The day I met Lucky Ali

So, I moved from Kolkata to Vijayawada. My life has been a mixture of two immiscible liquids where the first half was before I was sent to a Boarding School in Vijayawada and the later half is post that. I call it, sort of a, turning point of my life. It would be difficult for anyone to digest that I faintly remember my likes and dislikes of the first half of my life now. And the feeling which I get when I face some of my favorites of the past is both amazing and awkward at the same time. I will be talking about one such experience in this post.
I had been a fan of the singer Lucky Ali since I was 5. I used to religiously listen to his songs everyday. On cassettes, TV and radio. I always had the name "Lucky Ali" on my mouth whenever I needed to compliment someone with a gifted voice. Nowadays, it was like I was in the mid of the trend. I was just following what others needed to hear. I followed all new songs, especially from famous bands from the US. What I didn't know that I already had a great collection of songs back home in the first half of my life.
Day before yesterday, a friend invited me to come for a show by Lucky Ali who was supposed to have an interactive session with the students of IIT-Bombay, the next day. I was paused for a little while and thought to myself, "Why the hell did I not listen to his songs all these years when I have a super fast internet facility?" . I definitely agreed to join my friend for that. We went there and after 15-20 minutes of him talking about his life, someone rose up and requested him to sing. He began and there I was, mesmerized. The feeling was the same that I used to have long ago. I got caught into the song till it stopped. Now here is the best part. When we got outside, we saw him standing outside with a couple of campus representatives, probably waiting for his car. I approached him. I said that I had been a great fan of him since I was 5 and whether we could have a pic with him. He agreed and both me and my friend had pics clicked with him. This made my day and I am thankful to that friend as I wouldn't have known about him, coming to the institute. After that, I had been listening to my old favorites on YouTube and I am in love with them again.

FRIENDS

It is no alien to anyone that all of us have many friends but good friends, very few. When these good friends move away from our life and are not that easily accessible as they used to be, we tend to get bulged with sorrow. It is just that most of us are not that good at handling the separation from social binds. I would call it INERTIA of society which often accepts an intrusion of an outsider but never wants to let any member escape. I have seen many of them in my lifetime till now and I must admit that I am very bad at handling them. I spent most of my childhood in Kolkata and had great friends there.Then I moved from Kolkata to Vijayawada(A.P.) and made many good friends there too. Then I moved from there as well and came to Mumbai. These transitions have been very difficult for me as I knew I won't be seeing many of those friends anymore soon. It has taken a while for me to adjust in Mumbai and I am again in the same condition. 

After having spent almost 2 and  a half years in IIT, I suddenly realized yesterday that some of my friends in the final year are nearing their end in IIT and will be here for merely 5-6 months. I am trying to avoid this fact but I seem to have gotten into the thought. It's getting very difficult for me to take away my mind from this. I know that we can't be permanent anywhere but it is the beauty of bonding that makes us believe that friends are permanent. I wonder how troubled I would feel once I am in my final year and all of us would move out of the campus. 

Friends are like the most vital part of life in the institute. We discuss everything from Politics, Studies, TV Series, Movies, Bollywood, Hollywood and "Comedy Nights with Kapil". We fight with one another, yet hold each other's back. We crack joke on a friend and then follows the epic one liner "Babaji ka thullu". The importance of a friend is realized in almost every thing we do here like proxy, gaming and TREAT. The random chit chats at room, Counter Strike, night whatsapp-ing, morning "gm" messages, Gmail texts and fb messenger are an important part of us. Mann, we know how to make use of all the gadgets and techies we are surrounded by as long as we have the backing of the strong godfather NETMON. We share a look when a hot girl passes in front of us and the short discussion that follows is what charges us. We all have that friend who studies everything for the quiz beforehand but when asked about the syllabus, he contracts his eyebrows and exclaims "Kal quiz hai??". We are never gonna get this kind of fraternity anywhere else and as life goes on, we get incorporated in our own worlds and gradually all of these are just available in our sweet memories to cherish. I don't know how to end this post so, I would go with the trial and tested method, a quote.

A person who truly believes that copying in an exam is wrong and yet agrees to show his answers to a friend, is a true friend. :P

- HARSH ANKUR