Reminiscences of an old friend

The entire room was in chaos.The "seniors" were taking a test of our physical and mental limits.Slaps,kicks and abuses were flying all around.It was then that I got the first glimpse of his corpulent physique.With his sheer size he outweighed every mortal in the room.Being the most visible, he was the obvious prey.The cruel seniors meted out the worst punishments to him.Yet, like everyone of us, he accepted the misery silently.

With the ogres satisfied, we were allowed to take a seat on the floor.A brief introductory session followed, bringing relief to our tortured souls.Now we knew our brothers by name.

"SUKALPA BHUYAN" the giant squeked.

Soon the monsters started the fun time where we were made to laugh at our helplessness.Thereafter we were sent to our rooms only to be summoned at a later time to replay the entire drama again and again.

As the days passed such meetings became bearable.The fun time at the end always included Sukalpa and his antics.It was him who made us really enjoy the grief of morbidity.It was fun to watch him act and shower preposterous ideas.Probably he was the most famous fresher of our batch.

The months flipped by and we grew up - from juniors into seniors.

The bonding amongst us witnessed a change and the solidarity of the ragging period waned away.Exclusive circle of friends emerged and compulsive relations of ragging days were trashed.But with his loud and "heavy" presence Sukalpa was everybody's friend.His ability to churn fun out of any situation was his hallmark.His taste of music was rich and his mountain of information about every rock band and various genre were exuberant.Apart from being a humorous person he could sport an entirely different persona if his friends demanded so.I have had my share of fun with him.Our constant mild scuffles and fake ultimatums would always be a part of my cherished memories of those days.Though we never spent much time together yet the memories of old days gushes in all the energy we put up in every meeting of ours.

God has mysterious ways of judging human existence but when he took away a son from the face of earth he inflicted deep wounds in the hearts of many.His untimely demise has left all his friends in deep lull.

I dont know where he is today but I sincerely pray to almighty to keep him happy.He brought smiles to many dry lips and when we were disturbed he always played away our tensions.His mortal coil may have seen an end but he will always live on in the memories of all his friends.


A part of him has remained deeply engraved in me.I always remember him whenever someone calls me by my surname.