can't believe so much time has traversed by. it all seems
like yesterday. through this post i wish to rewind life and relieve some of the
best times of my life that i had with this great kitli gang. it all starts with
my new job that forced me to shift base to apnu amdavad. being the only child,
some targets were pretty clear in front of me. my father was retiring in sep
2007 and i had to find a job before that. i did find the job, the same place
where i had interned, an advertising agency. i was hoping to learn as much as i
could from my seniors, establish myself as the 'go to' man and then pack bags
for the magical city of mumbai, to test new waters. yea i know! it's a plot
that many aspiring media people would associate with. but what happened with me
on the job was far from what i had hoped for. the job that i was offered was in
place of the senior, who had recently left her work. the company had couple of
reliable and experienced free lancers at helm so they were in mood to
experiment with me.
with no seniors to guide and a meager practical knowledge,
i was butchered into the profession. the sole purpose of my life now was meeting deadlines. things were not
easy, but this is what i had always wanted to do. the seniors account handlers
here were quite friendly. it’s a double edged sword literally. it can hamper
your growth and can also save your ass when in trouble. it had been almost 6 months my work routine
would start at 10 and end at 2 o maybe 3 in the morning. i was so out of touch,
knew many of my college batch mates were in the city, but my routine barely
allowed me to get in touch with my family, forget friends. fearing more jobs,
on weekends, for me which was ‘only sundays’ i used to rush off to baroda.
i would look forward to some public holidays that fell in
the middle of the week so that i could spare some time just for me. it was
around one such public holiday my good friend lakshmi, called me and told about
a trip to adalaj ni vav (can’t remember the exact place guys, seems like age is
really catching up wid me) with her new gang of friends. my first reaction was ‘chod na yaar kaun
jayega’, but still i just committed to it. as it was lakshmi who had called me,
she has been a very good friend. in fact, lakshmi has been quite influential.
she has been the person who changed my perception about women. be it meeting
her on the very first day of my mass comm interview, or meeting her second time
or every interaction thereafter. i gradually realized women like men can also
be risk taker, adventurous and fun loving. back to the kitli gang, soon came
the d’day. caught up with lakshmi and her friends. there was this familiar face
apart from lakshmi n that was shri, n i felt good. there was not much time to
interact as we were already on the road but lakshmi quickly introduced me to
purva, mahima, kumar manish. my first reaction about these new soon to be good
friends, purva – the khoobsurat lambuji, i felt it would take ages for me to
even start up a communication with her. mahima, with her smile i felt was more
approachable. i was glad to meet kumar, could be for the fact that like
majority of males, it has always been easy for me to approach guys than gals. i
have known shrinidh a.k.a. shri from my mass comm. days. shri for me was the
tech-guru. i might not have spent much time with him in the college days but
surely have some fond memories to laugh about, perhaps for the rest of our
lives.
the trip went well, by the evening we had all shattered the
ice and were looking forward to more such trips. and that did happen. suddenly
i found myself in a company of people who were similar to me, away from their
families and starting up their professional careers. it felt good to be in such
a good company. with time mitul bhai, shoeb, yamini joined in and the fun just
augmented.
in my work schedule, apart from my deadlines, burning
rubber with the kitli gang on the road, or simply catching up with them over a
cuppa tea, was another important agenda that i could now look forward to. i was
actually living two lives. 13-14 hours at the work place, slogging and the one
with this gang, unwinding. though it was only for few hours o so, but the
latter one was surely overtaking the importance list in my life. with them, 24
hours were not enough. wished i could know some secret way of pouring more
hours into the day.
writing about the kitli gang is like a magical treasure
chest. the more i dig deeper into the vaults of memory, this treasure only
grows. my smiles get broader and new episodes flash in front of my eyes.
life is really funny. sometimes we keep worrying about
things that are not even here. but i guess it’s always good to relive old times
and be happy about our life.
well i guess, i will have to halt my finger strokes
here. this is my very first attempt at
writing on a blog and i wish to continue writing on this platform. i hope to be
back soon…