Bro-Vorce

So G left a while ago. The room’s completely empty after almost 2 years. I thought it would be ok. But in reality it’s pretty horrible and painful. As I watched his packed bags in the morning, I somehow felt like a person who is going through a divorce or a mutual separation and I knew I would be writing tonight. But there are two ways you can look at things – you can really feel bad about someone leaving or you can just imagine all the great times you have had and be happy that they happened.

And I know it’s not like a divorce, and I might be trivializing it with this comparison but then it can always be called a Bro-vorce, Bros moving to different cities, diverting their tracks.

The worst part is that I have never felt it before. Till this day, every time I have parted with a friend, it has been a firm handshake as life took us on different tracks. We had parted like men do –

Dude have no tears,

Here’s a red bull and a beer.

Sometime back Russian Princess told me, actually taught me, that it’s ok to accept goodbyes with a smile. And that’s what I intend to do. So here’s to what we did over the last couple of years.

We took coffee breaks at every coffee machine in the office. We ensured that there was not a single coffee machine that we had not drunk from. And then we made the chaiwala at the crossing rich.

We skipped lunch for work and then rushed to the sandwich joint outside KC College to stuff ourselves with grilled sandwiches, less butter no cheese. We made Oxford Bookstore turn profitable as we indulged in the food and the ‘Sau mil ki chai’ there and then engaged in the sweetest sin of all - impulse purchase of books which we would read after six odd months.

We went to Geoffreys together and he would order a Bloody Mary just so that we get the free nachos. And then we would get a taxi and sleep off.

We walked all across Bandra, late into the nights as the world slept around us. We would return home from work, eat at Subway, drink coffee and then walk till we were done with our cribbing on life and all that mattered. In other words, Hum Bandra ke Badnaam Galiyon ke Betaaj Baadshah the.

We bought all our electronics together, mostly from Alfa :) after spending a complete Saturday morning searching for the lowest rate.

We went to Bachulal Cycle Shop together to buy our cycles and discussed with Mr. Bachulal how we had only Rs. 30 with us apart from our debit cards.

If anyone has ever sold anything edible in Bandra, we have eaten there, whether we could afford it or not.

We have entertained complete strangers just because they were the other person’s friend and have become friends with them.

We have searched extensively in the matrimony sites for one of our closest friends, 600 less than devil, and have returned heartbroken with only 11 possible matches.

And the list goes on.

G’s been a good friend to A, V and me. He has been the guy who you could depend on anytime. In fact, even the otherwise not visibly emotional tall gentleman says, “It feels like the end of an era.” Tomorrow as I leave Mumbai for another whirlwind trip across the country, I feel nice writing this post. It has been fun and it shall always be there. But it’s not like it’s the end. We knew it would happen. It just happened, too fast, too soon. I guess that’s ok.

You know what’s the best part? I was always the lone wolf in the prairies howling at the moon as I danced through the mountains. Having a friend taking care of you when you are sick, when you are mentally drained following certain meetings sometimes makes you pretty domesticated. I am back to being the lone wolf in the prairies. Growl :)

There’s suddenly too much space in my room.