Time to Get Nostalgic

It's time to get nostalgic ... once again.

Today is the time to reflect on the memories of my life, the friends that I have made, the friends that I have not kept in touch with, but still cherish. The friends whom I miss, and who are a part of me, because each one has changed me in one way or the other.
From them, I have learnt to enjoy each day in our short life, to be positive; and that the way you rise after a fall is more important that anything else. They have shown me that love and friendship can make a person surmount any obstacle. Still other friends have taught me that:

Every Rose Has Its Thorn, but its still beautiful;
So does every person have a fault, but is still a friend

I was in a boarding school in Panchgani, the one and only, The Billimoria High School. In my first 3 years there I didn't like it at all. I missed my parents, I missed being home, I seemed to like everything but being there. But the 4th and last year there was so wonderful, I really enjoyed myself. I collected more memories in this one year than in the other 3 put together. I can recollect the last day in my boarding school as if it were yesterday. We hardly slept the night earlier, and the next morning we had a bus ready to take us back to Bombay. All of us piled in, sang, danced and made merry on the 8-9 hour journey. We all promised each other to be in touch. But that's one thing that I haven't done as much as I would like to. Sorry my dear friends.

College in Bombay was another wonderful phase in my life. That's where I met my wonderful wife. That is the place where I made my some friends who are very close to me even today. They are the ones who were there by me when I needed them the most, unquestioning, fully trusting and supporting me. Thanks a lot my dear friends.

But today, I feel a different kind of emotion. I am excited about the future, about the new opportunity that has come my way. But I am feeling the pain of moving away from some friends that I have made in the last few years here in Hyderabad, both at work as well as in other social circles. The last time I felt this kind of happiness and pain, was when I moved from Ahmedabad to Hyderabad . I had to leave behind a wonderful bunch of friends and co-workers. They were always helpful and willing to accommodate me for all kinds of things at work. They were willing to give me time to teach me, push me to achieve more, listen to my weird thoughts and ideas.

At a more personal level, so many of them bonded so well with me. We could spend hours at a stretch, talking of ambitions, achievements, failures, what we had learnt, and what we wanted to learn and do in life.

It's time for me to move on, just as the last time. I'm now moving from Hyderabad to Bombay; and here too I leave behind the same kind of friends. In the last 3 and half years I have been through these same feelings and bonding with another set of fabulous friends. Here too we would spend hours contemplating our future, our dreams, our ambitions and our families.

I know I shall miss them, just as I still do miss the friends I have made along the way earlier.

I know that just as I move on, others too will move on ... no one knows where we'll be in a few years; and we have only hope, faith and friends to help reach our destinations ...