As Krishnan drove from Udavum Ullangal to Red Ginger through the narrow bylanes of Mandaveli, I was terrified that the Yeti might get nicked and worse that we might just hit one of the “weavers” :):):). The weavers are not the saree makers but men and women who blend with their bikes and weave in and out of traffic at will… Scary lot. Anyway, thank God, nothing happened and we reached Red Ginger. Surya, Kalpana, Sethu Madhavan and Thangam were already there besides Saify and Tahera.
Then a few minutes later came Viji and Sairam. We shared a quick update on the intervening 18 years and Danny and Zaid walked in just as we finished talking :). We filled in the gaps where needed and then everyone shared a similar quick update about the lost years. Children have become mothers and fathers with children of their own and many of us have become grandparents !! Saify has become a zero medicine leader and he was always a healer… Surya and Kalpana have become coach and counsellor… Danny has Harvard Publishing’s approval to do management programs and Sethu Madhavan is working on different assignments, Viji has finally taken time away from her school for toddlers and Zaid has his flourishing business. As we went around talking, it was like we had met last week at a Milt Alumni meeting and were just getting together again for dinner. That we were meeting after 18 long years is the reality but the few grey strands and the few kilos less or more or a couple of wrinkles on our faces are the only proof of those years. The same old jokes surfaced, we laughed at the same things that happened, remembered some of our other friends who couldn’t meet and life was good.
You have to meet these four couples (Surya-Kalpana, Saify-Tahera, Sethu-Thangam and Viji-Sairam) to know that time stands still … Viji and Sairam had a picture on Whatsapp with a little girl and I told Krishnan that they could pass off for being her parents and not grandparents !! Danny I think is stuck at 21 – he refuses to age 🙂 Time does stand still with friends like these.
What a trip this has been … We have met nearly everyone who was with us in the program on 14th March 1990 and nothing can really be more special than that. A special thanks to Aporesh for having brought MILT into our lives and helping create the environment for such friendships to flourish.
Today we were to meet Ramesh, but that has to wait as he had an emergency to attend to. So next time :).