How I met my friends....

Happy Friendship Day girls !!

We've come a long way indeed ! From tying friendship bands, writing snail mails, writing e-mails and finally blogging!

I am taking up Prasanna's tag and writing about how I met each of you ( if I can remember)...and since its all ages ago...most memories are quite hazy. Forgive me for any thing left out. In chronological order,

* Farrah - She is first person I met from our gang way back in 5th std. She was new to school and we hit it off immediately. We were classmates for many years after that. We took part in a Mahabharatha skit where she was Arjuna and I was Krishna (LOL). She is one cool person and I wish there was some way by which I could get in touch with her !

* Tina - I guess I knew Tina even before 5th std...but I don't remember. She was in my class in 5th std. Tina was always cracking jokes and a great person to be with. She has always been the tom-boy of the gang. She was the only one who could whistle loudly. She was always into sports. Tina was always different....and she continues that trend even now with her job...we are all so proud of you girl !!!

* Prasanna - The first time I met Prasanna was in the branch school bus stop towards the end of 5th std. She used to take a different bus and I din't know her all that well. In fact I think she din't even like me that time ( how things can change). I bumped into her here and there after that. Then in 7th std, we were in the same section and we started hanging out. No looking back since then ! We've always done so much mischief together...its been a riot ! We both are extremely lazy when it comes to studies and were always looking for ways to avoid it..and I think that was the basis of our ever-lasting friendship ! LOL .

* Kavitha - I met her in 6th std I think. Not very sure. She was my bus-friend. Kavitha was a fun loving person and was just like me in many ways. Our birthdays were just a day apart. Going back home in the bus was never the same without her. In 7th std, we were in the same section. She used to sit in front and I used to sit at the back - whenever the class was boring, she would sneak back and we would all have fun writing 'crazy stories' or other games. I loved the food she used to get for lunch ! Now K is busy with her own family.....sure hope to bump into her and talk about old times .

* Subha - 'Prasanna's best friend'....for a long time that was Subha's identity. I met Subha in 7th std as she was in my section too. Subha has always been the 'perfect/ideal' student. She always looked neat. She was the most studious in class. She always got the first rank !! She was the teacher's pet ! She was very calm and controlled all the time ! She was the class leader which worked like a charm for us ( no one can punish us now). She was the balancing force in a gang of crazy people. She would seem like a quiet person...but thats till you know her...then she yacks quite a bit too ! We both had a craze to goto Vitan and buy stickers, junk jewellery and other trinklets !

* Archana - She was the new girl to school/class in 7th std. She was asked to sit at the back as she was tall and thats how we became friends ! I still remember that we were playing some silly game on her first day and asked her to join in. She and I had so much in common - reading, music, ideas, bus and we both owed allegience to the same bank :) . We studied together only in 7th and 8th std. After that she left to Karur and we kept in touch through snail mails written religiously. I think we were partly responsible for Postal Service's revenue for a few years. We were in touch over the phone after we both came to US for higher studies. Its good to eat you head ever so often !

* Mani Megalai - She was the last person to join the gang. She was the new girl to class in 8th std and was sent to the back bench as she was tall. And we all hit it off at once. She was always very well behaved and sweet. Mani had one of the most beautiful handwritings and used to draw biology diagrams so neatly. She loved to talk and so the back bench was always full of chatter.She was very fun loving and fit right in ! We studied together for 2 years after which I moved to a different city. She is one nice friend to cherish !

Phew ! There ends my narration.

Here are a few things I realised while I was writing .... many ppl from the gang were 'new' to school ! Looks like 'having fun' was the basis of our friendship. 7 of us were in the same section in 7th std...and our gang was pretty much formed by the end of it. In 8th std, the 8th person joined the group; the eeki-kiki gang was in action. That was the most fun filled year of my life till date ! If I had a time machine, I would go back to that year and re-live every moment !

We've all come a long way since our crazy childhood. Without you all my life would have been very dull ! I hope our friendship continues for many years to come !!

Cheers to our friendship !!

Archu

Ok now that friendship day is here, as promised to Archu this is a post dedicated to her.

I have known her for 10-15 yrs now (wow! Gives me goose bumps!!!). I met Archana if I remember right in 7th std. She was this tall, thin bespectacled girl from some town unknown to me that time. Shilpa was the tallest in class till Archu’s entry – so we all sat in the last bench. Even though she was quiet in class, she gelled well with us and very soon became part of “gang of girls”. S and A had a great time bullying me. I actually enjoyed all that, it was more like I was always getting their attention. We all traveled in the same bus, had common interests and most of all loved to laugh our heads off.

It was actually 8th std when our friendship and fun was in full form. Archu was always good in studies, though will not call her studious like Subha. Her language skills were good even when she was in school and used to write great essays. I remember our English teacher calling her out specifically to read out her stories/essays aloud in class.

We were together in the same section till 10th std and then parted in different streams to pursue our interests.

One striking thing about our friendship is even though we meet once in a year, she can carry out a conversation with such ease and comfort. We met recently almost after a year in S’s wedding and perfectly tuned in.

Ok now that I have written such a nice post ;-) , will pass this on as a tag to S, A and others who have managed to get an invite to this blog. You should write about some other person in the gang or u can choose to write about all of them.

P.S. archu, did I make up for the goof up?

Bus No.5 Part 2

And just to add the parts that were left,

We used to have these walking races from school to the bus stop. It was probably half a kilometer but used to be so much fun. Kavitha use to zoom, followed by shilpa and I use to Huff & Puff behind them...LOL!

Even though K and S could take another route, they always preffered to take Bus No.5 and I always missed 19M and would make up stories that it was crowded to join them in 5.

Bus No. 5

No story from school days can be complete without mentioning our dear old PTC Bus...or watever it is called these days.

Its quite a coincidence too think that all of us ( except Tina, Mani and Subha) used to live on the route of the same bus - Number 5. I can still recall waiting for hours for that stupid bus. Mornings used to be fun, many times all of us would board the same bus at different stops, starting with Prasanna from the bus depot to Kavitha in SIT colony. And ofcourse we always made a big racket in the bus.

Returning home used to be awful. The buses would be so crowded and we had to board them with our heavy school bags. Some lucky days, the back seat of the bus would be empty.

Sometimes, while on one bus we would spot another emptier one behind and would make a run for it...do u guys remember ? This was true when that rare 4C made its appearance.

Here is a funny incident from the bus ( must hv occured sometime in 1992). The conductors used to be quite chalu and would not give back the change. Once, all of us had boarded the bus as usual and had bought our tickets. For some reason, the conductor did not give back Prasanna's change. She got very annoyed and asked him to give the amount. He was being a smartass and started arguing,
(Translated from Tamil)

P: Give me my change ( which was like 25 paisa)
Cond: Why are you arguing for such a small amount ?
P: You are supposed to return the money.
Cond: What will I do with that amount ? I cannot even buy a cup of tea !
P: U cannot buy tea but u can surely buy kadalai urundai !! ( donno its english eqv)
Cond: Dumbstruck ... gives the money to P.

Everybody in the bus started LOL.