A dear friend celebrated his birthday recently. Mom calls him Horee, with her typical Bengali touch. He has bowled her over with his voice. Sample this conversation on the ashtami (eighth day) of Durga Puja celebrations - Mom wants to wish him good luck for his exams...I hand over the phone to her:
Mom: Hello! My darling! How are you?
Horee: (bowled over, laughing) Nomoshkar kakima...aami bhaalo aachi..tumi kemon? (Namaste aunty, I'm fine. How about you?)
A warm-hearted person, Horee would make a great uncle for my to-be-born kids, I always tell him. With him, I'm at ease with my thoughts. I've often debated whether there is something really like a 'best friend'. And I've also wondered where does he stand in my life - is he a best friend, or just 'one of my best friends'? In the end, I've realised that ranking friends is a total non-issue.
Getting back to the man of the moment, I was casually introduced to him at a coaching class. There I was, poring over microscopes and there he was, just around the corner, talking about a loo that he'd written about, in a popular teen-mag. Oh by the way, he has this strange stimulating attachment with toilets, loos and commodes. All of them, somehow get his creative juices flowing and every other day, I'm asked to sample some of his literary delicacies.
He's one of the most enchanting sculptors of sentences. Today, if I have any standards in reviewing written matter, the standards have been set by him alone . And therefore, he's spoilt me. I can no longer digest mediocre literature that I come across. I remember having trashed write-ups by editorial team-members while editing my college tabloid recently. All of it, because I thought that their piece of literature was junk, compared to Horee's writing standards.
I've assigned him the responsibility of writing my biography. This decision comes in the wake of my observations and calculations of his attitude towards his life in general. He has met with several ups and downs in life and taken all of them in his stride, saying, "It's okay. As long as it adds another interesting page to my autobiography, I'm happy." With such a belief, I'd imagine he'd be willing to remain adventurous all the way. And that would make his autobiography worth a read.
Both of us have also had our share of ups and downs. We became friends as mere travellers in local trains running in the wee hours. For once, I've mistakenly been bruised by the sting of this Scorpio. We were distant for a while, but it was the very same sting which had the healing touch. With Horee, it's his forgiving nature, that's helped cheer up things.
He's my Intellectual Sparring Partner, my googly-woogly bear, my compere...and I say this, just as I care. You are God's gift, a lion-hearted pen-wielding soldier.
Here's to you, Horee...cheers!
Mom: Hello! My darling! How are you?
Horee: (bowled over, laughing) Nomoshkar kakima...aami bhaalo aachi..tumi kemon? (Namaste aunty, I'm fine. How about you?)
A warm-hearted person, Horee would make a great uncle for my to-be-born kids, I always tell him. With him, I'm at ease with my thoughts. I've often debated whether there is something really like a 'best friend'. And I've also wondered where does he stand in my life - is he a best friend, or just 'one of my best friends'? In the end, I've realised that ranking friends is a total non-issue.
Getting back to the man of the moment, I was casually introduced to him at a coaching class. There I was, poring over microscopes and there he was, just around the corner, talking about a loo that he'd written about, in a popular teen-mag. Oh by the way, he has this strange stimulating attachment with toilets, loos and commodes. All of them, somehow get his creative juices flowing and every other day, I'm asked to sample some of his literary delicacies.
He's one of the most enchanting sculptors of sentences. Today, if I have any standards in reviewing written matter, the standards have been set by him alone . And therefore, he's spoilt me. I can no longer digest mediocre literature that I come across. I remember having trashed write-ups by editorial team-members while editing my college tabloid recently. All of it, because I thought that their piece of literature was junk, compared to Horee's writing standards.
I've assigned him the responsibility of writing my biography. This decision comes in the wake of my observations and calculations of his attitude towards his life in general. He has met with several ups and downs in life and taken all of them in his stride, saying, "It's okay. As long as it adds another interesting page to my autobiography, I'm happy." With such a belief, I'd imagine he'd be willing to remain adventurous all the way. And that would make his autobiography worth a read.
Both of us have also had our share of ups and downs. We became friends as mere travellers in local trains running in the wee hours. For once, I've mistakenly been bruised by the sting of this Scorpio. We were distant for a while, but it was the very same sting which had the healing touch. With Horee, it's his forgiving nature, that's helped cheer up things.
He's my Intellectual Sparring Partner, my googly-woogly bear, my compere...and I say this, just as I care. You are God's gift, a lion-hearted pen-wielding soldier.
Here's to you, Horee...cheers!
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