R.A.V.A.N.S

Bernard Meltzer was a radio host in the United States for several decades. Amongst his many(or few, who cares?!) notable quotes, the one which holds relevant to this posting is the following one:
'A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked'

Rahul and I go back several years. I know him since I was 5 years old. Akash came across as a geeky 10 year old when I met him for the first time when we were in the 5th grade. Aditya, or 'Gai' as he is well known among everyone who know him and also my true and tender lover ;-), walked into my life when we were in the 8th grade. Vinay Navani (his other names being Despo, plunderer of women and bitches, Navani Uncle etc) reminded me of Shaheed Bhagat Singh when I first spoke to him in the 9th grade. And then in the 10th grade, Nimit Nair a.k.a Gorilla a.k.a Grizzly barged into the classroom and immediately rested his fat butt on the same bench on which Rahul had occupied his seat. And at that moment, waves crashed onto boulders, volcanoes started spitting out lava, earthquakes swallowed entire civilizations and babes wearing short skirts morphed into men with hairy legs! Well, not really :P

I still remember those days as vividly as I remember today's menu. Rahul, Aditya, Vinay, Akash, Nimit And I struck an instant chord (or rather, 'struck instant chords') and thus was formed the most esoteric and elite clan in the entire universe. And Vinay christened it 'R.A.V.A.N.S' . For the ones who dont know my name, its Sham :)

Akash was the Head-Boy of our class and Aditya (wow!...its been a while since I referred to 'Gai' as Aditya!) was a prospective merit ranker. And Rahul had one of the most sought after babe in our school on his fingertips (and other tips as well ;) ). The rest of us were as bland as a mixture of salt and sugar. Nevertheless, R.A.V.A.N.S was in the game , and boy!...has it been a playaa!

The last year of school was as exciting as a Brazil v/s Argentina World Cup Soccer final game and then the six of us along with many other students were thrown into the big bad world of Junir College. Akash joined Ruia and impregnated countless women over there and failed in the Hindi paper of all the examinations conducted by the college. But managed to scrape through the final one conducted by the Maharashtra State Board! Rahul, Aditya and Vinay joined Swami Vivekanand Junior College and it goes without saying that all those who stay in Mumbai would be knowing that S.V.J.C is worse than school and hence they couldnt have too much fun (although, they would vehemently deny this claim). And the fact that Vinay and Aditya were too busy studying didnt help matters. Hence Rahul had to make do by meeting up with Akash, Boku (a common friend) and me very frequently. Nimit had joined S.I.E.S College in Nerul and was busy studying as well as ogling at pretty chics , who by the way, were afraid of his gorilla like mannerisms. My quota of 2 years of junior college was spent in S.I.E.S College Of Arts, Science & Commerce which had tonnes of babes and a spacious canteen which still serves delicious fare.
Unfortunately, none of the babes were interested in my mannerisms and thus kept away from me. But the six of us managed to keep in touch even through those 2 years during which all of us acted like we were busybodies.

And after that, came the trip to Alibaug. The days and the evenings were spent in playing cricket and football on the beach. There were intermittent breaks for having lunch and dinner during which we gorged on fish, rice and more fish...
The nights were spent playng Ono and reciting ghost stories to each other and trying to wake up Akash , who somehow managed to sleep 41 winks in that boiling heater which we called a room.
But the trip had its share of drama as well which involved a lot of tears and gave rise to unfounded fears! But it somehow managed to strengthen our bond. Our bond of friendship!

And since then, it has been an absolute joyride. Right from ogling at gals whenever we go to Bandra or trying to leach at more gals whenever we go to Bandstand in the middle of the night. And also hogging on all kinds of food, pulling each other's legs, annoying Nimit by calling him gorilla ,and more recently, grizzly. Instigating Vinay to molest Aditya has become a regular affair and hearing Akash reveal his various conquests has never failed to shock us. Rahul sings wonderful songs while playing his guitar and your's truly does nothing but crack sidey comments on everything and everyone being discussed.

It has been a superb journey which has lasted 6 years, and I hope it lasts 60 more years! Oh Damn!...who am I kidding?!...I hope it lasts till everything lasts...because R.A.V.A.N.S has made us realize that we might be boorish buggers to people around us, but to each other we have been brothers...from different mothers! (this is a quote stolen from a very dear friend!)

Cheers!....(with lassi, beer and scotch!)