Friends Forever

I often hear people say that school days are the best days of one’s life. I would like to differ a bit, saying that school can be one hell of a dangerous journey without good co-passengers. It was a tough ride for me as I was every bit an introvert as you could get. I never felt it in me to voice out my opinions or try to get myself out from being bullied around. Yes, you can say that I was a timid little kid trying to find her ground. But the threads of the loom of fate changed colour suddenly and I found myself in the company of seven friends who turned my world around. Gone were the days when I used to get scared of school, now I used to look forward to fun and frolic at our alma mater.

Even though it has been years since we left our school, we still try to make it to the annual bash we hold at Christmas. That makes us feel closer to home, closer to each other. Our name “RANG” (pronounced as the past tense of ‘ring’) comes from the initials of our first names.

Rashmi, the very best friend anyone can hope for, with her crazy antics and sense of humour. She’s my secret-keeper who is filled to the brim with all my secrets. We both used to bring the house down with our mimicry of the Harry Potter characters and sometimes overdid it, much to the annoyance of everyone. I just love visiting her home as it reminds me of The Burrow (for non Harry Potter fans… its Ron Weasley’s home).

Ranjeeta, the now Dentist amongst us, the maggi haired girl who always had a big smile plastered on her face and it didn’t matter the time or occasion, the smile was always there, it still is there now. Our friendship started with a scolding from her and that was the first and last of it. The days that followed were always joyous as she had an infectious laugh that made us join her in it.

Aloshree, who always used to be the one whose tiffin was opened first during lunch as she always brought the tastiest of dishes, courtesy her father. A huge fan of Rahul Dravid, she used to drive us mad reciting tales of his bravery and sportsmanship. We used to have a lot of fun in our class where she used to sit in front of me and I used to disturb her a lot, especially during her favourite teacher’s classes. And before I forget, a special mention must be made of her for being able to fall in the most unimaginable places.

Ayesha was the craziest and wackiest of us all. She was my bench partner for as long as I can remember and quite a good partnership that was. We used to gossip around in class, not to mention during our House meetings as we were in the same house (Green House rocks!!!). Once we both had to march together and always something or the other made us falter. At the end even though we were scolded ruthlessly by our Headmistress, we both were red in the face from laughing.

Ashimi was the animal lover in our group, though that doesn’t mean the rest of us didn’t like animals. Its just that none of us, except her, would think cockroaches, snails or caterpillars would make fine pets. She never used to leave any being other than human in distress. It suited her too and she’s on her way to become one of the best Vets around.

And there’s me then… who loves books, likes being with friends and tries to write around a bit. And not to mention is a huge Harry Potter fan (as you already have realized till now).

Nikita comes next and if I had to summarize her, I would just say that she provided our daily update of the daily soaps. It was hilarious as how she would enact the recent occurring at “Sanjeevani”, which was the most popular soap at that time. She used to make us laugh saying the most ridiculous of things but she sure had a very big heart. We loved hearing her toota-phoota assamese.

The last in order but certainly not the least is Gayatri. She’s the girl with the golden heart and has the amazing ability to make anyone smile. At times I drive her mad with all my problems and irritate her to no end but she’s still there for me whenever I need her. She’s the one I turn to for advice on anything under the sun and she always has an answer up her sleeve. Always the last one in the school premises with Ayesha, they managed to cross the road somehow (which is a big feat for them!!) and gobble up puchkas from the nearby stands.

So, that’s it for now, I’ll be back with more from RANG, as this blog would never end if I wrote everything at one go. Here’s me singing off. Ciao!