Friends

When I put this title in the “Next to come” section of my previous blog, my idea was to just put the photos taken with some of my friends on New Year Day. But that would not do any justice to the title of this post and to my other friends. So, came up with a photo gallery of my friends through the years. This is still not a complete set of photos as I have not taken photos with some groups (Sigh). They will get a mention here, however. :D

Statutory Warning: This is a pretty long post, so it is left to your discretion to continue reading :D

OK… let’s start from pre-school...
Guess who the two kids below are ?

Of course, the little girl is me. Wondering whoz the little boy? Is it my first boyfriend? ;D I wont keep you guessing further… the little boy is also me :D. Taken 2 months after tonsure at Tirupati :D Me and my best friend “Me”.

Fast forward life by about 8 months…. I was in nursery in a school called “Kenmore English School” in Basavanagudi, Bangalore. I do not remember many friends from this school except for Monisha (who was also my neighbour), Vasantha and Umesh.


This is the snap taken during first year of school. Are you trying to search me based on the previous photo? :D I am standing in the first row right between the heads of the two teachers.

Hop, skip and jump another 3 years.

This is a photo taken on my 6th birthday. Along with me, are my neighbours and my cousins’ (who were also my neighbours). Seated are Namitha (my first cousin) and myself. Standing (L to R) Ajay, Kavitha (the tall girl), Monisha (the shorter girl – also my nursery friend), Balu (actual name is Ram Prasad. I never remember calling him like that :D) and Ashwin (Namitha’s elder brother). They were my playmates in our Vataara (group of houses in the same compound). I remember playing all kinds of games with them. Cricket, Hide n Seek, Crossing the Crocodile, Postman, Mara kothi aata and what not. I also remember watching Jackie Chan movies on VCR, a luxury that time, in Monisha’s house.

Meanwhile, I joined “The Home School”, one of the very renowned schools in Basavanagudi, for my primary Schooling. This school has taught me a lot– the discipline inculcated in me, the sense of responsibility, the fighting spirit etc. Words would not do justice. This was the golden era of my schooling and fairy tale period when the entire school was a gang. Below is the photo taken during my 3rd Standard.

I am seated in last row, second from left. Good friends of that time are Muktha, Bala, Seema, Saritha, Godha, Krithika, Deepak, Roopashree, Rashmi, Pavan, Amit ( 2 of them), Prithvi, Goutham, Garud and many many more…

Special mention of two people here. Garud – One of the most dynamic people I have ever seen. I really admired him even from school days.

Secondly, Goutham.

I think, he is my longest known friend. I almost know him for 20 years now!!!! A great friend and a great person to be with and learn from. Extremely sensitive to other’s issues and a great listener when you want to crib. He is a good hobby photographer.

I had to move to another school for High Schooling as “The Home School” did not offer high school educationL. I joined “Vijaya High School” in South End Circle, Bangalore. Another golden period of my academic life started here. My major “achievements”, if I may call so, in academics occurred during this period. Those were the teenage days and it was considered fishy if you speak to guys!! Of course, I too dint speak with them. I fought!!! A special mention of the first bench fight club which comprised of Nagendra and Deepak. We fought for books from the City Central Library next to our school. I remember, how we had bribed the librarian in the Children’s section for the new books of Tintin, Asterix, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys (Now, don’t ask me how these fall into Children’s books section). So, Deepa, Nagendra Deepak and I, the fight queen, used to fight like crazy for those fresh new books. I used to really like the smell of freshly printed books. Some more friends of those times are Shubha, Susmitha, Pratibha, Krupa and Soumya. Soumyashree and Susmitha continued to junior college as well. I also attended some training sessions for a nation-wide competitive examination called NTSE. Vibha, Trishala, Sadhana and Priya were my friends there. Unfortunately, I do not have the photo of the exact gang I used to hang out with but here is photo taken during a ceremony after passing out of high school.

That’s Nandini, Krupa, myself, Sindhu, Shubha and Soumya

I joined “National College, Jayanagar” for my Pre-University course. Those two years were the best two years of my academic life. Loads of fun with my friends Deepthi, Soumya, Susmitha and Vani. Be it ABN’s ( a lecturer) blade classes. Be it admiring Ruppu (RPU – another lecturer). Be it watching cutey – cuddly princy VS when he sang the prayer. Be it watching some flowers in the garden and finding out which inflorescence they belonged to (we had dedicated one flower to Deepthi) (Thanks to Deepthi and Soumya to help me find this snap, a leaf out of that golden period)

Above is the snap of Soumya, Deepthi, Myself, Susmitha and Vani. A line about each of them is a must before I proceed.

Soumya – Very simple and hardworking (she should be as she is doing her PhD in organic chemistry. Phew!!)

Deepthi - Superwoman :D. A fellow blogger.

Susmitha – Another dare devil. Very independent and has a mind of her own.

Vani – Simple, down to earth and cleanliness queen.

Time Machine apparates and lands two years later in Engineering College.

Again, that’s not the exact gang I used to hang out with (did I have a gang?).
The ones in the snap are Vasanthi, myself, Srividya, Vinay and Anuj.

Srividya was a good singer. Unfortunately, I had some fight with her for some silly reasons and we “split”. This was my first ever “serious” fight. I dint even know how to sort out fights then. May be, I will try to make up now if I get to meet her.

Vinay – a great friend of mine. Learnt a lot from him. Enjoyed a lot with him as well in paper presentation contests, IISc, college project, labs and at ice-cream joints. My inclination towards technology is mainly due to him. Added on several kilos to myself due to umpteen ice-creams trips with him.

I used to attend training sessions in PESIT (an engineering college in Bangalore) during that period. Friends from these sessions were Ashwini, Nithya, Dhanya, Amruthashree and others. I also used to attend computer classes (that’s what they called it :D) in NIIT.

Kala and Shobha are friends from NIIT. Kala was an actress in Kannada soaps as well!! She was good student and extremely neat in maintaining her books. Shobha and I used to spend at least an hour after classes speaking, sitting on our two-wheelers.

After engineering, I joined a “reputed” software company in Bangalore. I did not know anybody in our training batch. So, just went and sat down next to “silent” girl Latha. She is the topper in our training batch. A good friend of mine. Got to know Joy (Tridip) through her. He is “Mr. Patience Personified” and very caring person.

This was the actual photo that had to make to this blog. That’s me with Latha, Joy and Goutham.

During the first year of work, I got seriously involved in some community activities. These activities were made fun and I longed for them every weekend due to Raghu, Amit, Sneha, Vidya and others.

Latha left the company we were working for after 2 years. Then, it was Neha’s turn to get bugged by me.

That’s Neha with me and my brother. If you want to know something latest in fashion, refer to Nehapedia. :D

So, I have run through a list of names. I know how torturous that is :D

Each stage of life is so wonderful. Remembering those stages in the right sense is even more wonderful. There have been so many people who have come, influenced and left my life. There will be tons more to come. Ok…its high time I wind up now by flicking a line from the poem “The Brook” and tweaking it as follows:

“(Wo)men may come and (wo)men may go, but I shall go on forever..er…for some more time” :D

Movie of the moment: Dil Chahta Hain

Next to Come: Beauty beyond the eyes

Solitude

This photo was taken in Talakadu. It was taken during one of the most memorable project parties (er…trek) in September 2005. This is one of my favorite photographs and well acclaimed by ace photographers (yap yap :D ).

Named this photo “Solitude” as it has a serene frame and epitomizes the bliss of solitude. There is one single petit man-made structure in a vast natural canvas symbolizing how small human beings are.

Yeah! I know the colors seem a little dull as this was captured after sunset. I could have very well used a photo editor to enhance the colors. However, I wanted to leave it un-tampered. I wanted to leave it VIRGIN. Exactly, the way I want to leave the great natural gifts of the Almighty after I hike. I have seen many “nature lovers”, as they call themselves, dirtying the entire hike tracks with plastic, food remains, human remains etc etc.

I saw an adventure competition on Discovery Channel few months back. Teams competing in this event were given instructions about how the weight and the kind of things they carried should match with the things they brought back. The more it matches the better points. Things carried by each team was listed down. This was to ensure that nothing was thrown on the way not even used toilet tissues!!! (I know some of you would have said “Yuck”...in Jim Carrey Style :D) I believe this does not apply merely to a competition. We should at least be aware what are biodegradable and non-biodegradable matter. Be conscious about our natural surroundings and ensure its cleanliness in whatever small way possible.

Friends, pass this message on to as many people you know. If you do not pass this message on 10 people in next 10 minutes, you will NOT die of a freak accident, you will NOT have huge business losses and you will NOT be showered with bad luck. NO, nothing will happen NOW. But, some years down the lane, ….. :(

Passing thought: We have not INHERITED Mother Earth from our ancestors, but BORROWED it from our children.

Poem of the moment: Daffodils by William WordsWorth

Next to Come: Friends