I would start with a few candid confessions about the IMT farewell on 3rd March 2010. On the lustrous night, I was feeling sad on multiple accounts. Firstly, I was sorry to myself for not having a girlfriend to dance with. Secondly, the grief was accentuated by watching a bunch of single girls dancing within themselves without eve noticing us hopefuls. Thirdly, I felt sad for my inconsequential abstinence from hard drinks which could have otherwise helped in subsiding the pain. However, friends come handy particularly in such moments of pain and you realize that the sadistic pleasure that you derive out of watching the equally hapless faces is otherwise impossible. And you appreciate that boy-friends are equally good dance partners and can amuse you in multiple other ways (though not exactly the way a girlfriend can). So we danced, and danced like crazy, since nobody was watching our footloose. And I must confess, that all the feelings of sadness and remorse of distantness from the fairer sex fainted as the night progressed.
Though, a new set of even more excruciating thoughts began to sting the bodily organs; the truth that this party would be the last of its kind, not only for this year or for the MBA but for our whole goddamn life remaining on this planet. We will have many more separate fun filled parties in life, no doubt, maybe with even more grandeur and fanfare. But the joy and comfort, of being surrounded by a crowd feeling the same clumsy vicious pang in their hearts, would be missing. The sense of belongingness, almost palpable, as if you can easily wade through your home with closed eyes, would be missing.
The scene in 3 Idiots where Farhan Qureshi’s father says “Mera beta engineer banega” the moment he is born shows a toned down version of the celestial expectation most of the parents have from their kids. They decide the destination all right, but leave us upon a merciless path to achieve glory. And they push us in a world of annoying competition where men kill men for survival and sometimes even for pleasure. But as we sail through, we drop anchors and cast webs like a Spiderman. And we entangle a few beautiful creatures in these webs creating bonds much stronger than nuclear bonds. This creature, which we call friend, does strange things. He mocks you in front of girls, kicks you hardest on your birthdays, tries to kill you with worst PJs, takes your embarrassing pictures and upload them on the net, encourages you to get an ugly haircut, never wants you to study hard, takes money from you and donates to charity, make you do all the assignments for him and links you up with the ugliest girl in the class.
But this same creature does even more strange things sometimes. He likes your bogus status messages on facebook, sends you lewd messages when you’re feeling bored, invites you to surprise birthday treats, writes exaggeratedly wonderful testimonial for your orkut account, introduces you to his girlfriend’s friends, faces questions thrown at you during class presentations, answers your quiz questions when his own time is running out, brings you medicine even when you don’t tell him you’re really sick and stands by you when you’re worried about placements. He is like a firefighter who enters your burning house when everyone else is running out.
These webs that we cast upon transcend the three spatial dimensions, almost telepathic. It has an enemy though, the fourth dimension i.e. time. Time weakens the bonds, and a decade ago only the strongest could stand the test of time. But cheers to communication technologies, the tests have become simpler and easy to pass. All we need are a couple of active accounts on social networking websites, a permanent mobile number and the best intentions to keep these bonds intact.
To some sophisticated individuals, the aforesaid thoughts would seem too bland for its dragging content. But a Michael Collins can never tell how Neil and Buzz would have felt stepping on the moon. And as long as these thoughts resonate even with a few fellow beings and bring smiles on their faces, I am happy to call them friends forever.
