We Four

A new life in Bangalore after passing out from the business school. Enjoyed the first couple of months at the work place before life started getting monotonous. That’s when I had decided to go back to my home-town and work there, but as it’s said- man proposes and god disposes- finally came back to Bangalore to join another company in June’05. That’s the time when I started looking for a Paying guest accommodation to avoid the loneliness of staying in a studio flat.

Initially, I was completely alone in a three storied building before Tejal came and joined me. Tejal- a tender girl from the fashion city Mumbai and stays far away from any girlish fashion- just completed BE and came here to join Thought works. I was happy to see her since she was my only companion in the big house. On a fine evening when I came back from my office, I saw two other girls- Jyoti and Shilpa.-sharing the same house with us. Jyoti was a very soft girl. The first time when I saw her, I complimented her beauty and good hair. She looked like beauty with brain to me. Finally the house was filled with four girls. Some days later Shipla’s sister came to Bangalore and she moved into her house.

Those days we were waiting for another girl to join us. In a Saturday morning when I was busy listening to one of my most favorite Bryan Adams’ numbers, I saw a new girl, Meena entering our house with her luggage. Finally the house was fully occupied. Meena and Jyoti were not very fond of Bryan Adams’ loud music which I used to play in the initial days whereas Tejal was too much into herself. But I understood their importance the day one of my very close fiends left to USA and these three girls were trying to make me strong.

I came to know that Meena was very fond of astrology, especially zodiac signs; she would forget the name of the person but not his/her zodiac sign. A Saturday morning when I was going to Cross-word I asked her if she wanted to join me and she said NO thinking how good or bad my company would be. Also she was confused with my bossy attitude. With the passing time all of us started understanding each other and bonded in a strong friendship. The most common thing that bound all of us was Food, especially Sweets. That’s why once I had told that Food played a major role in our friendship.

It was the first time when I could not go home on Diwali. Meena was there with me for a long time but finally left to her hometown Chennai. While coming back she made sure to get my favorite Bundi laddu from there. But when she reached home she could feel that I had a blast on Diwali with all delicious food looking at myself, that’s when she started calling me Motu. We both were missing Tejal and Jyoti until they came back home.It was nearing Jyoti’s birthday (29th Nov) then. Three of us thought of giving her a surprise and bought a smart tee-shirt and perfume for her. But she didn’t like either of them- gave the perfume to Meena and kept the tee-shirt in her wardrobe. This made us little disappointed though the birthday party was very good in Chandni Chowk, an authentic Punjabi restaurant.We used to wait for occasions to go out together and sometimes create occasions for us to go to Barista café or Corner House, the best places to have exotic dessert after dinner. Then it was Christmas time when Jyoti and I had gone together first time for shopping. Jyoti had bought very nice clothes for the Christmas party. Immediately after that, was the New Year. All were excited for the day. We had a nice evening and finally had had cake at home in the midnight.
Those days the work pressure was more and we were not able to spend as much time as we used to spend in the initial days together. But whenever we needed someone, we were always there for each other- that’s what friendship all about. We used to have loads of fun discusing our childhood incidents. After a point of time we had chosen names for each other according to our great deeds of childhood; Jyoti as Rinni (once she had mispronounced the word panny as rinni), Meena as Naai kutti (the Pomeranian dog whose hair needs to be brushed), Tejal as Poona kutti (not the kitten but the real the wild cat) and myself as Yanna kutti (the cool elephant).

Next occasion was Tejal’s birthday- 4th Feb- where again we planned for a surprise party and gifts but she also had not liked the books what we bought for her. The books- *Holy Blood and Holy Grail, Red Dragon, Silence of the Lamb* were high doses for her. But this time also the birthday treat was very good in Tangerine, a nice continental joint.

Finally it was Valentine’s Day when Meena and Tejal were with me till the late evening because I was upset with things. That day I had realized how important it’s to have good friends. Meena, Tejal and Jyoti- all of them were sweethearts. Then Jyoti had moved into a new role in a new company and meena had got prompted at her workplace- two big reasons for us to celebrate.

It was April by then and my birthday was nearing. I had decided not to celebrate my birthday because I was not finding any reason to celebrate; probably I had forgotten that birthday itself was the biggest reason in it to celebrate. I remember I had slept early that night while reading the book- Blink. But there was a nice birthday blast in the midnight and we were again excited for the party in the evening. There was nice kurti packed for me as my birthday gift. It was a complete surprise to me. After I completed MBA and left hostel, I never thought of having such a birthday blast. We had gone to Bombay Blues- one of my most favorite places to have dinner. We made sure to make Meena eat sizzler that evening. Finally all of us had sizzlers though the pepper sauce could not excite Meena’s taste buds beyond a limit.

In May I was completing a year in my organization and was looking for a change. That’s when I got into another company and all of us had another reason to celebrate. Meena also got hike during those days so it was double celebration for us.

Another excitement was Meena’s birthday that time. We bought her some perfume and junk ornaments, thinking that she’ll start behaving like a girl. But *old habits die hard*- we had forgotten this when we did all the shopping for Meena. She wore all those junks on the first day and lost it the same day. This time also the perfume was not of her choice and it had passed on to me.The following month Meena and I had planned a trip to Chennai. This was one of the most happening train journeys we had ever had. We could not know how the six hours went so fast in the train. I had asked Meena whether it was because of good companion or the good food that we had through out the journey.It’s almost a year since we have started staying together, away from home yet in a home. Jyoti and Tejal are much disciplined whereas Meena and I are far away from discipline. The bonding among four of us had made the paying guest another home for us in a different city.

We have tried out lots of things in this one year like joining a gym for four days, walking for two days; making resolutions to keep our wardrobe clean etc. Now with the change of season and attitude the names have also changed; Meena named as Mottu 1, Jyoti as Motu 2, Tejal as Chhotu and I as Motu 3.We have also names according to our sun signs- Intelligent Aquarian for Chhotu, Stubborn Taurian for Motu 1, Soft Sagittarian for Motu 2 and Bossy Arian for myself. We have learnt a lot from each other and yet learning whether its Tejal’s bathing skills , Chudail (that’s how Jyoti and myself address each other with lots of love)’s production skills or Meena moron’s messing up skills and my laughing skills.

Chotu is the darling to all and has got different names according to her attitude and behavior sometime Miss B.D.I, sometimes Jelo or sometimes Miss High dose (She call lots of movies like Vanilla Sky, Lake House as High Dose movies).

These days we are happy about two news-Jyoti’s new job and Tejal’s transfer. The later has actually made all of us sad. Though I am happy about Tejal going to a place near to her home-town, I still wish that somehow her transfer gets cancelled; listening this she tells* Moti terri to….*It may sound little selfish but I know that I am going to miss her so much after she leaves Bangalore. Her Visa has been stamped for the USA and I wish she directly goes to the USA rather than getting transferred to Pune. Let’s see how things work out, we are happy for her either ways.

Jyoti, Meena and Tejal , I don’t know where we’ll be next year by this time, where will be after five yrs, ten yrs; but let’s make sure that all of us share the same bond of friendship forever and ever and ever.