There is this guy i know from my PTI days (they weren't long back, if that is what comes across from the tone. they were just three years ago.), who used to walk with me back from shift and coerce me into eating ice creams with him. I was a (psuedo) anti-MNC then and always used to go for Amul or the very local Mother Diary ones and he, the kind of Hinglish kiddo that he was, always grabbed a Kwality Walls or ...whatever. And he wrote about me and "my love for ice creams" in PTI's work blog and whoosh....I felt all the more encouraged to gulp down more. All the while thinking, "Oh Tony is so ccccuuuutttteee.... (unlike some of the men in the 'constipated' place....well, now I think it was just my thought. Sorry folks.) Today after long, I bumped into his blog...tony2cool...and seems like the Tony I knew has graduated... from shimpy shimpy ice cream and chocolate talk to....SEX. Wow. He has some fabulous revelations on his blog on how he came to know of the forbidden fruit. Well, Tony, if you will ever read this....whatever or however you feel of what or what not in this world, dont ever forget the walk back to bus stop after the 8 am shift and the ice cream sessions. The ice creamwallah knew us so very by our sight that whenever i used to be alone, he used to ask ...apke dost nahin aaye? And I used to say ...nahin...unka afternun shift hai... And to keep his spirits, I would order a cone.
Can't forget those steaming hot and icy cold days of Delhi and the Parliament Street lanes just for some memories like these. The others are tagged to our Mayur Vihar hostel with all fun, frolick, anger and of course the 'naive silliness' of our very naive Misha Pillai. And the days I shared with Ambika Pendharkar, who must now be raking in marital bliss. The 'very literary' chats I had with the 'very literary' Anima Balakrishnan and the love for life and fun I shared with the gorgeous Bong babe Rituparna Bhowmick. And the silent camaradrie I had with the mag man Sachin Gogoi, who still is a friend for life, and the 'very brotherly' love I had for big dada Debjit Chakrabarty. Of course how can I forget my Swaty, a woman in every sense of the word .
Within PTI, it is DKG's pompous talk, Vinod's mellifluous singing as he found his way through foreign copies and Ritu Sharma's and Richa Tyagi's "I care two hoots" attitude that stays evergreen. These are the things that made me feel, at least sometimes, that the I in me is not completely dead. Otherwise, Delhi was the place where I was on a foolproof act...to please and to gain love.... But in the pursuit, I lost myself. I could have gained so many friends and good moments with my real self...had I not been on that act. I would win otherwise, too, keeping away all those factors that prompted  me to act. This post is thus an apology to all my friends who I purposely shut out...Avishek Roy, Sumit Upadhyay, Zeeshan Sheikh, Shemin Joy, SDG, Sukanya, Mriganka, and most of the seniors who I knew I could be friends with. Love you all.