Another Mortal Life

The Philosopher was definitely no Socrates (and whether he was greater or lesser than him is beyond the scope of this particular post :D). The award of the title The Philosopher to this man dates back to the year 2001. Though not all agreed on it, but nobody expressed the unease. The Introvert always hailed himself as a philosopher in his own assessment of himself, but he never quite pushed for the title. The fact that the announcement came from a girl, and the fact that girls were the species he seldom raised a voice against, and the fact that this particular girl was too sweet to be raised a voice against, tripled together to force The Introvert silently accept The Philosopher as The Philosopher. Others in the group, including The Cute Guy, The Shy guy, Mr. Gandhi, Mr. Straight-Legged etc didn’t have any objections, for they knew the title wasn’t meant for them anyway. Mr. Business Mind was hardly consulted due to some constraints of space and time. Ms. Main-Main, Ms. Bak-Bak, Ms. Vi, Ms Ni and everyone else from the fairer sex were too determined to make the original name of the guy be forgotten soon.

The two years of The Philosopher’s association with the bunch were great. He became the integral part of the group. It was impossible to screw the school’s system without his ideas and Straight-Legged’s planning. The system, as a whole, rarely suspected The Introvert because of his hard-earned image of a sincere guy, but for Mr. Bear, the chemistry teacher, he was the usual suspect. Somehow Mr. Bear had started believing, and it wasn’t entirely his imagination, that somebody from the group would stand up and ask a string of idiotic questions whenever he was in mood of taking a quiz; and this somebody happened to be The Introvert. During all such idiotic-questions-sincere-answers sessions, Gandhi and The Shy Guy would enjoy the changing expressions on the teacher’s face and make The Introvert know when it’s going overboard; The Philosopher and Straight- Legged would be busy planning for the next move eg. How to convince the girls for a mass bunk (The Cute guy was their trump card for such efforts); The Cute Guy and Ms. Bak-Bak would occasionally laugh facing each other because they knew that the questions being asked were really idiotic. Ms. Main-Main would be busy cleaning her glasses and planning on her next move to irk The Introvert; Ms Vi and Ms Ni would keep making silent noises only they could hear.

One always wondered if The Philosopher really cared for anything happening around him or “Ai ajnabi.. tu bhi kabhi..” was always playing in his mind. But the paper-out-efforts proved he was not an all-romantic and all-ethics-philosopher. Getting the paper out wasn’t tough for The Philosopher and Straight-Legged because Mr Bear’s nephew was their good friend, but solving it wasn’t as easy. The Introvert couldn’t be of much help either, but together they managed to solve a decent part of it. The Introvert obviously topped the exams with not even a third of the efforts Ms Bak-Bak must’ve put in standing the second. Surely Ms Bak-Bak deserved being the first (Hopefully, The Introvert was forgiven.). Never before in his life Mr. Bear was surprised more (Few options were left with him, getting surprised was the easiest.)

Nothing remains the same forever. The lives moved on. Everybody joined colleges. The Philosopher joined the Big Bachchan college, The Introvert found himself in Double I, etc etc. The friends hardly met, in fact, some did never. Mr. Straight-legged went straight to some foreign college, and is occasionally seen by one or two of the group (The Introvert not included) once a year or even less frequently. There were one or two Get Toghethers and The Introvert could only make it to one. And there, The Philosopher took it on himself to irk Miss Main-Main, with his questions like, “Main-Main, In the city ABC you must be eating in pattals” and "Does the sun shine more brighter there (you know what I'm pointing to)?"and her reactions were a delight to see (as always) for The Introvert, but what he liked more was to annoy her himself. The Philosopher didn’t spare Ms Bak-Bak either, but there he got some resistance, from some expected quarters. Ms. Vi, he later opined, knew what to speak, and when, and how much, comparatively better than others. Some people were too unhappy for The Little Fatso’s absence in the GT, The Philosopher was one. He would've been the life of the meet. Who else could dance on those numbers from the city ABC!

The lives moved on, again, for they never stopped actually. One day, The Philosopher happened to visit The Introvert at Double I; and he spent two great days there. Despite his utter unwillingness at that point in time, he couldn’t resist his tongue uttering, “Yaar, I’m gonna marry!”
“OK, man. This is the bed. Just have some sleep, you haven’t had enough for two days”
“Listen, I’m serious. I’m marrying.”
This was when The Introvert realized it. He made a few guesses on the name, but finally had to settle for the fact that it was going to be a traditional arranged marriage.

The news of The Philosopher going to marry soon was difficult to digest for The Introvert on his own. He needed help.
“You know I’ve some great news about The Philosopher..”
“Must be marrying, he. Aur kya hoga!”- In came the reply from the other side of the line. Wonder why Ms Main-Main wasn’t titled Miss Intuition in the school!
There were other reactions too.“You know The Philosopher is marrying?”- Somehow it had got into the habit of The Cute Guy to inform people, especially The Introvert, of things they already knew. But nobody did mind, perhaps because The Cute Guy was too cute - so cute that even half a bottle of beer would be enough for men to start kissing him (on cheek). Though nobody could get to know the ladies’ point of view about him, till date.
The Shy Guy’s shyness was gender-specific. He could tell the weirdest of his secrets to the guys, but couldn’t even call Ms Bak Bak despite being in the same city for months. But the news of The Philosopher’s Marriage date fixed was enough a force for him to call everybody, or at least, to tell others to call. The Philosopher, however, had to call everyone personally, and he did; though not everybody. Anyway.

“February the 21st”
Gandhi and The Shy guy could make it on the day before, but others couldn’t. They met The Introvert on the morning of the 21st, and then waited for The Cute Guy. Three of them mounted The Shy Guy’s bike to reach the groom’s place. Business Mind cancelled his tickets for Malaysia (He’s handling his father’s business) and all five were to get on his car when the Baraat proceeds towards bride’s place.

The Philosopher was standing, surrounded by a bunch of elderly people. Graceful, as he always was. Smile seldom reached his eyes, and this day was no exception. Maturity in his behavior wasn’t sudden, but now it was going to get the marriage stamp (For the time being, let's refrain from words like shock wave, hurricane, sunami, the last day of liberty, etc etc.)

Soon the Baraat proceeded. The last to leave the groom’s house was the group. The journey was basically a reunion. The placement talks were soon interrupted by The Shy Guy, “Yaar, I can’t dance without having a drink”.(Don’t question his shyness. The Shy Guy is only specifically shy. And therefore, those who call him by this name can’t be convinced to believe he is not.) With this assertion by him, and after (im)proper actions in the said direction, it was quite obvious that only Mr. Business Mind knew how to make it to the bride’s place. (Obviously, Mirinda is no Miranda. It can’t give you a high.) And thankfully, he was the one in the driving seat of the car at that point in time. The Introvert had with him the previous month’s experience of being seen as a drunkard in public without even touching the bottle, so it hardly mattered for him.

The secrets came into the mouth, but didn’t stick to the tongue and therefore were swallowed back. Gandhi would always be Gandhi. No matter how bad he would try to project himself, he would always be a nice guy. The Cute Guy would always be The Cute Guy. He would always look more cute than any girl he might have been involved with (That he didn’t shave for five days, and had at least a millimeter of beard, could hardly be a deterrence to the half-a-beer-effect). Knowing Business Mind all over again (after a gap of years) was a new experience for all of them. The Introvert was all praise for how the guy had strengthened his father’s business.

Finally, they reached there.
“Have you seen me dancing, ever before?” The Introvert asked The Philosopher.
“No”- came the obvious reply.
And then he saw somebody looking quite familiar. Yeah, The Little Fatso it was! He was seeing him after 5 years! And where! Those were the moments. All of them danced for quite a time. Then they had dinner, two plates, six men.

Marriage rituals followed. This was the time when the traditional Indian marriage scene and the gorgeous girls could couple together to shake any guy's I-won't-marry-vows. But the guys didn’t have much time, with two of them having some utter urgency to return to their colleges. Mr. Gandhi chose to board his bus from there only. The rest five (One minus, one plus) returned by the same car.

The secrets finally started getting poured out. The Cute Guy changed the name of his first crush, and was too appreciative of another’s dressing sense, “Anything looked good on her” (Don’t know how this amounts to be an appreciation of her dressing sense!), while The Introvert appreciated her smile only (only!!). And they didn’t fight! [The ladies mentioned in this paragraph aren’t the ones mentioned earlier.] But The Little Fatso couldn’t dare admit the famous slap. Business Mind told them about his not-so-sincere relationships in a foreign land, as well as about the girl he was seriously keen on marrying.

Finally, The Shy Guy picked up his bike from The Philosopher’s house. A bike moving alongside a car in the dark. Perfect Rang De Basanti scene. (The Shy Guy would’ve loved the same babe from RDB accompanying him on the bike, all his shyness be damned.)

Everybody was dropped home. The last one in the car with Mr. Business Mind was The Cute Guy. The Cute Guy must’ve thanked Mirinda, but who knows!
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PS: 1. It’s a fictionalized story. The people are real, but the qualities I’ve associated with them may be beyond truth.
2. I hope nobody minds. I’ve deep respect for everybody mentioned here. If anybody has any genuine objections, I apologize.
3. I apologize in advance in response to the obvious objections The Cute Guy and Ms Main-Main will surely have.
4. It was written when I used to post with the display name of The Introvert on this blog; the word is not a description of myself as such.