F(r)iends :-D

Finally one of the Indian trip posts I wanted to put here!

The India trip, though very hectic, gave me a good opportunity to catch up with a few very good friends of mine. Some are still single, some are newly engaged, and others married with kids older than Snugli. It felt somewhat strange. I mean, most of my friends are those who were my classmates/batchmates earlier, so we are of the same age. So it feels weird not to have things happening to us at the same time. I know thats the way things happen. But it was always like, though we were in different colleges, sometimes even different places, we were still in the same phases of life earlier. How did we get from there to here? Now I can see our lives taking "different directions" even more clearly. Its not only paths, but the frequency is also changing :-D. I hope you are getting what I mean :).

The really strange part of it all was how I felt sometimes. A couple of my friends are recently engaged. And I felt almost 4 years older than them!! Thats because I was "engaged" around 4 years ago :). Its strange the way the mind works :-D. It feels like I have grown so much "older" from then. Similarly, I felt younger to friends who have kids older than Snugli. Just when do you start measuring age with the age-of-marriage or age-of-kids in mind? Or am I the only crazy-enough person to do it? :-D.

Our lives have taken us to different parts of the world. So it was great that a couple of friends I met were also in India at the same time for a very short duration. There's nothing like landing in India from different countries and catching up :)). But a couple of other friends couldn't be there at the same time and I felt kinda cheated. When they actually land in India, who knows whether can make it then. Going to the countries they are in, might be an option though ;-). Sri, if you are reading this, hint, hint, hint :-D. France, England and Australia, please :). Whats worse is another of my friends who I did get to meet this time will be moving to a different country this year. I am so glad that I could meet her. Who knows when I'll get to see her again :(.

The best part of it all was meeting the babies. I mean, you talk around the year about your babies, never being there when they are born and suddenly here they are, holding their mom's hands, all grown up :). I am one of those irritating people who keep sending recent photos to everyone they know, so many of my friends said that it did not feel like it was the first time they were meeting Snugli, since they had already "seen" her since the time she was born. But still it must have been strange for some to see me with a baby in tow. The last time I met them, I wasn't even married!

It was soul-satisfying to catch up with them. Even though we may not share similar interests any more or even have opposing opinions or have other friends in our lives, they are friends who ground me, who in the past have in one way or another influenced the way my life has taken shape and who have in some way defined the very person I am. There are so many meals we have shared, so many thoughts we have bounced off each other, so many pranks we have co-conspired, so many times we have laughed together, so many times confessed the sadness in our hearts and more than anything, our lives coincided for quite a long period at some point in time. And I am glad that they are a part of my life and will continue to be so always..