BOYS TURNED MEN

I’m just back from a party, rested my ass down and started jotting down on my experience just couple of hours back. I was in a pub, and for a change, I looked clean coming out of a pub. What happened was, last week, we exchanged couple of mails; I’m talking about my college mates Roop, Surya and Saptarishi. It’s been a long time we actually met, so decided to catch up this Saturday. Saptarishi stays in Chennai so can’t make it. We decided on the time and venue.

It was again one of those head banger’s pub, which we usually associate ourselves with. I also suggested this for my own selfish reason, for it is a walk able distance from my house. As usual, we reached an hour late than the said time…knowing each other’s punctuality. And as usual, I was the last to make an entry. The guards cordially took the cover charges before even I could smell the beer. Never mind, I was going to meet some good ol’ friends. Roop guided me towards the table. “Hey dude! How are you?” That’s Surya for you. Not surprised by his pretty long hair…somewhat a Jim Morrison look, with his facial structure and expression, the only exception being the ‘Hetfield’ goatee that he flaunts. We exchanged hugs and sat across. Roop, the married man, the chocolate boy he is, still the same old person with an evergreen smile…point to be noted, he’s happy even after marriage.

Heh!! We all started with our missing friend, Saptarishi. Looked back at how Saptarishi spent hours in the mirror, just to have a glimpse of that perfect jaw line in him, his over-conscious walking style, blah! Blah!! Tell you what, you love this guy or hate him but you can’t ignore him. That’s the impact he has among all of us. We kept shuffling our attention between the finger chips and the LCD screen. The Bose effect does make a difference along with the visual treat. Suddenly, Santana appeared with his ‘Black Magic women’ number and Surya comments- “He’s very over-rated a guitarist”. We had no choice but to agree with the master.

Let me introduce these buggers to you.
Surya, I guess he was born with a guitar in his hand. Had been our source to get introduced to the best chicks of the college. Alright!! Let me correct myself, the so-called chicks turned out to be good friends later and we loved them for what they were. A real rock star. You should not be surprised to find him in any of the live acts that keep on happening in the city. The last being in Mysore Purple Haze. Has a band, along with 3 other tamilians. I felt his band name should have been TherMIL and a quarter. Works with a Banking major and still manages to follow his passion. Great!!

Roop! Ah!! Both of us date back when we were just 12 years old. Lot of fond memories that we shared together. He’s a crowd puller, humorous, an entrepreneur in the making and off course, MARRIED. I have seen many guitarists but never a dedicated student of his sort. I bet no one would ever cover a Satriani number as fast as he did. I cannot forget those days when he had to choose between two of his books- ‘Let us C’ and the file containing ‘best practices of guitar notes’ that he downloaded after hours of surfing. And off course, his fetish for Potato fry. I also cannot forget how he fumed at my ‘No fine’ status versus his ‘Fine for short attentence’. For the benefit of the readers, my friend managed to get 65% (10% short per norms) attendance in one of those years in graduation against my 8%. I just hope my friend understands that fortune favors the brave. He's into Pre- sales technicals.

I would also like to introduce our missing partner.
The gigantic Saptarishi. Possibly the strongest man in the whole batch. Works out like anything, eats like never had before. His legs are always on the move…be it in action or at sleep. He's no exception but also a music lover & and boy! his genre changes from Metallica to Bappi Lahiri. But let me admit for once that he epitomize the perfect Aryan Male, only if he changes that ‘Check my jaw line’ looks. Software professional.

And I need no introduction.
It was with this bunch that we spent the larger part of our monthly pocket money in the just opened ‘Styx’; woke lazily up only to hear our owner, Mr. Police Commissioner crying out loud at the other Mauritian bunch- “Kya Karta, Idher DING-DONG karta kya”?? I remember trying SUPW skills on the bottles just to get that perfect ‘Submarine’. I remember that special weed that came across from the far east, only to witness my nervous system, the CHAKRAS of my soul, the almost OD incident. I remember all jamming up in the terrace, sharing the last joint puff by puff. The terrace has been there for other things as well. It helped us get that perfect position to have a glimpse at the new chicks on the block and betting on the first chick we can get into the house. And yes, I won that…but don’t question the quality! Again, she was a nice human being; respect the girl for what she was. Remember the Management Vs Science debate, it always went on and on.

OH!! It’s Freddie Mercury on the screen. We looked at his usual on stage antics. But we had to make sure this time we’re meeting for a talk, rather than the music bit. We laughed, smiled, mocked but somewhere a bit formal as well. I guess, when these guys will read…they’ll also blush. But was wondering, is it the same bunch that I talked about in the above para? For a change, we were discussing positive things, life in general. How things are at everybody’s end and how are we coping with those? In came Steve Morse and we silently conveyed our respect to him for we three of us went on for the first major live concert in India, Deep Purple, witnessed them from close quarters. Saw another gang enjoying their party adding only to the noise pollution we had around. Then came, James Hetfield. We smiled, for he ruled us for a good 2-3 years during college. We all agreed that Metallica defines thrash metal. However, there were different comments from my fellow friends about St.Anger. Does not matter! We moved.


After couple of guzzlings, for a change we decided to leave for home by 11pm. And also, we did maintain punctuality. For a change, Surya is worried about cops in his area. For a change, I was thinking of getting back home when the BOOZOMETER has just started ticking. And there’s no change, when Roop’s heading for Bhaabi.

Signed the cheques and walked out. I don’t know when and how, we got involved into somewhat a rather uninteresting discussion. Terms like soul, energy, Yoga started flowing. It was a mix of Spirituality and Scientology all involved. I had witnessed some inclination in Roop earlier on, but Surya surprised me, now he was talking about cosmic energy, how the learned lots attain. They went on to recommend books. I was looking them like a curious learner (where they doped). Okay!!

We bid ourselves good night…dispersed from there, hoping to catch up on a monthly basis, considering the characters in this group being the busiest of all.
I was blushing all the way back to my home. I was like is it the same old guys? How things change in life?? It looked to me like the BOYS got converted now; and now could be suitably christened as MEN!!