There are days in your life which you never forget and then there are days which you never want to forget.
 
Often I relate and cherish those moments where I incidentally met the best people in my life, it was so sudden, so unplanned …. I met them when I expected the least. It’s surprising isn’t it ….you meet them out of nowhere and never know that they will be the one fueling your world again and again.
 
(Flashback to – Year 2000, Late November, –Sunday morning: 8 / 9 am)
 
There was a new attraction in my colony since last 15 days and luckily she had also found me attractive enough for exchanging glares and smiles. And that was the sole reason why I, on a chilly Sunday morning, was in my garden pretending to be studying, waiting for a minute glimpse of her just to make my morning more pleasant.
 
(Hold on guys, if you are assuming this writing is about that attraction, cling on to your thoughts)
 
About an hour had already passed and she was nowhere to be found. I was as usual getting restless and all my senses were directed towards noticing any kind of sound or movement that appeared to come from the direction of her house.
 
As my patience quota of the day was about to get over and I was standing at my gate hoping that for some reason she should come from her domicile. As it was a chilly morning and there was some sunshine around there was a possibility that she could be in her balcony as she was also always looking out for reasons to have any kind of non-verbal interactions with me (We hadn’t started talking yet).
 
But there was a problem.....
 
Her house was on the 1st floor and diagonally opposite to mine and the location of her balcony was such that it was not directly visible from my garden. I  had to come out from my home, walk down about 5-10 steps on the road to be able to spot any presence of the newly found  magnetism that was pulling me closer each passing day.
 
I had to find some reason to go out and chance my luck to have any glimpse of her.  But reasons were nowhere to be found. I hung on at my gate for about 15 minutes without any luck and then decided to have my seat back before anyone inside or outside my home notice my impatient eyes and uneasy body language.
 
As I was about to get back to my artificial studying program I saw a familiar figure on the road just opposite to my gate, I thought to myself I know this person, and as that person waived a ‘Hi’ towards me, my own doubts over knowing that person were put to rest. He was in my school only, same class- same section. In fact I knew his name as well. We had interacted on more than one occasion, were on good talking terms but were more of classmates than friends.
  
While this entire mind crunching was taking place, my mind suddenly popped out an idea to fulfil the motive for which I was there all this while. If there was a chance to give my anxious heart some rest the chance was now. I rushed out of my gate, went exactly to that spot from where I could have a direct view of her balcony and shouted on top of my voice to call my classmate who was by then at the end of my lane.
 
Himalaya....................... I shouted as loud as I could...
 
(Yeah, Himalaya  ... That was the name – of all the unique names I have heard in my life this one certainly tops the list)
 
My voice took some time to reach Himalaya. I indicate him to come up to that place and stood there at that spot till he was there.
 
“What are you doing out early morning in such cold weather?” he asked.
“Leave this, see the balcony at your right, can you see a girl?” I instantly blurted out.
“Yes” he said with a puzzled look on his face.
“Is she beautiful?” again came one of my instantly generated queries.
“Yes” He replied after a more exploratory glance of the balcony.
 
As he said yes I turned towards the balcony, waited for couple of seconds for her to notice me and as she did, the normal procedure of exchanging smiles and shying and turning red on seeing each other took place.
 
After all this romantic modus operandi was over I turned towards Himalaya and said, “Yeah Brother, now tell”
By then there was a smirk on his face as well. He teasingly asked, “What’s going on?”
 
I had no reply to this and could only share a laugh in return.
 
(What happened with the Balcony fellow is a totally different story altogether, but that was the start of a comradeship of a lifetime. Agreed that morning I had selfish motives in calling Himalaya but I had accidentally put the first brick in building one of the pillars of my life J )
 
What followed next was a Group of 4 that gradually shaped up (Himalaya, Rachit, Vivek and Me). We were there for each other always but for some strange reasons me and Himalaya shared a much different and stronger bond and so did Vivek and Rachit. Year 2000-2002 saw level of our mischievous acts reach greater heights. Starting from how I used to tease Himalaya as he was unable to shell out the newly learned abuses with the same ease as we did, to our first adult movie, den our first drinking session, getting highly drunk and then dancing without music and a DJ floor, to exploring girls of Blue Bells to Carmel, from Khanna Cosco to Scorecard of Vivek and Rachit we both together witnessed and participated in all.
  
Came class 10th results and we flunked together and then both changed schools. Year 2002-04 saw both of us meeting lot of new and different people in Abhinav, Rahul etc, making new friends in those new places, hardly getting any time to meet. Yet the bond was nowhere to be lost, in fact it grew stronger with each passing day. Days would pass by without talking or meeting but every time we met it seemed nothing had changed.
   
(Having your destiny attached with someone is a different thing and having it somewhat similar to someone is a totally different thing, and in my case, very strangely Himalaya fits in both)
   
Year 2004 saw both of us getting thumped by cupid, obviously to different girls and by end of 2004 I was suffering from heartbreak while Himalaya was going strong. I still feel proud of the fact that my summit with an erroneous person led to him meeting the right one.  Those music sessions at Lucknow University is something I will never forget of.
  
Few months later I made some incorrect decisions which led to huge differences between me and Vivek and eventually led to our group falling apart. Even though I was on the wrong side, Himalaya still supported me on every possible ground.  That incident certainly instilled in me a greater determination to hold on to this bond for ever.
 
Destiny again played its role and we landed up in the same graduation college though in different courses. Yet again there were different set of people and circumstances surrounding us, yet again there were times when communication between both of us was very limited but this time around also the intensity in our friendship never witnessed a decline. I have seen many friendships; many relations fall out due to lack of time and attention, but certainly not this one. 
 
Year 2008 was the time to move out of our homes, out of our comfort zones. Initially there was no way we could have landed up in same city for our masters, leave apart same college. But it seems the string is not only very long it’s very strong too. Guess what, it was meant to be New Delhi for both of us. With the understanding I had of relationships, I knew the real test would begin now. It’s not when two people have very less time that they face difficulties; it’s rather when they have too much time to spend with each other they learn about their shortcomings. And then is the time when they decide whether they want to accept each other shortcomings or not.
 
Delhi began on a very good note and we had a new companion and a new friend in Ankur. We three slowly started adjusting to the new found fast pace life of Delhi. Initially, to be frank, it was not easy at all but the fact that we always intended at living in a home than a house aided us a lot. Slowly the life started to turn into fun.  Soon Followed Padam, Kawal, Ankur and Siddhartha. The newly found freedom was much to be explored of.
 
But I guess some things are never know until they happen. The problem with me was I never gave relationships much thought. In fact I never got time to do so. I was so engrossed with my own life that I never gave a understood to what’s going right, what’s not, is there anything else I need to do, is someone feeling left out and stuff like this. May be this was where I was wrong.
   
It was about 5 months in Delhi when one evening I got a call from one of mine very good friend in Lucknow. He had this habit of keeping things clear between all of us no matter how worse the situation is.  He very interrogatively asked me as to what’s going on and what I was up to in past few months. The conversation that followed rather left me in a state of disbelief.  I was made aware that I have been ignoring people at my home on a constant basis and have been busy in my own self for all this while.  This was a shocker to me.  Not because I deny the charges, but because firstly I never thought that I and Himalaya will have any issues ever with regards to time for each other and secondly if there were issues at all they must have been discussed directly with me and not with others over a drinking session.  When I gave it a deep thought I realized I was on the wrong foot and was somewhere neglecting people in my home. But then maintaining the time balance between your friends and loved one isn't that easy. It’s only when you go through that phase you figure out the anomalies arising out of it. I was lucky I had someone in my life whose top priority was to keep everyone at home always together, someone who understood that friend held the top rights over me and someone who was there as a friend even for my friends.  But then keeping all your loved ones happy at the same time is not that easy I guess. Few months later followed another drinking session incident in my absence in Lucknow which should not have happened ever. 
 
When I came to knew about it I was literally devastated.  But I choose rather not to discuss it with anyone as what had happened, had happened. But I felt Himalaya was the only one who could have stopped it. Things discussed were certainly not meant to be discussed over a drinking session. But then I had disappointed him on several occasions and may be this was my turn to get disappointed. The issue didn't bother me for much long, such was the trust and belief I had for my friends. Slowly and gradually things started to fall back in place and everything was better than before. Came 2010 and we all became busy in our quest to be termed as employed.  Last 3 years have more or less been all about work but we have always found time for each other irrespective of the situation.  The site of Himalaya and others shed tears over discussing my departure for Muscat that was scheduled few days ahead will always remain in my heart for ever. After that site I never wanted to leave. Thankfully, the departure never happened.
  
No doubts in all these years I have disappointed Himalaya on many fronts and on numerous occasions but that man has always chosen silence over discussing these petty issues. And that admirable patience is something I always desired of.  Overlooking things or matter which yields no results discussing is something he is a master at. Mutual belief of being the last man standing for each other is something driving our union ship.
  
Himalaya – Dude, you have seen it all - my successes, my failures, my mistakes, my happiness, my heartbreaks, my crushes, my anger, my despair, my agony, my silence, my Oscar award winning performances, my efforts to woo people, my sins, my crimes, my tears.  Now at this point of time when you are figuring out best ways to figure out the balance of time which I probably few years back wasn't able to maintain, I just want to say, brother don’t try so hard. I know very well what you are up to and how much you try to make our bond go strength by strength.  Many things are still to be written and this space is to too less to narrate everything that we have shared and experienced over all these years. . Also my apologies if I have missed out on something substantial or have mentioned something which is not true in facts.
  
I guess we both know how much we mean to each other and that puts a rest to all other arguments.