Monday, January 22, 2007

AFTER FOURTEEN YEARS

1992. I was in standard five. My (my first ever) best friend and classmate, Riju Chatterjee, was moving to Calcutta that summer. We decided to visit each other's homes before we parted. I went to his house and we had the greatest time. The day he was supposed to turn up, he didn't. I did not have a telephone in my house at that time, and after frantic attempts to contact him, I realised he was gone.. forever. I hadn't noted down his new address.

(Man, I actually lived in an era of no mobile phones, no e-mail!!)

For years after that, I pounced on anyone who said they were from Calcutta with a street name that I thought I had heard Riju mention. As I grew older, I realised that it was as stupid as an Indian movie hero going to America with just the heroine's childhood photo in hand to track her down. But that didn't stop me from making efforts.

However, the jokes, the songs, the music, and the conversations only ten year olds can have, have remained as fresh as ever in my mind. I don't have as much memory of my first crush as much as I do of my first best friend. And I thought he would remain a memory forever.

Orkut happened.

I found him! And took four days to deal with the extreme vibrations of happiness the excitement caused in my body. I learnt that he had been trying to find me too. Never asked him why he didn't turn up at my house fourteen years ago. For I was too shocked and sweetly surpised that he remembered the jokes, the songs, the music, and the conversations only ten year olds can have.

24 comments:

Shruti said...

i think the reunion would have been made more memorable because of the no-contact status in between :)
i wonder what would have happened if orkut had come into the picture waay back then :)
happy "strolling down memory lane"!

Pandhu said...

similar incident with him... just that the excitement was not that great with me, coz, i lost this really great fren of mine, and found him 7 years later...
he had shifted aways from his flat, but did not go to another country or state, and in any case, singapore is is too small to get lost.
I found him on FRIENDSTER, as i did many other frens.
But in this era of internet and mobile phones, really anything is possible.
Is there still a need to go on searching with a photo??

prithz said...

whoa! thats so damn cute! Have happy moments together. :)

Vinesh said...

s_h_r_u_t_h_i: i think the reunion would have been made more memorable because of the no-contact status in between :)

I think so too :-)

@revatechnic: hey i wouldnt panic if i lost a friend today, cos i konw everything's possible. but i lost him fourteen years ago, when there were none of these! things were more hopeless then, at least in India. also, we were about ten years old when we parted ways - so u tend to panic more when you're younger too.. cos there aren't many things important to you in your life (like money etc) like a best friend

@prithz: thanks prithz. i hope to meet him in person soon.

@prithz

@prithz

Unknown said...

man, this was the very same case with me too! Found a friend who'd left all the way to Singapore many years back!

Narayanan Venkitu said...

Hmm. What can I say Vinesh...Both of you are lucky to get each other back !.

It's a wonderful feeling can't be explained by words. I've been there done that...but not thru Orkut! Orkut is amazing that way !

Did it happen now? I mean when you are in the US?

Einsteinophile said...

Hail Orkut ! :)

Jo said...

That's a touching Orkut story. :-)

Jeevan said...

Orkut join Friends Great effort!! still remember the songs, jokes... that's nice to know vinesh.

Prixie said...

awwww...

Vinesh said...

@vikram h: amazing feeling, no?

@narayanan venkitu: this was just before i came to the US. ippo dhaan blog paNNen.

@einsteinophile: cheers to that!

Vinesh said...

@jo: i'd be glad to share my testimonial with the website :-)

@jeevan: orkut is a boon!

@priya: :'-)

Unknown said...

yeah man, absolutely amazing!...and buddy, thanks a lot for blogging about The Pursuit of Happyness. I watched it after reading here and i simply couldn't control the tears flowing out of my eyes at the end!!

Kausikram Krishnasayee said...

lucky you!! i am still trying to trace anuradha hazarika in orkut :|

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot for what You are doing!Information, that I managed to find here
is extremely useful and essential for me!With the best regards!
David

Vinesh said...

@vikram h: i'm glad i could share an awesome movie with you! :-)

@kausikram krishnasayee: ok, i'll be on the lookout for her, too!

@David: Glad you like Orange Juice - thanks for writing in!

Priya said...

aww.. guys writing slightly senti posts.. cool :D priya like :)))

..p..

Vinesh said...

@priya: hey, dont be FCP! senti is our birthright :-)

Anonymous said...

Even i had faced a similar situation...3 Cheers to ORKUT:-)

Gayathri said...

Wow!! Lucky you. :-) Guess Orkut can use your post as a testimonial for their site. ;-)

Gladtomeetin said...

Hey.....Same thing happened with me too...Though it was not 10 years gap but was 6 years...

Orkut Rocks!!!!

Viewer said...

Truly some relationships alasts for Life Long not matter how big the Gap is

Sandhya Ramachandran said...

wow... sounds amazing!!! :) But u know what's as good as your incident? My childhood best friend and I, even though she left Chennai in 4th std, remained in touch till date!!! :)

none said...

Congratulations!

Even I lost touch with a friend... She was a great friend and we studied together until 4th standard.... After Summer holidays, I was expecting her in school, but she never came back..... Somebody said that her father got a transfer to some other city....
Had been searching her from then on..... Past 17 years or so.....
So far no clue......
I only know her name and her Father's name..... nothing else......
Most of my secret passwords are her name..... So, not one day passes without her thoughts.... or atleast her name.....

Sometimes I think I should never find her at all...... Cause I am afraid that may be even if I find her out, she may not be the friend that I was searching for.....