Bad Boys for Life

Credits: Anil Krishnanunni

The moment I read the topic, I knew this would work best as a flashback post- starting with the future when my friend and I would be senior citizens, sitting up in bed, and shuffling around with sticks. But then I realized that the idea was depressing and too mainstream as well. I also see the image dearest Anil has dedicated to me. Anyways, a happy post must not begin on a sad-ish note, so I chucked that plan, and now I have no idea about how I will put forward my memories!

I have always had a bit of bad feeling when I hear the word best friend forever being used. Alarm bells ring for me and it pronounces out loudly to me, “Girlie cheese stuff”. Remove the forever, and the best as well, and it’s all fine with me! I have had loads of friends, and there are many exceptional ones who I’m surely lucky to have with me, and that includes my parents who have been with me as friends and as real parents, both. So…hey! No, I’m not gonna talk about my parents today, though I have loads of exceptional memories with them, and yes pictures as well which I could use, but not today!

Parents have a different place in life, and they remain as the untold best friends, so I’m not going into the details of that. Now you must be thinking I’ll bring in Anil again, who I have talked about in various posts, and yes, he is one of my best friends. The striking of best was intentional, and only for the reason that all my friends remain at the same level for me, even though there are some special ones. I’m sorry to say this, but I’m not going to talk about Anil today (sorry bro, you’ll find your position in my posts re-instated soon).

Today, I bring to you someone unheard of, a #Legend…:P

I’m just kidding, this guy is really simple, down-to-earth, and quiet. Ahem ahem, I need some cough syrup here…:P

I would be the smaller one

Krishna! Another K gets added to my K-Factor, and maybe that’s one reason why we are best of buddies. An Asterix and Obelix kind pair with me as the thinner one, we have spoiled devastated our buildings, and had loads of fun from childhood. Incidentally, we are born within a distance of 2 days, and just the other day, I said to him on Whatsapp, “If we remove the 2 days gap between us, we’d be twin brothers.”

On a lighter note, he went on to kick me the next time we met, and said that he woke up his neighbor with his laughter when he heard me say that. A quick background check on our long friendship which has gone one for a long time, as we have been in the same school since childhood, and we relocated to the same new school at the same time as well. As he would say here, this is ‘Mother of Co-incidence’.

Now I have delayed enough on the main topic about the things we have done. Just a thing more! The moment I told him that he will be featuring in my post, he was overjoyed, and then when came the blindfold thing which was told to be done in the nice package I received, thanks to Dove and Indiblogger. I asked him this when we were relishing a cup of tea and some biscuits after a tiring game of cricket and he said, “Have you lost your brain? Bat se maaru kya takle pe? Gay!”

And after that we both laughed at his choice of words, the ones which I cannot use here. *Top Secret*

The clock ticked on as we went on our own journey, talking about how we had started off together, and the time when we first came across each other. As our memories came back to us, we reeled into the past. (My first plan just came through here, though I will say that I did not at least start off with it and my Plan A fails.)

We were not like this when we first met. We were quite souls who shared loads of good jokes, and also PJs, but not this. Don’t laugh people! We were like that when we were small- sweet and cute, everyone is! And to some extent, we still are. We started off by playing cricket on 6^th August 2008, as Krishna informs me along with a taunt on my strong memory, and we have continued that since then. We have evolved from plastic balls, to sponge balls, and then tennis and rubber balls. Ahh, those stupid society members- the ones we have fought with, and explained our innocence to.

Old Birthday Click

My Plan A failed at just the start of the post, the flashback thing, and now Plan B fails as well! I was thinking of starting from the start of our friendship and then come back to the present moment, but that fails miserably as well. I cannot certainly avoid the greatest person who has interfered in our cricket.

Singham Aunty: This was the most hilarious episode in the history of our cricket. Running in to bowl, I saw a slight disturbance in the distance at the other end of the concrete pitch, so I stopped and hid the ball. Swiftly changing the ball to be a soft one, I moved forward to be hit with questions about my identity. The woman started walking away, and then comes Krishna’s masterstroke. He hits the ball on the lady’s car, and she boils. Taking the ball, she throws it away. Now comes the hilarious part: she kicks the 2 cycles which were our stumps, and after they have fallen, she kicks them once again. Imagine a 50 year old woman doing that! But, some weeks later, this same aunty presented us with a lovely pair of stumps, which we now use. The title Singham was decided as we discussed the incident then, and Krishna remembered the jump of Singham to hit the head of villains. Now I’m laughing myself off…:’)

I’m hopelessly running around in my head to decide which memory I should write next, so I’ll just shift back to Plan B and go on from there.

Let’s head back in time to moments in school. Running around in groups for the lunch break was the best thing. We would run from class like prisoners running away from prison, and there happened an incident never to forget. As we grew older, we used to slip the cordons, and head for the unmanned lifts in order to save some energy. Inertia rules and with a high momentum, Krishna slips on the wet floor and falls to the ground as a heap, and our group falls on the floor just laughing at him. I was behind him, and I just missed the incident, and so I came rushing behind him to meet the same result. My butt still pains when I remember that fall.

Hiding from the whole horde of teachers in the school, we used to make our way to the lobby to enjoy lunch, and this was the time when the whole school would be gathered. Saying it on my blog makes me feel so dirty and eww, but the event is something I cannot miss to say. Krishna, I and some other friends used to throw random stuff like used lemons, chalks and also onions at times (they weren’t that costly then).

Along with this, after we got into travelling alone to and from school, we would throw water on dogs, and then make them run behind the rickshaws. A point I must raise here is that the bottle would be his ONLY! I am infamously known to not carry water bottles, though I drink a lot of water, and it’s always borrowed from someone else.

Now comes the catch! Krishna throws water on a beggar boy, and his ill-timing and luck make the rickshaw stop at just some meters distance, and from behind runs the boy with a lemon in his hand. A terrified soul stuck in a rickshaw with the driver and two guys (me and a friend) and a vengeful beggar boy coming up from behind, that was Krishna. A priceless expression appeared on his face as the boy ran up and threw the lemon in his hand. It was as though Krishna was going to be punished for all the times we had thrown lemons on our schoolmates during lunch break. Things turned then, and the traffic cleared out, and the boy’s target hit the driver who chose swear words to shout out loud, and left the three of us in guffaws in the back.

The years passed like this with the daily fun in the rickshaws, the throwing of chalks, the running in the school, and the fights we had. No fights actually, though there was one time when we had not talked for 2 whole days just because of a cancelled plan. Soon we reached a time when we graduated out of this stuff and moved into the proper teenage years of long nights, action flicks and night time roaming.

I have had a passion for bikes since childhood and as soon as my dad bought a Yamaha FZ, I booked Krishna for a ride. After facing lot of reluctance and hesitation from his side, I tricked him to sit behind me for a test of my driving skills. Instructed to drive slowly by my dad, I drove at a fraction of my current driving speed, illegally as I do now, and in that Krishna started lecturing me from behind to slow down. With a crooked mind, I decided to scare him, and to Krishna’s alarm, I swerved past an old lady and a bus coming from the opposite side, as Krishna danced behind me in complete terror. As he got down later in his building, safe and completely secure, he vowed to not sit behind me ever again, and I also got hit for it.

‘Rules and vows are meant to be broken.’

Our long friendship has always followed the above quote, and we always do what is instructed to not be done. Not long after that, our results came, I don’t remember which ones, and as a celebration we decided to open the account of a falooda shop near our building. A cold winter night, in mid-December and two guys on a bike, acting strong, but still shivering in the cold breeze coming straight at our faces. Half an hour later, after cherishing the sweet savory and sharing loads of gossip about people, we set back on the bike, only to stop within seconds of the kick-off of our journey. Rubbing our hands together, and swearing to get the cold away, we danced around to get some heat into our system.

Recent picture at a Debate Competition

‘Falooda khaake falooda ban gaye…:P’

“Let me go home now! I have to go and pack as well,” said Krishna as the clock struck the 21^st hour of the day.

“Go and enjoy in Varanasi. Take one of the Dove soaps with you, paap dhone kaam ayenge. (it will help in washing your sins.)”

“Vapas aake aur paap karne hai hi, toh kya fayda. Isse tu roj naha lena, gande.” (I have to return and commit more sins anyways, so I won’t gain anything from it. You use them to have a bath daily, dirty fellow).

Late at night, when I sat and pondered about the talks we had had in the evening, these words just came through my mind.

Been together since long,

The bond we have is strong,

Never too far from the other,

I have enough on this to make a song.

Best of friends we have been,

Loads of ups and downs we have seen,

Shouting and fighting we do quite a lot,

But we never say what we mean.

The interesting things we have done,

Like making dogs run,

All in memory and nothing to repent,

We really have had loads of fun.

Sodas after cricket,

And faloodas at night,

We also have had Chinese together,

Only to fight for the last bite.

The movies we have seen,

And cricket match results foreseen,

A good way to spend time,

Now I destroyed the rhyme!

A change in tune,

Is needed for the end,

To include my antics,

With my best friend.

Playing cricket,

And no other game ever,

Spamming Whatsapp groups,

We decided against never.

The blank and prank calls made,

To the friends we do not like,

Never have been caught doing that,

Now that’s just our mischief’s pike.

Calling people names,

Along with the hash tag,

We can laugh on anything,

There’s no need for some sense in a gag.

Our adventures, mischief and exploits,

Shall be well-known and rife,

We will always remain the same,

Bad Boys for life!

Hope you enjoy your trip to Varanasi, and I hope you read this as soon as you can Krishna. Can’t play cricket in your absence so get back soon buddy! Forever shall we remain together brah!

This post is written for Dove Contest in association with Indiblogger. For more details on Dove, you can visit their page by clicking here (http://www.dove.in/en/Products/Bar-Body-Wash/Bar/Cream-Beauty-Bathing-Bar.aspx). #DoveFaceTest