Bangalore

It's been exactly 1 year and 5 months since I stepped off the Chennai Mail onto the dusty platform of Cantonment Railway Station. As I got off the train, a grinning Febi came walking up, dressed in his favorite blue Peter England shirt and slacks. I'll never forget that moment.

Flashback 5 years to a dusty room filled with wooden benches and a couple of nervous first year engineering students too scared to eat lunch at the Cafeteria for fear of getting hazed. I'm sitting alone in a corner wondering how many friends I am going to make over the next 4 years. There were two other guys in the room, and one walked over and introduced himself to me- "Hey, I'm Febi" and minutes later introduced me to the other guy, a large(at the time, not any more) bespectacled dude called DJ. Febi's second question to me was -" When's your Birthday?". Startled as I was by this sudden interrogation, I wanted to be a little more open than my usual introverted self and said -"17th July!". And febi was like "NO WAY!" We traded ID's and the rest is history.

Now fast forward to a garden in college, and Febi, DJ and me are laughing at this guy in a floral print shirt, boot cut jeans and black boots. I remember thinking "Who wears boots?..sheesh, loser". Pavan ended up becoming a great buddy and the target of many of my jokes.

Though a brief swimming pool encounter a decade ago is highly disputable, DJ and me met through Febi and we instantly found we had plenty of things in common - Sarcasm, Pavan pranks, evil pranks on our siblings and a desire to stop using the college bus and come by car or bike.

Basically, all I'm trying to convey to you, my readers(if you are still here), is that my friends are a very important part of my life. And I hope, that bond will remain tight for the rest of their life and mine.

4 years , many late night study sessions, movie marathons later, I decided to pursue my fortunes in the Land of Opportunity. And now, here I am, pining for home. I cant return until December 2007.

F***in Crap!