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About friends

It felt like I was lugging a boulder over my head when the day began. Thankfully enough, the tension diffused somewhat by the end of my work hours. The weekend knocking on my door was perhaps partly responsible for lending me the respite.

RR is in Hyderabad attending a friend's marriage. Lucky me. One of my worst kept secrets is that I'm extremely ticklish. People, sooner or later, do find it out by accident when my sensitivity come to the fore on account of even a slight brush...and thus begins my miseries. It happened in BIT when my classmates had hit upon the serendipity and continued exploiting it till I can remember. It's happening again since RR chanced upon my secret. Since he's away, I'm enjoying some momentary relief. But the score will be settled before the curtains come down, I've promised.

Abhishek is well aware of the sinking boat I'm in and the frantic attempts I'm making at the lifeboat. Our return trips after work begin with profound topics like politics, the destiny Indian IT workforce in the face of increasing competition from China, the reservation policy et al. Halfway through the trip, we're frustrated by omnipresent traffic jams and we wish we had a magic wand that could be swirled to rid Bangalore of all its ills. By the time our trip is nearing its end, we've switched to cracking jokes at how many things could possibly go wrong for me. He throws up hypothetical situations and I conveniently shoot them down. The best way to reprisal is to silence him by reminding him of 5th December! Revenge can be so sweet!

That's the trajectory of our daily discussions.

I had been putting off calling Subhasish and this was being constantly reminded by the impertinent SMSes he would send me almost each day since he landed up in Bangalore. So I called up the guy at around 2200hrs hoping to set up a rendezvous soon. That expectation was dashed when he informed me that he had put up at the Northern tip of Bangalore, diametrically opposite to mine! Well, we'll have to wait for some more time before the infamous adda between two Bengalis can kick in!

Subhasish has resigned from his job in Mumbai and now scouring the Indian Silicon Valley for something commensurate to his liking. Good thinking, I would have advocated such a move a long time back. He also informed me of the very unfortunate and harrowing experience he had with the recruitment team of the consultancy firm I work in. It's extremely frustrating when a legitimate candidate who has successfully cleared all the rounds is robbed of the final offer letter just because of an oversight of the recruitment team. This is unpardonable. Anyway, trials and tribulations are innate constituents of all walks of life. It's just that sometimes life can treat you very unfairly.

S has morphed into a beast of burden, or so one might be lead to believe. While some of his colleagues who stay next-door have no trouble in reaching home after work, our pitiable friend always blames the paucity of sufficient buses for his inordinate delays. In fact, he came home a little before midnight tonight! I just wish my olfactory senses could be suspended for a few hours after he makes such late-night entries.
(It's at times like the present one that I rue not having an anonymous blog. I could have easily shed some light on the reason for these chronic delays!)

A colleague of mine recently lamented about my blog being extremely critical. Another suggested that I use pseudonyms for the sake of protection of privacy. I don't like the thought of disguising identities in innocuous posts since I don't approve of even an iota of fiction in my blog. Still, since there have been enough indications of my blog breeding bad blood, I'll try to use initials where deemed necessary. This'll hardly be enough to protect privacy (especially from diligent readers who could trace through other posts to unearth hidden identities), but I'm not willing to go any farther in keeping identities shrouded. If trouble is headed my way, so be it.

I'm not incorrigible.
I'm just not gullible enough for my detractors' liking.
Cacophony hardly impresses me.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm ticklish too!! but shhh..
Deepanjan said…
There goes your secret!!

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