Going OUT of your way

Errr! This blog is not an original idea but the feelings with which it is written are very original. One of my jaans did this for me and I thought that I ought to do the same for this person. And therefore, this blog! It is long due and cannot come at a more appropriate moment. So, here as I am done with all exams and am listening to "Kahin toh..." from Jaane Tu... (lovely song I say) and am writing this. It is about this person called Sidharth Gupta! I met this guy at IIMB and I became friends with him. As time went by, his image changed from a brilliant orator to intelligent person to a wonderful friend. I have no clue how we moved on from just caring for each other to taking each other for granted.

As time went by, this bond grew stronger. Then came summers and after a hiatus of 2 months, we met back @ IIMB as "seniors". 2 things happened. He became a DML, that is Director's Merit List - the top 10 of the batch. I was so proud of him that (at the risk of sounding stupid) I could cry with pride as he took his certificate from Capt. Gopinath. I was very happy for him but deep down a little sad about my sheer lack of achievement. So, what finally happened was me being extremely happy for him and he being sad for me (He dint give up on me then, nor has he given up now - hopefully). The second thing that happened was he got a PPO. Kiddo! I haven't told you how proud you make me with all these achievements! I haven't told you how I knew for certain that, if anyone could make that CUT, it would be u :)
So, here is a big CONGRATULATIONS!!! for both these successes.

But why I write this is more to commensurate your efforts to make that special VDO for me on my birthday! For others, this VDO contained all those who I would have sorely missed not being around on my budday! So, this dude coordinates with my school friends (Gaurang), junior college friends (Priya, Aniket), college friends (Basu, Archana), jaan (Vraj), my seniors (Shruti, Needs, Shaw, Neetu, GS) asking them to send me a video recording wishing me personally. Isn't that the sweeetest thing to do for someone. The thought itself was soooooooo sweet. But in typical Sid style, he saw it to completion (as expected of him). He went thru hajar trouble to first collate these separate videos and then form a brilliant one with a theme. Just to mention a few jhols, some - published on youtube and he recorded off the comp, others cut the video and mailed in parts which he collated, he selected pics to go with individual videos, some were using web cam and he sat through the whole msg recording on this side. Silent all the while to avoid disturbance in the video quality. And mind you! this is all done secretly - avoiding me as much as possible. Anyone who has been to IIMB would know - how difficult a task it is for him ;) All this to put a smile on my face and (as I was completely unaware of this) during this time I fought with him for givin me less time :( Sorry Kiddo!! Next time tell me and do this - it'll make your life easier :P

So, bas! Not only did I smile but I cried as well. Not once but thrice - it was too overwhelming. (Of course, I was alone when I did so). And I was not the only one crying. Shruti saw in office and cried. Needs too, Shaw almost. I showed it to Neha (my mentor) and she was so touched. Yes! that was the impact. Thanks a ton dude.... You have no clue how much this means to me and how long will I treasure this.

You R the BEST!!!

Connect???

How do we connect to people? Is it a conscious process we use to weed out the undesirable and select the ones we connect with or is it a completely "i think itll work" process? Is it a process where I look for someone who is LIKE me or someone who is completely UNLIKE me coz I need variety in life? Why this random blog and even more random questions is because I have time on my hand and recently dont seem to connect the dots of connect with people....

So, till date my theory was I like people who completely dont like me. There is this need to impress on them that I am quite likeable and haveable as a friend. Yes! call it this stupid need to be accepted or this stupid need to prove others wrong. So, a person P and a person S hated me while in junior college and engineering college and I made sure I am good friends with them. How did I make this happen? Well, when you ARE with the person ALL the time, they rarely dont like you - considering I am not all that obnoxious. I have to also give in to the fact that YES, there were circumstances which made me be with them and hence the "Connect"...

Then as time progressed it was more of a conscious decision... My gang in VJTI though just happened. I try and see what was the common thing that connected us but guess what - there aint anything! We had the most serious of people (A's, Y, N, Vy) and the most chillest of people (B, J, S, A, H)... A who I loved and S who I hated.. we had Ash who would arrange lectures and we had Arch who looked for reasons to bunk :) Beside this, there was a gang of seniors... Nothing common between Sum, Sud, P or others... But consciously was with them... Y? Not a clue! Then there was V with whom I went about a complete circle... From the most conscious decision to be or not to be with him and a completely unconscious one of having him in my life or not... So, except for V, I think we had mostly narrowed down to a conscious process of "connecting" with people... Qualities of people were NOT even considered...

At Infosys, it was pretty much - who I was working with and who was nice enough to talk to me :) But frankly, D, K and S that I think are my friends from Infy are completely unlike me and YES, consciously I am friends with them... So, there goes we still maintain the theory from college...

Then came IIMB where this S - from the point I met him there was this huge urge to be friends with him... Y? Well he was EVERYTHING I was not... He was elegant, intelligent and an orator who would floor people by the first word he spoke... Yes! for a social embarrassment like me - this was a BIG thing! We indeed are friends but at this point I dont know if there was this conscious decision or unconscious one. And I dont know if it was the first impression that did the trick or just the kind of person he is? Then there was this gang of seniors I was with and as expected we just happened... Nothing spectacular done on either side to be with each other... Emotional bonding grew by being beside each other during trying times and I believe that was it!

Now, I am a senior at B-school... There is this S I connected with. Now, she is NOT like me. I mope, she laughs.. I hug to show care, she kicks to show affection! Despite this, I always thought I will connect with her but I dunno why we dint become good friends in the first year. "Connect" took 2 drunk girls blabbering to each other :) So, there is this move from conscious decision without person qualities to unconscious decision considering person's qualities to unconscious decision not considering person's qualities... Then there is this N who I am friends with. More so its mollycoddling her, protecting her and just making her feel comfortable.. I dote so much that at times I think I overdo things. I HAVE been warned by people that I do this but I cannot help it. "connect" here was that SHE IS LIKE ME!! I would go to the extent of saying that she is like my Alter-Ego! So, somehow I feel this urge to protect her - like my seniors did to me :) I want her to not make same mistakes I did, like one of my seniors (G) wrote on my wall. So, there we move back again to conscious, considering qualities of the person and wanting it to be similar to mine.

So, I still dont know what makes me like a person but what IS clear is that once they are in my circle, I stand by them with the same ferocity as I would stand by my family :D Should they evaluate being with me? I LEAVE IT TO THEM!!!