Types of Old Friends

Hey readers, long time no see.. umm,, read. Well, have been away for a while and I have been following IISuperwomanII these days which inspired me for today's post.

For those who don't know who she is.. Check out her videos on youtube on channel, click on the link IIsuperwomanII.

In today's world of facebook, Twitter, gtalk, hangout, skype etc, its easy to be in touch with old friends, but does being in touch virtually really count? Recently I have had a lot of old friends catch up with me and that brings me to writing this blog. You know there are friends one has from school, college, old childhod buildings, etc that you lose touch with in the years and all you are in touch with them is on fb or twitter or on some random messenger where u see each other online but rarely message since you wouldn't know what to say to each other. Its like the latest version of face to face awkward meets. "Hi, hello, wassup, what have u been upto.. sorry I m kinda busy, can I msg u later?" And that almost never happens. Today I would like to mention few types of friends who catch up after a long time..and categorise them...

Long lost friends: These are the best kind of old friends who you love to catch up with.. they know how u were when u were a kid and they know lot of things about u that u forgot. You both share the stories that only u can understand and laugh at.. However, the sad part is...when u meet them, it makes u feel guilty about not keeping in touch with them all these years. Talking to such friends makes reunion plans possible because these are mostly kind of friends who are constantly in touch with everyone. They have their contact numbers..email address, latest updates, their career graph, and their personal lives. They know everything about every other common friend that you might have. Time flies speaking to such old friends and one loves to keep in touch with them once the bond is made again. Their most common line.." yeah I met him just few days back.. yeah we spoke recently and she is doing great.." Generally this is the type of friends who encourages u to be in touch with everyone else, adds u to all the whatsapp groups of school, gives u links to other school buddies on fb, etc.

Interviewers: These are old friends who when u get in touch with make u feel like u r giving an interview.."so what have u been upto?...married yet? Have any kids..where are u working..who all in family?" And suddenly u feel all u need to do is give them ur passport details next..so they can steal your identity and make a scam.. these are generally those kids in school who always used to be the curious cases, asking all the teachers all kinds of questions.. They remind of Paresh rawals character from 'Judaai'. Chances are that u might never message these friends to avoid the torture of their questions.

Gossip mongers: Usually the fun type of friends only till the time u r not the target to their habit. These kinds seem most interested in knowing about u and try to catch up with u in the most casual way possible, but it happens that u only can diagnose this category of friends after a long time into the conversations, when they start their sentences with."did u know about that girl in our class..? And then u r given all the latest updates on that girl...and her best friend..her husband, her apparent affair with another guy in school that no one knew".& suddenly u feel like "where was I when all this was happening.. how come I didn't notice?" These ppl spend most of their time checking and rechecking their friends profiles on fb or chatting with friends on msngers. Be careful of such old friends, coz whatever information u reveal can be twisted and turned into a gossip by such category. Try not to become gossip material for him/her.

Royal friends: This category would probably be the most difficult to get in touch with if u ever try to track them down. This is the type who wud have been famous in school, cutest looking girl/guy, hottest looking chick, or the most popular kid of class, or toppers of the class. These are mostly ones in prestigious positions in their career and barely have time to be in touch with u, so when u might bump into them on a social networking site or on whatsapp in some random school group,they will first pretend to not remember u, and u will probably end up using every memory of urs from school to remind them. 90% chances are... after all ur attempts to remind them of who u r, they will only remember u when u reach the most embarassing incident of ur school life that u were trying to forget all ur life...something like.."remember when I spilt ink on my dress and u had helped me in the washroom?.....and THEN they will be like,.."OHHH!, yeah hi.. now I remember u.." and that moment u start regretting the moment u thought of starting to converse with them. This types is a blow on ur confidence, self esteem and respect u have for yourself. To make matters worse, u realize very late that these are the kids ur parents used to keep standards as. "Why cant u be more like him/her?"

Troublemakers: Now I don't mean that this type creates a stir in your life when they are back in touch with u..but this type is the kind u were very close with in school. In fact, not just u 2.. but even your families knew each other as meeting-for-evening-tea kind of close. More than these friends, their parents are a torture to u, because when u meet them, they start describing to u everything that made u a loser or got u in trouble in school or college...IN FRONT OF UR SPOUSE/BF.... and God forbid if u ever meet this type or their parents with ur bf or spouse, chances are u might have to do a lot of explaining to ur better half later. "Nooo.. I wasn't punished for writing on bathroom walls.. she is just kidding" *frowns*

Celebrity friends: These are friends who are so full of themselves, that they just can't stop talking about themselves. They will give u all the updates of their life to u, their friends who are big shots, their 7 figure salary,their foreign location vacations, their over achiever children and their ultra modern super hot wife/husband. They will use every opportunity to make sure u end up either depressed, suicidal or worried about your current life. But don't worry about such types. These types are generally the most insecure ones in their lives and they do so only as an excuse to remind them that their life isn't as bad.

All said and done, old friends are the only people who have been with you during your pimple days, your immature days, enjoyed your crushes with you, bunked school or college with you, made fun of teachers with you or been there for you when you were going through a crisis. So make sure you get back in touch with them and relive those times.

As far the blog is concerned, these are the types I can think of right now but if you have more types of old friends that u r in touch with or wanna add any more conversations u have had with your latest school friends, Do share and we can all have a laugh. 

Until next time..

Ciao

Baatein Bhool Jaati hai, Yaadein Yaad aati hai

Now that i have started blogging again, i started thinking that its actually been a while since I recalled my old days, my old pals, and my old life. I don't want to start with a BooHoo-My-life-has-changed blog. This time, I just want to make sure that some things / places /people are remembered for the simple reason that I don't want to end up forgetting them, and whenever I get a chance, I would like to go back and visit them as often as I can.

Mumbai...!!! 

Since the day I can remember, I have always been a proud Mumbaikar. No, I wouldn't say I know everything and every place in this city. But I do know one thing and that is the fact that no matter where we go, There is no place like home. :)

Few places that have been very special to me and no matter where I am, I will always associate these places with the people closest to me or certain chapters in my life which were the turning point for me.

• Powai Lake: This place has been very close to my heart for the simple reason being that as a central suburban resident, that's the closest we could be to a water body, and I love shores, be it a sea shore or a lake shore. It used to give me the serenity I used to look for..away from the chaos of life. Thankfully for me, my travelling route still gives me the pleasure of waving by to it, but its been a while since I had a proper rendezvous with it.

• Bandra Bandstand: Many people associate certain places with certain people and this place just reminds me of the wonderful memories I made with my special someone who later become my better half for life. As I said earlier, I and shores have a special bond, also because I am a water sign,Scorpion (don't be scared, I don't bite) lol. Bandstand is known for its couple antics and "scenarios", but for me its just a place I got to know the most wonderful person in my life. Hence the special mention in this blog.

I also remember the various hobbies that I wish I could continue. 

Dancing, is and has been my life. I remember the days I used to attend salsa classes and the joy I used to get out of it... in spite of travelling 2 hrs just to reach the venue. It used to be all worth it. My first live performance for my classes, and the first time I wore a dress, made me feel alive.
 

Writing, is something I used to do for venting out and emptying the many irrelevant thoughts I used to get which had nothing to do with my regular life. If you don't know what I am talking about, read my previous blogs. They will show you that they are not necessarily conversational topics. They are just topics one thinks in their minds and moves on. I had almost given up on writing, but thanks to my husband, I have got back to writing again and hence the second blog in a week's time. I just hope to continue the same.

Singing. Well I used to be a decent singer but whenever I think about singing, it reminds me of my mother who inspired me to learn singing and pursue it as a hobby. My teacher used to say, singing cleanses the soul of a person, and helps the person open up to many things in life. Maybe not intentionally, but somewhere while singing I used to find myself taking the most difficult decisions of my life. I do miss it.

I miss my dad and my sister the most. My friends who I used to meet every evening to talk about the most absurd topics and still make sense. I miss my friend's ability to narrate stories every evening for hours together. I miss walking through malls with my friend just window shopping and deciding what we would probably buy someday if the occasion demanded it.(we never really bought anything). I miss my friend who could make me laugh no matter what the mood,  and who could make me go hysterical with just 5 words "somebody's gonna get hurt today". I miss people who when I spoke to had codewords only we understood. 

In spite of the long article, I am glad I have been able to jot down each and every one of the things, people and places that matter to me. Though a long blog...I guess for me..it was all worth it.

Have you ever thought about people who you miss, things you miss doing or places you miss visiting? Please do share them in the comments. I would love to know if there are more people like me out there.

Dream to run...Mumbai Ishtyle

Standard chartered mumbai marathon.. I have associated myself with this name since last 3 years and each year this phenomenon ceases to amaze me and liven up my spirit of being a mumbaikar. Three years back I wasn't even aware of this event and thanks to my husband, I took part in it. Category of dream run being the lowest in terms of kms, I had decided to participate in it. I always assumed that we need to actually run in a marathon (obviously due to the research of videos i did after participating the first year). But my doubts were cleared in my attempt and I decided to give it a shot. Mumbai for me has always been equivalent to the sea, marine drive, etc and since the route included both, I was excited to actually try out the route. 

Each year I used to think of writing a blog on my experience, but finally with much pushing by my hubby, have managed to make it possible today.

The dream run is a 6 km category and mostly for corporates and promoters of various fields.  What grabs my attention the most is the amount of preparation done by these groups to actually stand out in the marathon.  From a group of as small as 10 to as big as 50, one needs to really stand out with the costume to be noticed, specially if you are alone. 

The celebrity stand being the most looked forward to my most participants, mainly because it probably gives us one glimpse of our hottie celebrity ( in my case, Juhi chawla, and in case of others, John Abraham) each year.

Few groups that have been regular every year have been tata, bharti axa, icici, etc, but the one that stood out the most for me this year would have to be undoubtedly Indian navy and tata consultancy services-TCS, who had put in a lot of effort for the banners, people management and theme of the group.

What also makes me truly proud is the way this whole event is organised.  From the entrance to the water stalls, from the crowd management to the traffic control, it makes me very overwhelmed to see our mumbaigoodie bags after marathon completion, it is fabulous team effort that one can see. police and traffic control working at every step to make such there is no chaos. Thousands of volunteers working from the day they start distributing the BIB numbers, to the event day for distribution of

Few moments that are memorable for me this year are:
1. the girls wearing a marathi costume 'navvari' shying away from cameraman in typical "issshhh, nakoo" style. It was almost as if they were newly weds. 

2.The Indian navy stage which had the navy officers being the orchestra as well as the singers of the group singing oldies and making heads turn, couples dance and youngsters sing to their tune. Its amazing how much talent exists in one of the most challenging unit of our country. 

3. Unfortunately, the third memory is not a very happy one. While I noticed so many positive things promoted, I noticed a lot of street kids also becoming a part of this event. There were many kids with empty plastic bags collecting empty water bottles, of course without any help asked for by the marathon committee. I saw groups chanting against female foeticide and child labour and NGOs promoting literacy in slum areas. I was surprised that they didn't notice these children on the streets or even give them a second glance. It made me think...are these promotions only for the sake of it?? Whats the point if you dont stand by what you preach? Stop using these topics to stand out in the marathon because it only makes you a hypocrite at the end of it all. What happens to your promotions once the event is over?

This year's marathon also left me with the thought of a decision to change a part of what I saw and do whatever little I could do for at least one kid if not many. Lets hope I can bring the change I want to see around me.

Till next year, this marathon at the start of the year always manages to give me a head start on my resolution to work on my daily walks (unfortunately the start ends too soon) but better little walking than nothing at all? Hehe...

Sharing few pics of marathon..enjoy!!!