Yaariyaan

After shifting back to Odisha,last Saturday was my first official shopping date with my Mom :P Due to the incessant heavy downpour during our shopping, we went to have ice cream, hoping for the rain to subside in the meanwhile. As we were having the ice cream, I saw three teenage girls entering the parlour, giigling, chit chatting & poking each other about what to eat. Finally a few giggles later, they left drenching me in nostalgia.

As I came out & gaped at the continuous trickles of rain drops, my mind wandered in snapshots to my ILP, hostel,college & school. Each phase of my life has given me friends.Happy moments, crazy times, silent tears,sharing & caring & above all, timeless memories.

The school farewell is vividly in my mind.That was my first tryst with growing up I guess. All those people with whom I had spent so many years talking, giggling, sharing secrets,  competing from cycle races to ranks, nursing heart breaks,  slogging for exams,indulging in notoriety during classes, kneeling down during punishments, chit chatting for endless hours on phone, exchanging cassettes for favorite movie songs, roaming during lunch breaks, sharing notes, cracking jokes during morning assembly & finally being there for each other right from school functions to tuitions to punishments were all going one by one to deliver their farewell speeches & wishes. It was a strange feeling, I was wondering how would I ever do without them around.We promised that we would stay in touch, we are still in touch through FB & occasional calls.

Then college came & along with it came the wave of freedom & friendship. I must admit it that the best thing about my college CET was the amazing group of friends it gave me.People from various places,backgrounds uniting together to share a unique bond,sometimes facing the side effects of studying in a State govt owned college, sometimes attending birthday treats, sometimes studying together for internal exams, sometimes visiting the zoo & Dominoes after bunking classes,sometimes organizing a fresher's party in 2 days with budget constraints,looking back, those moments could be the best ever I could experience in my life.

Even the hostel life was truly amazing. The one bowl four spoons Maggi, late night chit chats,secret sharing, movies,outings, functions & pujas & above all a silent promise to be there for each other no matter what.The biggest thing I have learnt in hostel is the beauty of sharing, from a reserved person reluctant to share her bucket & clips to someone exchanging clothes to spoons while eating, one does come a long way.

The friends in got in my college have inspired me in their own ways.My school days were my during my fairytale childhood, when I was given the belief by my grandparents that only good & nice things existed in one's life & the world.My college days began with my grand mother's demise which was a period of huge void for me,where I faced a lot of issues personally & otherwise. Yet during those moments of darkness, it is my friends in CET who inspired me to be a better person, who taught me the valuable lesson to never give up on life & the fact that along with humility comes greatness.

I have met some amazing people during my internship in IIIT Bangalore. Crazy interns is the name we give our group, each one there is loaded with talent, be it coding or singing coupled with loads of humility, yet what makes me smile is the beautiful bond we share.I havent met them many times, nor do we speak on phone often, yet be it a crazy post in our group or chat, we start from where we left. They are special !

Then there was my ILP in TCS Trivandrum. A group of 30 people from different parts of the country coming together to design & execute a J2EE Project but ending up to be friends. The All girls trip to Ponmudi,the chandelier made of plastic bottles for an exhibition, the Rangoli during diwali,the slogging in  lab for final presentation & finally the painful good byes knowing that we might not get to see each other ever.This phase taught me that friendship doesnt limit itself to geographies or distances, its just the distance between heart to heart.

And finally Bangalore. There were two beautiful things I got in Bangalore. One was the reunion with my school friend who became my room mate.We have known each other for more than a decade, yet we had lost touch in  the past few years due to our circumstances.As we stayed together we relived all those moments  of  our growing up together, it felt as if we started all over again. The lesson I learnt here was that no matter what, true friendship never dies, it might go for hibernation during winters but it shifts to agility the moment spring returns.

The project team at TCS Bangalore also has a special place in my heart. All the inhibitions I had about the real life work situations,were shrugged off, thanks to the amazing people I met there. Each of them inspired me in their own way. I found my mentors, whom I can always look up to & friends I can always reach out to.

All this again brings me back to friendship.In Rabindranath Tagore's song "Purano sei diner  kotha" , he summarizes friendship in the most beautiful way, stating the happiness of two long lost friends who meet & remember all those happy moments they spent together, stating that even if time separates them, they shall reunite again.

Working in TCS Bhubaneswar, makes 12 hours of my day perish before me realizing it. I admit that once one's work life starts , it is difficult to stay in touch with friends regularly.I know I am not good at meeting up or SMS's or regular phone calls either.

But believe me my dear friends no matter where you are, I carry a little part of each of you in my heart always.And we shall start from where we left, the next time we meet, coz that I believe is the beauty of our friendship :)

 Cheers to life !