan- The Fitness Freak
The first memories I have of Powers was in Joggers Park with W when she called her Matiz car a "Maatiss". How hard we have laughed that day!!! Anyway moving on from that Powers is someone who I have known in a long time now. She's the only one who is married amongst all of us and I'm guessing will be the first mommy too :). Unless guj surprises us :)).
She is this fitness freak who used to adore going to a gym, aerobics or going for her "walk
" (First I know of that kind).
We have shared awesome times taking those "walks" on Pali Hill, Carter Road, Joggers Park with full energy and enthusiasm. I remember eating her mom's yummy cakes, religiously dropping stuff each and very time I sat on her bed, eating sarson ka saag with bread on that sucky new year night, locking her out of her own room and drawing a moustache on her favourite doll and so many more things.
She has driven us around a lot as she was the first one to get a license amongst us. I still remember the "what the fucks" incident when we had an accident on Rotten's birthday or those Economic tuitions in Power's house where we did absolutely nothing. She came one night before an exam to my house to study and all we did was ate paan. Don't know how we managed the paper the next day.
Anything happens..Powers faints..like anything.
Regular Conversation between powers and me
Me: Hi
Powers: My sugar is low
Me: ok
Powers: and my mom said I'm looking pale
Me: ok
Powers: I'm getting chakkar and thud! I fainted
Roshan is always dizzy. Especially during exams, especially when others study in the car and we couldn't. I can never forget the time I tried to get her out of trouble and got fired or the time she came on the black list. I have always been associated with falling down whenever she is around. Whether it is when she is on the black list or shopping for Bawi's gift's I have always fallen down in her presence. We have often joked about how we are afraid of everything she says as it almost always comes true (a black tongue in orthodox terms). We also always shared our shots much to people's amusement
Memories have been unlimited..typing time limited...awesome times never the less
So these are my gal pals individually. Often I find my memory fading, I like holding on to some fun parts of my past and hence this post to remember some of the best days of my life. Best days of swabbing W's house floors at midnight which we had messed up with wax, meeting those random boys at Barista, New Years where Bawi was making announcements for us on the mic, those car drives back home with Sudhakar, night outs, sleep overs, lunches, dinners, movies and so many other things. Wow! I've lived the best life.
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