Hello 2008

Well, it's been quite some time since I wrote a blog, but I have been very busy - busy with writing as well. I have been busy meeting people and writing about my experiences about it to them. So, now that I am done with that for now, my thoughts have come back to the thought station.

First, happy new year to everyone reading this. For all I know, I might be the only person who reads this, but it might be fun coming back here after some time to see how I used to feel a few days or maybe even a few years ago, and that in a way, as you would see, is really the essence of this post.

To continue, and perhaps to finish a previous point, our team won the finals of the football tournament. This time, though, I was not present at the venue to play the game. Why, I ask myself, did I not play this oh-so-important match? When was the last time I played in the football finals? Well, it had been a few years. But, still, I decided not to play it. The reason was quite simple. I was not the best player in the team. I was pretty sure of our chances of winning the match, even without me. But, more importantly, I had things to take care of, that I really had been looking forward to, for quite some years now.

Ahmedabad! This used used to be my hometown for quite a long time, for the simple reason that my home used to be in this town. Even after leaving this town in 1995, I kept returning to this place at least 6 times (lost count) in the next 12 years. Only a few of these travels were planned, and almost all were fateful. This one was both.

In December, as I planned out my vacation, I saw that I had to go to Mumbai, Rajkot and Udaipur - places which I had to select because of happenings there. Seriously, if I am to visit these places, I could draw imaginary lines around them on a map, and see the place lying between them. I surely have to take out a few more days to visit my favourite city. So, after my exploits in these places for a total period of 5 days, I chalked up 3 days on my plan to be in Ahmedabad. As always, meeting old friends and ex-neighbours, who have been more dear to me than relatives or other friends, was one of the top things in my agenda. But, almost hidden in the agenda was an effort to seek out a treasure - a chance to meet a dear old friend, lost in time, but whom I have been searching for, since the last 10 years. Recently, I got a hint of a clue, and I was here to see what I could make of it.

Let me just go into flashback now. The 3 years of my high school days were probably my best days. The friends I found then are still the ones I hold close to my heart the most - Atul, Rinta, Sanjeev, Ganesh, Pathik, Saloni, Ambily, Anupama, Pratishtha & Riju - a few names I can never forget. Sadly, I had to leave Ahmedabad after my 10th exams, in 1995. But, used to keep in touch with all the above, through letters and occasionally, through phone calls. The internet and emails were quite unknown to us then.

Now, let me just jump straight to the treasure I talked about. Rinta! It would be an understatement to call her a gem of a person, and that's why I guess the treasure word suits her better. The last time I met her was in 1997, after our 12th exams, when she had come down to Kerala. A dear friend of mine from the PDC (11/12th) days, Ragesh, used to live around where she was, and accompanied me that day to locate her house. After that, we continued to be in touch through letters for another 2 years.

But, one fine day, she wrote to me, that she had taken a decision to effectively stay away from us. And so, she was lost. And almost all others, other than Sanjeev, were lost for some time as well. It was only after a few years, when I realized that these were my best friends, I started to trace them again.

I haven't met Anupama & Riju to this day since. Last year, as luck would have it, though, I found a few of my lost friends on orkut. And to my delight, Ambily was one among them! Ragesh was another. Thanks orkut! I called up Ambily and in an off-chance, she mentioned that she had met Rinta in Sabarmati a few years ago. This was the first instance of
[Note: On the lines of AB in Coolie, this was the place in this posting where I had a mind accident. More about that in the next posting.]
me knowing about someone having met her in all these days. Till then, I thought she was lost. I made a lot of efforts to get any trace of information, but her family had moved from Ahmedabad as well.

So, one of my tasks in Ahmedabad turned out to be to locate Rinta. Sanjeev was almost as enthusiastic as me, and he accompanied me to her last known whereabouts in Sabarmati. To cut a long story short, I couldn't meet her that day, but I got my next link to the mystery. Perhaps more about that some time later.