Best Wishes..Gutthi

Today one of my bosom friends is entering wedlock. Too bad I cant make home and say "Should I lock this answer to your life?". An intro to the kind of the bond we had would be something on the lines of "Toy Story" . He had all the characterstics of "Buzz Lightyear" when I first met him.
I mean his motto in life seemed nicely to align with "To Infnity and Beyond" cry of Buzz. A loose modeling of mine could be based on Woody's character who is a cowboy and seems he is a star in his own universe till Buzz comes along..Watch the movie for more details. I would like to jot down a few in these memoir( atleast the non-damaging ones)

His fascination for Cars was astounding. You walkin to a book shop and lets say you are viewing some eye-candy thats usually grabs your attention but this guy is hooked watching some new model/make of a car thats displayed in the remote corner of the stand. That apart he recently acquired this gift for "self-deprecation". I guess he still holds the record for my longest duration of a call to India (Average is arond 45 minutes - 1 hour). Has a keen sense of wordplay. He chose to remain back home and do something rather than arrive in the US for Masters as most of my other friends did. I liked the time when I could call on him and give him a 'sleepless night' just simply by describing some "driving" opportunities out here. Not any more. As he says "mera number aayega" and I guess he dreams of driving a Merc by the time he is 35.

The next thing anybody observed in him was that his "style". He is used to carrying a certain lifestyle around with him even in some godforsaken places like Karwar, Karnataka( where he had to execute a project) A very particular man about the brand and quality of stuff usually most guys dont care about. On the whole he used define "coolness" for the rest of us.

I guess he also has the distinction of being the only guy who slapped me. Yeah! Its so happened that he was getting some blank calls from some ananymous female and I happened to lie (just to pull his leg) that I actually commisioned her to do that.Slapppp. Of cousre the advantage from this point is I could easily leverage his guilt later to treat me to a party and also buy me a book.

It was me who once smoked in his balcony at 2 am (The pack was a bribe for me to be inspired and write a Statement Of Purpose for another friend, Mote). His father who woke up around that time to smell the smoke probably and in the morning promptly accused him of smoking. He had a hard time defending his innocence of the matter.

When I went to India last Christmas, The best trip I had was the one we both had in Palolem Beach, South Goa. He was working 40 miles south at a remote place where the Indian Navy was constructing Asia's biggest naval yard. He proudly showed the construction of the granite rock based access to the island of Anjediva (It was his pet-project other than his main contract) and I was glad to see us riding on the road he laid.It was a very exotic island with a dilapidated church greeting you at the base and we hurried to the top to visit the Martyr Memorial which was a memorial to the soldiers lost in the reclamation of Goa from the portuguese.It was fantastic to see the view from the top.I will hold on to that picture for some years to come.The next day we drove to Palolem and had a typical beach fun.I can tell you there's quite something different to waking up to the sounds of waves lashing against the beach. Then we flew back to Hyderabad via Bombay..Hmm...Didnt quite realise that would be our version of the last hurrah before this fellow would tie the knot.

Enough descriptions of the time spent.Only bummer was I couldnt get the photographs from that trip due to an error in loading the film.I can go on like this but we get enough flavor from the above mentioned incidents.

I can pretend to be the best man in thie virtual cyberspace raising a toast to you.Here's to you Pal.

I hope you make "the existentialists" wince by proving that you have made your own heaven with the company of Shivani.I Hope this union will bind your souls into a seamless whole once again.I wish your faith in each other outlasts time and outruns space.