Friday, December 31, 2010

2010: In Retrospect


It’s that time again. I thought I should make it a tradition. Look back and see how it was. The year, I mean.  When I started to write this post, I realized I don’t remember much of what happened in 2010. I guess it is because the year just rushed past by and it seems almost like yesterday when I was making plans for New Year eve (last year’s).

This year, I traveled a bit.  Made a few trips to Malaysia and yes, that trip to Switzerland and Italy finally happened. I attended my first conference and made a little progress with my research.  This year was mostly about work, work and more work. I haven’t blogged as much as I wanted to. I invested in a new (er) hobby. I bought myself a good camera. But I haven’t used it as much as I would have liked to.  I haven’t done a lot of things I’ve wanted to. I haven’t had as much fun as I would’ve liked.
This year has seen me grow up…a lot. And no, turning 30 had nothing to do with it. I look at myself now and I realize I am not the person I was a year ago. I don’t like this person I’ve become though.

Then I thought, what the hell…let me change all that. It is a good time for that, right? So I've made a resolution. I’m going to slow down. I will smell the roses. I will take time to do things I want to do. I will have more fun. Yeah, I’ll work too but I’ll try and balance life a little better. I don’t know how I’m going to do it but I’ll try.

So 2011, here I come. A newer, better version of me :) Happy New Year!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Yay!


To a good friend who asked if I was high, “Yes, I am. I so am. I’m high on the weather, the picturesque views, the food, the cheese and ah, yes the wine “

YAY! Today is the last day of the conference. It was a great experience. It was nice to put faces to the big names in the field and actually get an idea as to what kind of people they really are. I always used to think that researchers are simple people but not anymore! They/We really are a complex set of people with different temperaments, just like anyone else.

The conference was also an eye opener. I always knew people work hard and I still think so. But now I can also see “science” in a different light. I can see the competition, the “need” to be famous, the dirty politics and of course the facades behind the goody-goody behaviors. I could clearly demarcate the scientific community into three categories:

1)   The Big Sharks: These are the already well-known scientists that poor graduate students like me ooh-aah about. They may be cool and composed but they can get down and dirty as soon as someone encroaches their areas. Not to say they wont do the same. They have their fingers in every possible pie (any project that is “hot”) and want a piece of the action everywhere.

2)   The Small-time Sharks: These are the not so well known scientists but want to get there. They try all possible tactics to get there too. They are at conferences looking for any possible ideas they may be able to poach. They will do all they can to get at people’s unpublished data and see if they can do something about it, to their own benefit of course.

3)   The last category is of course, the Nobody…poor old grad students like me, who don’t really have much of a say in the on goings. They gawk at the speakers and are awed by being in the same room as the great scientists.

And looks can be very deceptive. You can never tell who’s who in a meeting. The tiny little woman in that corner…no, she’s not a grad student. She is actually a big-time shark who can eat you up whole if she finds a flaw in your data. People actually want to turn and run if she stands up during the Q&A session. And the huge fierce looking guy sitting right in the front is actually a grad student. He just looks fierce but he’s harmless. But the small time sharks, you can actually recognize them by the cameras in their hands. In spite of several announcements that say “No photography”, they will take pictures of the slides with flash and all.

Yes, the conference was really an eye-opener. Good or bad, I’m in this for good.
Right now, I’m a nobody. Lets see where I’ll be in a few years from now.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

All work and no play

No matter how good the science or how interesting the presentations are, listening to talks from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm with some breaks in between is TIRING, to say the least ! And I am so brain-dead. Seriously, what were the organisers thinking??

Monday, September 27, 2010

Totally in awe!


I’m posting this just as soon as I managed to pick up my jaw from the floor.
Yeah, I am still at the conference and still feeling incredibly insignificant.
Some thoughts on today’s experience:
  • The weather was so amazing today. It took so much effort to get to the conference site without making a detour.
  • How the hell do some people get to be so incredibly smart?? It really beats me. Some of these scientists are amazing people, or should I say amazing thinkers (what kind of people they are?? I really can’t say). Their thought processes are really amazing. I know I’m saying “amazing” too many times, but that just gives you an idea about how amazing they are.
  • How the hell do some people get to be soooo good looking and sooo smart as well?? Some scientists can be damn good looking (total eye-candy). It’s a pity I couldn’t really concentrate on what they were saying for some time because of just that.
  • Some people are so so so smart. I’m so in awe. Can’t you tell? I was totally blown away by some of the work presented today. I wish that someday I could be half the scientist that these people are.
  • Was impressed by this Japanese student who presented his work to 1000 scientists from all over the world, inspite of speaking very little (read bad) English. He couldn’t understand what people were asking him but he was so cool and kept laughing at himself (together with the audience). I thought he had so much guts to do that. Really!
  • Some ideas presented today were really great. I could mention specifics but that may be too boring for some. How people can think of such things is really something I can’t fathom for the life of me.
  • Indians make great speakers. I thought the Indian scientists made great presentations and were incredibly smart too. I’m not biased when I say that today’s most impressive presenter was an Indian. It may sound silly but it makes me proud. 


Witnessed some great scientists present some great science. All in all, a very productive day!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Back to Reality


“NEWSFLASH!! This is not your vacation. At least, not yet. You are here for a conference! Even if you are in Switzerland, you are here first to listen to these people talk about their work and contributions to research!” That’s what I was telling myself, sitting at the conference today where I got a steady dose of data and facts about breakthrough research and basically, reaffirmations that I am but a nobody.

I felt so small, sitting with the likes of Ralph Steinman and Ken Shortman. (For the uninitiated, these are the leading scientists working in my field of research). I was even breathing the same air as them. You would think it would be inspiring. Not so much! It's actually intimidating, scary even.

Will I ever be in the same league as them, or even come close? I don’t know. But right now I’m feeling so damn insignificant. How the hell am I going to present my work to these people. I just want to curl up and hide someplace where I won’t be seen for the rest of the conference.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

First Impressions


After dreaming about it for a long time, watching it on endless Karan Johar movies and contemplating for the last six months, I’m finally here!!! I’m in Switzerland! I’m not on vacation as I’m here on a conference but it sure doesn’t feel like it. Just landed here this morning. I’m supposed to be jetlagged but I don’t think I can sleep. I’m so excited!

Some random thoughts:

  • I had my first vision of snow (yeah, I’ve never seen snow before)I could see the snow on the Alps today but it’s still so far away. I will be going there soon, in about a week’s time. I can’t wait!
  • The weather here is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! Anywhere you look, there’s a beautiful picture-perfect, postcard-view! That reminds me, I need to buy a few (postcards , not views)
  • My room in the hotel overlooks the Lake Lugano and It’s amazing to sit out and watch. I could do this for hours.
  • I can actually wear my Harvard Sweatshirt without having to take it off in a minute because I’m feeling hot.
  • I have been here for one whole day and I haven’t had a bead of perspiration.
  • There is SOOOO much time on my hands. Maybe I’m jetlagged and that’s why I can’t sleep too much but works for me.
  • The people here are so beautiful. The men are total eye candy. Even the women are so hot, even if I say so.
  • The dogs here are incredibly cute and there are so many of them. It seems like they are allowed anywhere, even on buses and in departmental stores!
  • The birds are fat, Trust me, a sparrow is twice the size of any sparrow I’ve seen.
  • The cheese is great and is present in every possible food you decide to eat. Actually, so is meat. I guess a vegetarian could live just on the cheese. But I wonder how the people here stay so fit.
  • There was a marathon here today. Felt good that I was watching instead of running it. J I guess I just answered my own question (on how people stay fit). People are actually running in sweatshirts! After running in Singapore, where I cant imagine running in anything but shorts and singlets, it’s amazing to think you can actually run and not feel hot in sweatshirts.


I will post pictures soon, just not today. I’ll be here for some time even after the conference is over. I hope I do get time to blog and share a little :)


Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Bizarre


It so happened that a colleague of mine came back after a long vacation and she looked  (lets just say) different. She originally had non-existent eyebrows and today, there was this nice design on her forehead. Turns out that she had eyebrows tattooed onto her forehead. “Nice plan’, I said, smiling at her. I wish it had stopped at that.

When I complimented her on her nice eye-make-up, she coolly told me, “No, it’s actually a tattoo too and it’s permanent. Now I don’t have to wear eye makeup everyday and still look pretty.” She had actually gotten even her eyeliner tattooed on her eyelids. That had my eyes popping out of their sockets.  Though she did admit that the process was extremely painful, I’m not sure she mentioned it was worth it. She told me it was so painful that later that night she had to be taken to the hospital for pain medication.

I know I have a tattoo too. So, I can’t really be the one to be commenting on my friend’s tattoo, so what if it is in a “sensitive” place. I guess it is a personal choice to decide what is “ok” for you and what is “extreme”.

I know it was her choice and her suffering but I was really shocked. What if the person doing it missed or had a shaky moment? The lesser risk would be that you would have bad eye make-up for the rest of your life and worst case your eyes could get damaged. I am really glad that it didn’t happen to my friend but I couldn’t help but wonder, where is the line? Just how far are you willing to go to look good?

Saturday, August 21, 2010

E-Manna-ting Radiance

So, we were arguing on whether to go to the concert or not, because the tickets were priced quite high. “But, it’s Manna Dey!!, It’s definitely going to be worth it”  I told R. After much debate about the costs of the concert, we finally decided to go and booked tickets a week before the show. “ Manna Dey-In the flesh”, the concert was called. Though I have been a fan of his singing for a long time, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this concert. I was crossing my fingers, hoping to hear him sing for at least half the time of the concert without too many ‘fillers’ as is the trend today.

All excited, we were at our seats by 7:15, though the show was supposed to start only by 7:30. Though the curtains were drawn, we could hear notes of instruments being tuned and a voice I guessed was Manna’s. It was a pleasant surprise at 7:30 that even though half the seats were still empty, from behind the curtains, Manna Dey’s voice said, “ I promised I’ll be here at 7:30, I am here. Are you there??”

And there he was, the legend himself, sitting at an old harmonium and all set to start. No one to give long speeches (read irritate),no nonsense MC, no gimmick, he was all set to start the show. But as the organizers would have it, they wanted to do a short interview with him before he started singing. Though he expressed displeasure at not being allowed to start with the music, he agreed to answer a few questions. After the Q&A session, he started the music with “Ae malik tere bande hum” along with another lady with a decent voice by his side. She accompanied him for the duets. 

And then started the saga of the 3-hour musical fest that was. With each song, he remembered the music director, the composer and the lyricist, which I thought was a herculean effort. And he mentioned a few anecdotes with each one of the songs. It was like adding a personal touch to each one of his songs.

The musicians who came with him were all one of a kind. You could see that they had been with him for a long time, as they knew exactly what he expected of them. One person played the tabla, another the dhol, one on the piano and one on the bass guitar. But the most interesting of them all was this old man who had like a magic box of odd things, with which he added beats at different times in different songs. He had this set of ghungroo (musical anklets) and then so many other things that I can’t really name. He made these beats that were so much a part of the old hindi film songs that made each song so unique. And the best part was this 85 year old MC who had a very  “shayarana mizaj” and kept reciting sher after sher and made fun of all the things that he could set his eyes on and mostly himself, and left the audience in squeals of laughter. Listening to the music however was once-in-a-lifetime experience for me atleast.  Few of the songs he sung were, ‘Kaun aaya mere man ke dwaare’,  ‘Tu chupi hai kahan, main tadapta yahan’, ‘Yeh raat bheegi bheegi’, ‘Laga chunri me daag’, ‘Ae meri zohre jabeen’ and 'dil ki girah kholdo', among many others. And every one of them, he made sure he sang the complete song.

When asked what he thought were his favorites, he mentioned “Kasme Wade pyar wafa” and “Ae mere pyare watan”, which are my favorites too. My only complaint from this concert was that he didn’t sing these songs. I was anticipating that he would definitely sing them but he didn’t. And they ended the whole thing so abruptly, that there was no time to even request the songs. The audience gave him a standing ovation in the end and applauded for a good five minutes, which no doubt he truly deserved.

This man was so old he had trouble standing by himself after a while. But he sang with this soulful melodious voice, which didn’t show any signs of aging at all. I consider it my honor to have witnessed his singing. It will be one memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Buying music CDs: $
Tickets to a concert: $$
Witnessing a 90-yr old legend sing in-person: Priceless

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Celebrating Independence Day in a foreign land

Found myself at the Indian High Commission on an early Sunday morning to celebrate the Independence Day. After getting out of school, August 15 meant little more than an annual holiday. Now being in a foreign land, I was compelled to be there at the Indian embassy to celebrate the day. May be I was compelled by a sense of duty to be there when the Tricolor was being unfurled. May be it was a need to justify to my country that I’m not a foreigner, to tell her that I still love you even though I am not with you right now. I don’t know what it was, but I am glad that I was there.

At the celebration, a bunch of school kids were performing to this song and then as is the way with things, they go wrong and all of a sudden, the music just stopped. The poor kids were in a fix, not knowing what to do. Then, something happened. There was this chorus from the audience, singing the song so melodiously and so in sync that it sounded like a practiced performance. The kids then continued to dance as the chorus sang on till they set the audio right.

Had a depressing discussion with a friend about what India doesn’t have and what we have that we should be really proud of. Of course, we argued on a few things but what we agreed upon without a doubt was Indian music and how music binds us all together, in one way or another. I think it’s in our blood.

In the evening, I went to this concert by Shreya Ghoshal. She’s a popular playback singer who made it big recently. She sang quite a few popular hindi numbers and then sang a Bengali song. Though probably 80% of the audience didn’t understand Bengali, they still enjoyed the music, applauded and encouraged her through the song. This can happen only in India, the acceptance to other languages and cultures. We enjoy music in any form, language no bar. Music does bind us all together.

And in the end, when she suddenly burst into the national anthem, the response of the audience was almost synchronized; every single person rose without a moment’s hesitation and sang along. I know it is what we are supposed to do but it was a feeling I cannot begin to describe. For a moment, it was as if we all knew each other. It was a sense of pride, a sense of belonging.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Birthday blues!

I turn 30 in a week. 

I was always terrified of turning thirty. I don’t know why but it was my scary age. I  wanted to make sure that by the time I turn 30, I should have done enough as a big chunk of my life would have passed by.
I can’t remember when I actually came up with this list but in the last few years, I’ve added to the list and its always been there at the back of my mind and I kept working on it for as far as I can remember.
Now that D-day is a week to go, I thought I’d see how I fared.

1) I should own my own motorbike.
This was the first one to come true. I owned my first bike, my pulsar 180 about 6 years ago. Though she’s not mine anymore, she’ll be my favorite one always. I own one now, which I am fond of too. So yes, that one’s done.

2) I should have run a marathon.
I ran my first and (I think) my last marathon last year. That was one of the most difficult things I did in my life and I’m proud of myself for that.

3) I should be able to cook a decent meal for myself.
Oh, yes, I can do more than a decent meal. I can cook a mean gourmet meal. Even at the risk of sounding immodest, I am a good cook.

4) I should have a blog and should write regularly.
My Blog. Here it is and I am actually putting up the rest of the list on it. About doing it regularly, I’m getting there. I’m trying. Aren’t I?

5) I should know what I want to do with my life, career wise.
I was confused for the longest time. But finally, I think this is what I want to do. I enrolled into a graduate program this year, one of the best things I did for myself. Hopefully, I should end up with a PhD in 4-5 years, but I am getting there.

6) I should have visited at least 2 foreign countries.
Counting Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, I’ve visited 4 countries. Not bad eh?

7) I should have learnt to play a musical instrument.
I started learning to play the guitar 3 years ago. Though I’m not extremely good at it, I can play a decent tune.

8) I should learn to swim.
I can swim all right, maybe not as well as I’d like to, but I cannot drown in a swimming pool. How I’d fare in deeper waters is a different question altogether.

9) I should be fit and in the best shape of my life. X
Well, I am fit but I am not exactly in the best shape. I got my gym membership a couple of months ago. I should get there in another year or so.

10) I should have a tattoo.
After thinking about it for soooooo long, I finally got myself a tattoo last night.
Yes, it did hurt a little bit and yes, it feels great!! With that I did indeed complete my list of things to do before I turn 30 and I still have a week to go. :)

Looking back, I think I’ve done reasonably well. 8.5/10 is not that bad. I thought it would be scary. But turns out, its not anything like I imagined it would be.

When I was younger, I looked forward to my tomorrows and I couldn’t wait to be older. When I am older, I know I will look back at my yesterdays, wishing I could go back.
For today, I’m content. Being just me and being 30 !!!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Out of the frying pan, into the fire?

Have I mentioned that I am a neatness freak? I like things to be organized and neat, so I can find what I want when I need it. My brain is not functional in an environment of disorder. So, it is very important to me for my workspace to be clutter-free. I’m not exactly a “Monica” but I’m close in a few aspects.

At work, we have this row of desks, which is shared by some grad students and some staff. My earlier neighbor was a mess, literally. In spite of having more space for herself, she would always find my desk-space more convenient to dump her things on. Her papers, stationery, food and anything else would land right on my desk as it always happened that her desk was so full of clutter already.

My other neighbor liked to drink warm water. So, she regularly filled up her bottle to the brim with scalding hot water and left it open on the desk (next to my computer) for it to cool. Imagine my plight when I discovered this for the first time. She was very sorry but not as sorry as I was.

I was delighted when I discovered another desk, which had freed up. So, I requested to move there. Since my new neighbor didn’t have too much stuff around her, there would be less clutter. Or so I thought. My happiness was short-lived when I discovered her chopping up her split-ends with my scissors and dusting her fingers on the desk. The same thing happened when she ate biscuits. Off came the crumbs on my keyboard.

The person who sits on my other side now is another story. She has all these lotions and potions all over her desk. Starting from moisturizer to perfume to hand-cream to face-wash, it’s all there. Considering that she practically lives there, I don’t blame her for making it so comfy. Add to it her collection of soft-toys and a soft pillow for her afternoon naps; could it get any weirder?

And I always thought, I was the weird one.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

This is for you, V.


You ran away from home together, when you were still in school.
You committed all your first sins together like smoking your first cigarette and drinking that first beer.
You were a notorious twosome and they had many a nickname for you.
You know each other’s deepest darkest secrets.
You laugh at each other like there’s no tomorrow.
You call each other names that you would never tolerate from anybody else.
You don’t want to shop together because you know that you’ll end up liking all the same stuff and fighting over who buys it. Even when you don’t shop together, you end up with a similar wardrobe.
You can’t be any more different from each other, but you are still so much the same.
You really connect and can take off from where you left even after months of no communication.
You have so many memories together that you can’t even remember a life before you knew her.

She knows something is wrong even when you don’t mention it.
She’s your one-man cheerleader who also knows exactly how to cheer you up.
She has stuck by you through all your bad times and pulled you through it all.
She knows about all your unspoken fears, because she has the same.
She was mad when you left and 3 years later, she still gives you grief over it.

You don’t say it often enough but she knows what she means to you.
Only if you’re extremely lucky, just once in a lifetime you make a friend like that. I was lucky I did.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Getting out of comfort zone

I ate lunch all by myself today.
No, I wasn’t watching TV at home and no, I wasn’t at my desk.  I actually sat by myself in the canteen, all alone on one table and ate Japanese food, all by myself! And I actually enjoyed it.
I am so proud of myself.

PS: Yes, I’ve never done that before.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Great Divide

It all started with a simple enough question, ‘Where are you from?’ This is a commonly asked question whenever we meet new people, considering that we are in a foreign country. My answer is a straight ‘India’. A recent incident and some more related incidents changed the way I look at my own countrymen.

I was out with a bunch of friends (all Indians) and somebody asked us the same question. The answer could have been a simple ‘India’ and that would have been that. Instead, that friend of mine chose to say, X, Y and Z are from south India and A, B, C and myself are from north India. I was stunned for a minute and wondered why he did that. It bothered me that even though we were from the same country, he still thought it was necessary to divide us like that, with a line between the north and the south. Why the division amongst our own people? It bothered me but I thought it wasn’t worth losing sleeping over and finally, I decided to let it go instead of confronting him about it.

But recently, I’ve noticed this weird thing amongst some of the so-called ‘north Indians’ I know, they actually think they are a better race and so should be clearly demarcated and separated from us south –Indians. What a load of crap! Really!! It was bad enough that they lived with the notion that south Indian means you are from Chennai and give you that condescending and ‘I am superior’ look. But to have that demarcation among friends, is really so shallow.

And off late, I’ve heard a lot of ‘you south-Indians this and us north-Indians that’ kind of thing that makes me cringe each time. I agree that India is a very huge country and the culture can differ a lot. But what really makes me feel bad is that, portraying such a division in thought in a foreign country just gives the world a wrong impression. Things are not much different than they were before independence. No wonder they used ‘Divide and Rule’ to conquer India. The fact that I’ve come across so many of similar-thinking people, it really makes me wonder, maybe, we are still divided. Maybe that’s why we haven’t really made great progress. Maybe until we think that we are all actually from one and the same country, we wont really go anywhere.

Friday, April 16, 2010

I wanna go home



One of the hardest things I’ve had to do so far is to move away from home. From the past few days, I’ve been missing home terribly. So just to make myself feel a little better, I decided to make a list of a few things from back home that I miss most. Of course, the list is not comprehensive. It’s just what came to mind first and at thins point in time. Here goes.

·
 Mom’s cooking. I miss those dosas and rotis and the very fact that she would make them on demand and knows just the way I like them without me having to say anything, I miss you too, mom and not just your cooking.

·
 My sisters…I enjoyed sharing all the fun times, fights, not to mention the clothes with them. We did quarrel quite a lot but we shared so much, that the fights seem so insignificant now.

·
  My friends, my support system. I have lots of friends back home and more importantly a few very close friends, who were my world. I miss the fun we had, all the drunken nights, meaningless laughs and all the times we stuck by each other when anyone was going through a bad patch.

·
 Most of all I miss my best friend, V. Though we are still in touch, it’s not the same. I can’t run to her at the drop of a hat. I miss that.

·
The chats, especially the panipuris at the friendly neighborhood bhaiyya. I was a regular, almost his favourite customer. My mouth is watering at the very thought of those perfect panipuris.

·
My room.  Though now I do have a home of my own, it is not the same as my room, my own space and the fun of not letting anyone, especially my sisters to enter/stay there. The secrecy was half the fun.

·
 My cousins. I miss how we got together at anyone’s birthday and made sure that the birthday girl had plenty of fun and gifts.

·
All the regular food outlets that I used to frequent. Yeah, I know this is the third time I’m mentioning food. I love food!

·
I miss my bike, my baby. We had a ball, my bike and me.

·           I miss the feeling of familiarity, the feeling of being “home”. No matter how long I stay here or how many people I get to know, I’ll still be a foreigner. Or will I?
     Everybody says that things change with time and you will start learning to call a new place home. I’m not so sure about that. I’ll let you know in a few years. But I’m sure that even then I’ll still miss home as much as I do now.

Monday, April 5, 2010

So Helpless!



There are some things that you think can never happen to you. And when they do, it hits you so bad that it knocks you down. A very close relative of mine got diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago. She underwent chemo and radiation and all the painful ordeal of the damned disease. She fought it with all she had. And now it’s back with a vengeance. And I don’t know if she has it in her to fight it again.

It’s a well-known fact that we don’t know it all. In spite of the so-called “development”, we don’t really have an answer to all the questions. It hits you most when you know someone who is suffering from the big C.  You think that the best doctors can help you and they will help you through it but the truth is they don’t know it all too. They tell you that you have little hope and they tell you there’s only so much they can do. I know I’m being silly but wtf.

I really wish nobody had to suffer from this maniacal disease, that handicaps you in all possible ways, mentally, physically and financially. There are a million institutes out there doing research on cancer but we still can’t fight it like we should. I really don’t know if there is a right answer and if someone will ever get to it. I don’t know if anyone cares so much until somebody they care about fights it. But in the end, I hope they do find ways to fight cancer…I really hope they do.

And until they do, all you can do is pray and pray hard that someone is listening.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Introspection

Talking to a much younger colleague today, made me realize a few things:
  • You don’t always have to be older to be wiser.
  • Sometimes you need another person’s perspective on your life, to make you realize that maybe you do have it all.
  • Hanging out with younger people does not necessarily mean feeling older. You can actually be one of them without realizing it.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Of Friendships and Reconciliations

I spoke to a long-lost friend today. Actually, I met her online. We were very good friends during our college days and have spent some very memorable years together.  Somehow, we had a misunderstanding during our final year and we parted ways, still mad at each other. I’ve always thought of her fondly but never dared to say hi. Though there was many a time when I thought I should call her, I didn’t. Though I saw her online often, I never dared to say hi for the fear of being snubbed or something of that sort. Today, after 8 years, when I saw her online, I just couldn’t not wish her a happy new year. When she responded fondly too, I dared to say I was sorry, that I missed her all these years. And she said she was too. We didn’t even remember what we fought over. And we both realized how foolish we were and caught up like old buddies. And we realized that we had wasted 8 years. How I wish I’d done this earlier but I’m glad I did it nonetheless. Better late than never. :)
I just realized that it’s never too late to say hi to a long lost friend. Or to say “I’m sorry, lets forget what happened and go back to the old times again”.
And so I spent the day calling old friends, people with whom I’d lost touch. And I can’t begin to describe what a wonderful feeling it is to know that the bond is not lost, not even faded. That was the best thing I’ve done in a long time. Long distance calls to friends, I’ve decided are the best things that money can buy.
I’ve made some friends in the last two years who I’m really glad I met. And we have such good times together like we’ve known each other forever. I know that though we may all go different ways one day, but I’ll make sure I keep in touch. If I do one thing this year, that’s what it’s gonna be.
Like someone said, “ Make new friends but keep the old. Some are silver but others are gold”.
Here's to wonderful friendships, old and new … *clink*