Two of a kind

Looking back at the journey so far, I do not think I have made too many friends. A reason could be that I was too involved with my family and my priorities. Though I wanted to be a happening guy and mix up with a lot of people, my constraints and priorities prevented me from doing so. I remember one incident from MBA days. There were 7 of us staying in one flat at Hyderabad. Once we had this session when everyone had to talk about another person and bring out the negative qualities. Almost everyone was of the opinion that I am selfish. Not that it hurt me yet I thought that I am misunderstood. I had some constraints and I was living with them. Those constraints prevented me from doing all the things that others used to do and so I used to say "No" quite often. I did not have any options.

In the same discussion, another guy was branded as selfish. And he had similar reasons….I understood that. Amit (From the picture, don’t think that he is my domestic help) and me have a lot in common. To name a few, we are not outgoing types, both of us put the family first and we are very emotional.

Amit and me were class mates at college. We hardly talked during the college…we just knew that the other exists. I think we talked for the first time outside a movie hall. I was standing in the ticket queue and was fourth or fifth in the line. That is when Amit approached me and asked if I could buy two tickets for him and his friend. Having asked for a favor, for the sake of courtesy, he started talking to me. Then we came to know that both of us were interested in doing MBA and he had joined a coaching center. Before we could talk any further, the counter opened and inspite of being so close to the counter, I did not manage to get the tickets. Waiting for your chance in a queue is not really a bright idea at Ranchi.

Then I joined the same coaching center. Afterwards, we got the call from the same management institute….we travelled together for the interview….we stayed together at my cousin's place…both of us got the Hyderabad center and then we stayed together during MBA days. After an year of completing MBA, I moved to Bangalore. Amit's company brought him to Bangalore and we stayed together at Bangalore as well. Though we had spent a lot of time together before that, our stay at Bangalore really helped me understand this guy. He was with me when I was going through a very tough phase of my life and he was very supportive.

Amit is a gem of a person. He is a great friend to have and is very caring. We have shared a lot of memorable moments with each other. Though we do not have this melodramatic "yaari hai imaan…" kind of friendship, we still are very close. We know and understand each other's priorities/ contraints and respect them. I may not have many friends but with a friend like Amit around, I am definitely not complaining.