We had seasons in the sun

That week was a tough time at the office for me. It sucks when you do a slogging work knowing really well that you will never really get appreciated. The only good thing was I learned some Photoshop. I love the tool. Really high end stuff for a fresher.

In between two weeks of utter distress came a weekend I will cherish for many reasons.

Some nine guys who studied together for some 4 years came together at that city and spent some 2 days together, completely forgetting the heck of a life they are in. One of them was me.

As years go by reunions are getting more and more precious and a lot more nostalgic. When the time comes to say 'good byes' and 'see yous' we never know when the second part is going to happen. There is a silent cry in our hearts.

None of us are fully settled into our lives. The world seems to be more miserable than what we thought it would be. Everything is for sale- relationships, jobs, abilities. It's a bad, mad, sad world.

One among us got married. Very few of us are hitched. Many were ditched. In the end we turned out to be the same ol' gang enjoying the same old jokes.

It is difficult to plan for reunions. It is nearly impossible to get some 60 people together at the same place and at the same time. When you study together for 3 years it is not necessary that you develop the same mindset as the others. There are impenetrable gang of friends, politics, dislikes, dissensions and enmities. When you graduate you carry the same feelings buried within you. It takes someone with great patience and persistence to push people to come together.

Ours was not a reunion just a get together of friends who met during their journey of life at a college. They played, ate and joked together for three years and went apart to earn their livelihood. They learnt that memories are too precious to let it go wasted and so met again at the place that made them what they are.

The hero of the meeting was Vattu. It was because of him that entire exercise was happening. Vattu and his aunts has happily hosted us many a times before at his place, Palakkad. Palakkad is the most beautiful place down here in Kerala. You won't believe when I say there are innumerable trekking spots, waterfalls and not the least really beautiful girls. Unlike the metro-city bred ones these girls do not need heavy makeup or tight shirts or any props to make them look beautiful.

When I say his aunts played happy hosts, it is not that easy. Especially when you have a bunch of guys who get hungry all the time. The tough part is two of them are veggies. Unlike the other veggies they make no consolation in terms of food. For these two veggies a separate menu card has to be prepared.

For a change we decided to invite him over this time. We never expected he will go ahead and book the tickets straight away. When an e-mail came that he is going to be here on 6^th of November (Friday), we were caught out of blue. Vattu had moved to Chennai and was doing something related with IT. He befriended a cash rich NRI who was too eager to dispense with the extra cash she had. We guys used to boil with jealousy on his exploits. But sadly losers are always losers when it comes to girls. He found a greener pasture, dumped the NRI and went after her. As he started weaving his future plans with her, he learnt that her favorite dish was raw meat (literally). He claims he escaped with his life and balls intact (no guarantees on the second part).

Antony readily agreed to play the host for Vattu. That means his place is going to be the control centre for the entire operation. Antony stayed with his dad and he was on the lookout for someone to taste the dishes he expertly cooked. Vattu was expected to arrive with an empty stomach.

Kuruvi was the first one among us to escape from the clutches of IT. The famous folklore is that his former employers were more than happy to see him go and held a farewell party for the first time in the history of I-Flex. Needless to say the loss of Indian IT industry turned out to be gain of BEML. Out there he is expertly using up all the leaves he gets as a government employee. And when he is not drinking he is in Trivandrum.

Kuruvi has got a car here and more than willing to go for long drives. He didn't think twice when we told him that we are planning to meet. So the transportation plan was solved to some extent.

Another famous character in our gang is Kalam. Please don't think that he is a geek or studious. He is a genius but only uses his brain for purposes others would not dream of. The last thing Kalam wants to have is a job. So in order to occupy his time he enrolled for a computer course and went on and on until the computer centre informed him that there is nothing left to teach him. With a heavy heart he boarded the train to Bangalore for his next course. Today he has no idea of which course he is doing. There is a good chance that he might be doing his masters even though he is not aware of that.

In Bangalore his exploits became so famous that his room-mate started a blog http:///memisan.blogspot.com/ exclusively dedicated to him. His recent exploit happened a few weeks back. We had the great privilege to hear it directly from him. He was on a train to visit some cousin of his. Mistakes happen to genius but they turnaround them to a real genius idea. He learnt from a fellow passenger that the train doesn't stop at the place where his cousin stays but the next station, which is just a few kilometers away. Kalam didn't stop to think. He took out his baggage and jumped out of the moving train. If you are thinking how brilliant the idea was, wait till you hear the rest of the story. Kalam was suffering from pain all over. He went out and took an X-ray of his body. We ordinary mortals would have gone to a doctor. But he hated doctors with big syringes and knives. Kalam went out and Googled for the X-ray of a normal man. He compared his X-ray and Google X-ray and self diagnosed that he was quite okay and there was no need for a surgery or plaster. He just has a side effect that he can't raise his arm much. But geniuses have to make sacrifices for the human race.

Ashad switched jobs, switched locations and at last settled here in Trivandrum as ATM installing head. Something that hasn't changed about him is eating habits. If the costumes are changed he can easily be mistaken for a lady.

VR is another one who resigned from the great Infy only to return and make lives miserable for Trivandrum by digging the roads in the name of pipeline. The only difference that has come over him is the scraggily beard.

Jino was known as the 'Sir' during our college days because of the neatly ironed shirts he wore. We guys never wore a shirt expect for our campus interviews and never wore ironed ones and never ever tucked in. He rarely wore a T-shirt and always tucked in.

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Challenges seemed never ending. And that what made this outing beautiful.

A bachelor's party was planned on the Friday night. Lots of food, booze, movies, reminiscences and little sleep was on the menu. But heavens opened up the Friday night. Rest of the guys made it to the party but I couldn't.

The next day morning rain continued as a drizzle. We were supposed to start @ 10 in the morning. Braving the weather, a broken specs , two erratic guys and one still suffering from yesterday's hangover we started 3 hours after the schedule.

The next big challenge was the lunch. Jino systematic as always had been ready from morning, had his breakfast and lunch. After some arguments decision was made to stop at Attingal. We walked around the place looking out for a restaurant. Found one at 3 and ordered a heavy lunch. Wonder what the waiter would have thought about a bunch of guys walking in when they were about to clean up for the afternoon.

Anu had been waiting for us the whole day. He too was part of our class and his house was on the way to beach. He was doing his MBA and thankfully came down with a chickenpox two weeks before the trip. So he was there at his home and had recovered when we informed him about the plans. He was waiting with juice and cake from the morning . He kept the cake on table and to our surprise saw it emptied within seconds. Ashad who was suffering from yesterday's hang over made a remarkable recovery and finished the entire cake.

After picking all the shorts we could find from Anu's home we set out for the beach.

At last, the very last we reached the destination of our dreams. Varkala beach is really beautiful, white sand, surrounded by cliffs. It is not crowded and unlike Kovalam young tourists come there and locals don't bother much. We ran to the beach with the football. Before getting down we stripped ourselves to T-shirt and shorts. The smelly clothings were deposited in Kuruvi's car

It had started to drizzle. But that wouldn't stop us from running wild into the sands. The game started by showing off the skills. I haven't played football for years. Thanks to the 9-hr office jobs guys had developed pot bellies. As soon as the game started our yester year star striker Ashad went down and lay in the sand throughout the game. Game went on. Kuruvi had slimmed down and was playing beautifully. VR was our college football team member and not even the paunch could stop him from doing some stunning moves. Vattu was deadly. He is lean, fast and athletic. Kalam was playing with his PUMA shoes on while rest of us played barefooted. Since someone stole his branded shoes from his Bangalore apartment he even went to bed in the new ones.

The game went on in full swing when two foreigners came to watch us. They had the looks of good footballers and we invited them in. Xavi and Pettit were from Barcelona. They were athletically built and had no ounce of fat in their body. We were quite ashamed of ourselves when they covered the entire field and didn't seem in getting tired at all. Something that touched us were these guys introduced themselves as from Barcelona rather than Spain. They might have got quite surprised that we played football in somewhat Spanish way. Thankfully we put the Spaniards in different teams or else there would have been a complete rout,

When we got tired, we called for interval. The Spaniards seemed surprised. We talked with them and came to know their Catalan spirit when they spat on the ball with Madrid inscribed on it.

After the interval teams was reduced to 3 per side. Rest were too tired to get up. We played for good one and a half hour when the guards came and stopped us. There was a plan to hit the toddy shops but Kalam had to get back to home and he can be a nasty driver when he is in a hurry.

We got back to Kuruvi's car to change back. I was the first one to put my head in and boy it stank. Kuruvi was pissed off but what could he do except to open the windows and put on the fans. We dragged in the entire sand from the beach on to his car. He would have a handful of car washing to do the next day.

We reached home in the evening damn tired after some physical exertion after years. There were vague plans to have lunch together the next day. I had to go to office the next day.

But reaching the office I realized nothing worthwhile is going to happen there and so I silently walked out. Antony and Vattu was at Kalam's. Since Kalam forced us we had a (light) lunch from his home. And no one was hungry enough to go out for lunch again. Our topic was how much Kalam had changed since college. Kalam had been addicted to anime, manga etc. etc. By sheer stroke of coincidence he got over all that, wrote all his back papers. He is still allergic to jobs. But he is sure looking out for one.

There was a great story from college. Kalam was a lean guy with a slight stoop and due to lack of sleep during the night he slept throughout the classes. Unlike us all the teachers were thankful to him because he troubled none. Our college is the battleground of two gangs in the name of politics. The main leaders of these fights are in our class. Regularly some one's head gets broken. Someone gets beaten outside the college and there are revenge battles. So there is an air of uncertainty always. Teachers have no clue about how to control the situations.

Once all the teachers complained about our class. The Head Of Department summoned our parents. HOD knew he was in a precarious situation. If he stir things up situation could get worse. To 'everyone's surprise HOD caught Kalam pushed him to front and announced 'This is the ring leader behind all the gang fights'. Even the real culprits were surprised. They were ready with propaganda if they were blamed. Teacher's got busy trying to protect and the attention diverted from the real problem. What an idea Sirji.

Time came for Vattu's train. Antony had an idea about the dessert. We went to the nearby shop and brought three ice cream family packs. The shop keeper said 'I think two would be enough for you guys'. We said 'No uncle, you don't know our appetites. We don't think even this is going to be enough'. Wish we had listened to the wise. In the end two of us had to finish it off. Needless to say for two days my digestive systems worked overtime.

When Vattu set off from Antony's home the skies had begun to darken. Surprisingly Sunday morning was blessed with clear skies. As we saw him off at the train, I doubt if we felt a tug. We said we would meet like this soon again. But god knows when that is going to be.

As soon as Vattu's train started rain started. Another excuse for the rest of us to have a tea together, Life is beautiful.

I dedicate this to all my friends who made my years in SCT wonderful. Its that special feeling that me do this blog

Afterword: Special thanks to Sarah and _Anish A who did the review for me and encouraged me to go ahead. I was plagued with doubt on doing this and felt it might turn out to be a crap.