Glob of Neural Exudes

Ramblings of a 24 year old on the eve of a friends wedding.

It was not very hot for a mid-summer day in hyderabad but the dining hall was located in the cellar of the building and the pantry was in the adjoining rooms, the banquet was sumptuous but my appetite was jaded for reasons I could not fully appreciate, perhaps seeing Sudheer in formals could be one of it, 'SUDHEER IN FORMALS'? how did it come about to be?

It is not always the easiest of the things to speak about friendships, even when spoken about, one can never so fully convey what it is to be 'comrades in arms' not that we were particularly socialistic but then it was a brotherhood of sorts, urban nomads who despised urbanity; things ought be coarse, 'OUGHT TO BE', like the bluntness of logic, like the jaggedness of truth.

Through thick and thin,
through rum and gin,
through the misty clouds of filtered tips,
through the twisted roads of 'ifs' and 'buts' ,
the motley band lived as any brothers did,
the brotherhood survived as any covenant did,
and now the road that has brought us thus far is showing signs of change ,
and now the paths that ran the length of a decade no longer engage.

Let me walk myself out of the mist and clouds, its time to face the path of deeds ahead, my best friend Sudheer got married, I was attending the reception and the motley old group was assembled too, the file has thinned though, to paraphrase Theoden king "days in the 'East' have gone down".

How did it come to this?
Some were lost to the lust of oppurtunity,
some were lost to vanity of a higher study (yes I too fell for it).

A decade is often a bit too long especially if you had had lived fewer years before facing it, thats how old the brotherhood is or perhaps a little older, by the time I was sworn in the band was mere three, Ravi, Sudheer and offcourse who else? and settings of our meeting was special coaching center for IIT-jee aspirants , soon sagely Ajay was sworn in too , Ajay had seen a bit too much of life at too small an age, he was in navodaya(rajahmundry) and 'emmigrated' to 'bihar' under the 'national integration' program and true to its nature 'the jungle' had rewarded his penance with the temperment of a stoic and the guise of a sage. Ajay and Ravi went to IIT bombay in 98, why bombay? no one knew, perhaps because the life at bombay is socially and economically more evolved from that of hyderabad, the city of the proletariat and the citadel of the oligarchs; oppurtunities unbound. Sudheer joined IIT-B the next year , before that the brotherhood had swelled, sandeep , rakesh , raghavendra, mahesh, srinath and others had doffed their hats and drunk to everyone's health.

Vinay and Pavan joined Sudheer in IIT-B, a few more doffs and cheers, the technology that he was supposed to learn which was Aerospace did not enchant him so much to rocket him off to US, and no sooner than he came back from Powai, the brotherhood was re-convened and new technologies were brought to light, there was thrust (read kick) and then there was fog too, I became his first and the most diligent apprentice just short of being knighted as 'Sir Jaggers', for the sharpness, with which I mastered the new 'kick and fog' technology that was brought to 'light'.

Now sitting under the glare of decoration lamps its hard to comprehend that life claimed Sudheer so soon, good for him and good for sirisha , I wish the newly weds a happy and wonderful married life.

However, I am still a bit unsettled, a decade is too long to wear off from one's nerves so soon, for has it not been that we travelled those twisted paths too
often and too long and have come out much the same , Sudheer a bit richer though, I agree, but then the contours had unmistakable signs of similarity.
Could it be ? Has it come to claim me too, have my good days been numbered too? For a while now I could notice it in the corner of my eye but it would not fall into my gaze, now while I sit under the wedding lamps longing for the company of the lost comrades and brothers in arms, it reveals itselft to me, the djinn is no different than I am just that it is a more aged version of me but is filled with a fear of loss. The writing on the wall is clear, to paraphrase Theoden King again "the days have gone down in the 'east' and the days of the brotherhood are numbered.

It was the time to bid the couple a farewell and go back to a life without the prospect of a brotherhood and I was getting ready to it, but at that moment
something happened the bridegroom stood and took of his coat looked around for a breif moment and ran towards us, this was a piece of devilry I had not imagined of, was I not lamenting about the 'demise of the brotherhood of kick and fog' ? We were in a fit of laughter when he yanked us out of the chairs and we walked out into the open , amid the roar of laughter up went the holy smoke (pheeeeeeeeewwww) and he told to us "Its been 12 hours can you beleive it?" , I could beleive anything at that moment , it is never hopeless, there will always be hope, 'the brotherhood of kick and fog' lives.