Sunday, August 1, 2010

Friends

Today is friendship day. A day dedicated to celebrate the friends in your life. Friends hold a special place in my life. Ever since childhood, i have been fortunate to have been surrounded some really nice people whom i call friends.

My 1st ever friend was made in the townships of Baroda. We became really good friends and are still in touch after 25 years of friendship. I still remember both of us playing cricket in car garages and fighting for the right to bat first.

Coincidentally, both our families got transferred to Haldia in the same year and both of us landed at this unknown place in West Bengal with nothing but each others friendship to hold us together. We made some new friends in our 1st year there and one of them sparked my interest in WWF(Now WWE) wrestling which is my favorite sport to watch even today. From there on, three of us became really good friends playing and studying together most of the time. However, as fate would have it, my 1st ever friends dad was again transferred after 3 years in Haldia to New Delhi while my dad remained. The departure of my 1st ever friend really made me sad but i held on. I made some new friends as i entered class 4. These ones were good at studies and i would be lying if i say that i was not jealous of some of them being toppers in the class.

School days were fun as we sailed through them playing cricket, football(yes, i used to play football as well) and studying. All this fun ended for me when my father got transferred to Mumbai as i entered 9th standard. I did not know whether to feel happy about the fact that i was going to Mumbai or feel sad that i was leaving this small town and the friends that i have made here. Nevertheless, i had a good farewell party and off i was too Mumbai. I never made much friends with the local kids in Mumbai. Maybe just because i was not one of them. My years in Mumbai were however not uneventful. The little friends i made taught me how to steal money from my parents wallet without getting caught, watch late night porn movies and everything that my parents would not want me learning. But my best days were ahead of me.

I enrolled into an engineering college in Ramtek, Nagpur University. I was extremely nervous when i entered the college campus to begin first of my four years of engineering and hostel life. The only comforting fact for me was that my elder brother studied in the same college and was in final year which meant a lot. Having a brother in final year helped me avoid all the ragging while my batch mates suffered through it.

My friends in engineering taught me most of the things in life that has made me a better person. They celebrated my dad's promotion with me, they were as much as happy i was when i cleared my 1st year backlog papers along with my 3rd semester exams. Every joyous occasion, be it anyones, was shared by everyone as if it was their own. I did not even know how to eat food with hands, they taught me that. While in engineering, I learned to celebrate life and more importantly i learned to respect friends and friendship. We used to sleep on railway platforms because we never had enough money to stay in a lodge. We used to travel by trucks to Nagpur to save mere 10 rs /- on bus fare. I never said "Thank You" to any of my friends but deep down i really look up to them and respect them for turning this "No good idiot" into someone worthy.

When we left college, we promised to keep in touch and most of us has honored it so far. Even today, we look up to each other for advices, confiding secrets and sharing our griefs.

While most of my friends went into jobs, fate however had different plans for me. I secured admission in Welingkar School of Management for MBA. I quickly became friends with most of the hostelites who were mainly from Delhi. The bond that binded us together was the same bond that binds most of the guys together "Alcohol". We never missed any opportunity to catch a few drinks together. Be it exams, mid terms, presentations we drank and passed through them all. My friends at MBA taught me how to communicate with people, how to sell myself in an interview and more importantly how to make CVs. If it had not been for them, i probably would not have been where i am today. They always believed in me more than i did in myself. We always studied and partied together. They were there to celebrate with me when i got my first job. I called up my friends before i called my parents to tell them i had got a job. They were there for me throughout all sorts of problems i faced in my first job. They helped me make my CV when i was looking for another job. They made me respect friendship even more than i did before. I am very much indebted to them for having belief in me and for tolerating my drinking rants.

All through my life, my circle of friends have taught me many things in life which makes me the person i am today. I never believed in the concept of a best friend or a BFF. For me, all friends are the same. Some friends are more dear than others but i choose not to choose between friends. Now sitting here in Bangalore, as i celebrate friendship day i have only two things to say to all my friends "Thank You for being my friend" and "Love you all".

25 comments:

Lipi said...

true... they actually have taught us a lot... and today is best day thank them :)

Shuchir said...

Very well written Nishant. Its almost a mirror of your life. I am sure you have great friends because you are a great friend yourself. As someone said "To get a good friend, you have to be one yourself".

Your friends at HP would be glad if you wrote about them as well.

I wish you happiness.

Lalit Kalra said...

well written bansi,we have made some really good friends during MBA and really wish that we carry on this friendship for life. good one bansi keep it up

Nishant said...

@ lale: Thanks lale... yeah..friends for life...

@shuchir: Thanks for the compliment...Definitely, I will write about HP friends some day...But that time has not come yet...:)

/-\|3\-\i$/-/e| said...

I know bansal you have learnt a lot hehe hahaha.

Happy friendship day. isi baat pe cheers. burp! idhar toh party chal rahi hai.

Lekin mujhe jaan ke kafi surprising laga ki tum mumbai aa ke itney bigad gaye...

Baki on serious note, when you are sad or happy you always do and will share with me your thoughts i know that and same here. I think friendship is like counselling, in a better way.

Rest is not to be spoken but understood.

Unknown said...

Well done mate.......u have put it across in a real nice way. Glad to know more about u :)

coffeetable said...

Yarr..im realy short of words..wat to say abt ur blog...i nvr cared abt friendship in life...u know evry thing of my ordeal in engg...but still i tell evry thing from my first job, to my first trip to u friends bfr i tell my parents...may be im learning in my sub concious mind...long way to go to catch u up in terms of friendship....btw...the article is kickass.....:)

mrinal said...

hmmmmmmmm....wel written and perfect timing....its good to see ur sensitive side too :P

sale station pe kab soya??

i agree hostel life was biggest learning curve and made most friends too...

best thing abt bansal is he is always in touch and always ready for help(happy to help :))...well done bansal n keep it up!

Madhur said...

Beautiful.....simple and true! Keep writing :)

Sushant said...

Hey, nice one, this really reminds my old memories too. hidden talent :), I think next time you will write about us too ;).

Tarun Relhan said...

This is really nice but i could some how feel the touch of your boss with the sentiments flowing through the blog anyways very well done ;-)

Unknown said...

Hey cool recap.....I must say, going through it I had a revisit of my past. This is sth which I guess more or less everyone will relate to.

Indeed friendship is the purest relation in which we groom and learn. Happy friendship day to you dear. May you get good2 friends all throught out....Cheers..

Murtuza said...

Bansi bhai...sahi likha hai ekdum yaad dila diya woh din....n most important is ur the same what u were during Engineering.....n keep the same always.....

Nishant said...

Thanks Everyone... :)

dsainik said...

hey bansal....thats a great piece of writing!!! i remember wen we slept on a railway platform , it was one of our first trips to ngp from ramtek ...i also remember telling you a byomkesh story on the way!!..happy frndship day to you and just to assure you ..we all reciprocate , feel the same way wen the door closes and we are alone ...among all...

Nitin Bansal said...

Mr.Nishant Bansal it is your misconception that papa and mummy didnot know that you have taken out money from their wallets...it was just that they thought you will automatically learn things with time. ...samjhe...

a good written blog

Manic Junkie said...

Hey I didn't know you had an elder bro back in college! I'm glad you hav great memories from Ramtek. Me, I feel we were all kinda frogs in a well called KITS :)

A said...

yeah nishant! While reading your blog, i was lost for sometime in those golden college days we spent together. As experience we will have many things in common for the short period of time we were together. For me hostel life was the best which i wanted to enjoy for some more time, so even i pursued higher studies and enjoyed for 2 yrs. Now, will be looking for times when we guys could meet and relive those great moments once again. Cheers Nishant! :-)

A said...

Few special moments which only we share nishant. One, during our 5th semester exams, we planned to meet at 10 and discuss the paper ...hehe. Two, during out mid term we had a bet who will leave the class first. Although we both had written what we had to write in 15 mins, but were forced to sit atleast for 1 hr. I rememeber, you stood first and left the class and i followed immediately to win the bet :) and i need not tell what the bet was about :P

Unknown said...

Dude u ur life in mumbai was not all wat u wrote... I think u 4got all wat v hav done in coll
D bowlin games d playstation... D dosas ;) d frankees
N many more... N u hav only 2 lines on ur mumbai experience...
I'm sad...

Nishant said...

Tauseef: Yeah..i know...Life in mumbai was much more than what i wrote... Specially the bowling, bunking classes, dosas and of course playstation... But the blog was getting really long... so shortened it... I have no bad memories from stay in Mumbai... I love Mumbai... I will write a detailed blog on my Mumbai life one day definitely...

Others: Thanks for appreciating the blog...

Nik said...

Well....u deserve a comment for this one :) I will say well written and the content is purely based on facts !!! You have learned most of the things from us :p

Cheers to all the good time we all have spent together n for many more which is gonna come !!!

SharleenPosyMigdalia said...

Good one . Its always good to cherish relationships and bonds that you have with people.you only have one life for it

Unknown said...

Sahi hai bhai.. college ki yaad dila di tumne... those stupid acts, those laughs together, those backdoors (where u always used to get stuck in the barbed fence.. lol)... most amazing days of life...
Kudos to our College life and Kudos to all the friends we have!! :)

Dipali said...

hey bansi..
very well written...cant belive tht u have written all this :)

Hope u make more friends like this and hang on to the old one forever :)
ALso in the next friendhip blog there would be more additions to the List of friends and the lessons learned :)

i knw its too late but then every day is friendship Day

So HAPPY FRIENDSIPS DAY :)