Its less than 40 days to meet old friends & colleagues and my mind is already racing….

Anxieties… apprehensions… excitement… that adnrenaline rush… the rush of blood to my head

Tracing and picking up so many fragments of events that happened during my most formative years.

So many things happened along the way which I carry alongwith me until today until eternity.

I owe all my life’s happiness to so many people. People I could live without and many people I couldn’t live without.

This post is an extension of what happened during all those years…

It’s not even as exhaustive as I thought it to be… So I guess that leaves more room for me to delve into that life later on…

Childhood, school, the formative years
So many things happened. I guess I should be lucky to have born and brought up during the 70s.
Nothing compares to what it was then and what life we are leading now. Sure, money isn’t everything!

I am going to visit the house I was brought up where rests a Church now. The verandah, the chawl system, the neighbors, the power-cuts, the late night talks, starry eyes… the wonder years…
I hope, I hope, I get to meet with my old friend and buddy Raja when all we used to do was dream of a better life. A life better than Sharma chawl. Living there was one thing and getting out from there was another. I hope our families get along.
I guess that will… I mean when we can, why can’t they? Raja, are you listening? Plan the Kerala trip quickly….

If there was enough laughter and smiles in my early life then I must thank SK. Although we didn’t attend the same school, most of the times we used to end up in each other’s house. Especially during our board exams. I guess the ”Iyengar” surname helped us in a very big way. We always used to be one behind the other during our board terms. Copying, making chits were so usual for us. I guess it was only during these times that we actually started appreciating each other as friends more than cousins and thus we continue to do even until today! And SK, two days fultoo time pass we will do this time. God when we used to hang out it was like total chaos around. We still are the same. I guess we never got to spend that much time until today like how we used to do then… If you are from Bombay then you would know… Imagine very long walks from Bhandup to Mulund… Although we used to go cycling… we would rarely ride it. With us even our poor cycles used to take a walk and eventually rusty! SK, catch you soooon mate!

Next stop would be my school. St Xavier’s high school. The events that most shaped my life for what I am today. My teachers, my great great friends. It’s very rare that today’s kids spend their entire schooling from lower KG till their high school graduation in the same school. Well, to us it was the other home. It would really be unfair if I took some names and forgot the others. Dear Xavierites, this post is for you. Missed you all these years and too happy to meet you all. I almost feel that this is kind of a school reopening of sorts. Smell of new books, new school bags et all.

Cousins… Talking about cousins, I have this cousin of mine; Shanti who changed the way I used to think about people and life in general. In many ways she was my mentor of sorts. I guess the last time I met her was during 2000 and now its more than a decade than our last meeting and I am just too excited to catch up with her.

College… my most creative years
I guess it was only in college (SIES) that I could really understand that I had this creative instinct in me. College for me was one roller-coaster. We were a gang of boys and we used to claim ourselves the BFC gang. Meaning Batman Fan Club. Balaji, Russel, Deepak , Chandru (We also used to call him Kutta for his signature pose like a dog and occassionally Jeeragoli) and myself. It was Balaji’s idea to have it coined that way.

I still don’t know why.
So please don’t ask. But yes, this BFC reunion will unveil the mystery surrounding that. Or I must say that I am growing so old, that I need to re-oil my thoughts. It was during this period my creativity just went higher and higher. I mean I did our college annual day Logo for the year, aptly titled Visions, Won many inter-collegiate competitions. It was here that I was made to realize by BFC that I had a talent. Thanks to BFC that I knew about something called as the advertising industry. I didn’t get into the creative bandwagon but I still am with the most creative industry and I am glad I am here!

The rose day, the self intro with the girls (Well not me really but I guess everyone from my group except myself and Deepak tried it!) But however, I must admit that I was too good in raising the anxiety amongst the group. I would surely need to write a separate post about the great gang called the BFC! Hope the boys give me enough food for thought!

Ubique… the most supportive years
Ubique I would say was the most unique agency in my entire life. I mean Ubiquitas advertising. Gosh, it was one hell hole one would love to be in! You learn everything and nothing over here. By everything I mean friendship and by nothing I meant work. This was one unique agency where you join one day, resign the other day and you can still join back the next day. I mean in our two year stint we literally had so many heads turning up and down. All thanks to the great owners Jayesh and Dhaval. Mr. Dhaval Mehta was indeed a great guy so I’d keep him out of this mess. Jayesh was hell of a guy. If you haven’t seen baniya (Baniya is term used in Bombay where you find small shop owners who’ll go down to the last decimal when it comes to managing their money!) working in a corporate setting, you can imagine Jayesh there. He was this huge and bulky guy, always in sharp ironed, bright cotton/ linen shirts. He had this hitler like charisma and would leave none when it came to financial matters. While Dhaval used to be this strategic guy, Jayesh worried more about petty issues. We were a group of 6-8 awesome buddies who used to hang around no matter what.
I found great friends here if not a great career. Myself, Mahendra Shetty aka Mandy, Umang, Jeprish, Sunita, Preeti, Sandeep, Prachi, Rashmi always used to hang around bitching about the bosses and crack jokes at our own situations.

Inspite of all this, I must really thank Ubique for providing that stepping stone. Had it not been for Ubique, I wouldn’t be here where I am standing today!

So many things we did, so many events just clouding my thoughts right now. Life is one hell of ride!

The feeling is just too nostalgic and I hope it stays with me for a long, long time to come….