Hey, long time…..

I had last met him in March 1998, during my SSC exams. I cant say we were friends. I know nothing about him ,apart from his name and the fact that he sat 2 desks away from me during exams. He had his circle of friends, i had mine. I remember him as bit brash kind -  “Kon gadge baba???” he had asked that to our class teacher. I still shiver as i think of her. Her response was typical. “Pratham to saral ubha raha aani kaana khaali khaa…..” :)

Couple of days back, i heard someone call out my name as i was getting out of the ric. Turn back to see a smiling, fair, half bald guy walking rapidly towards me.

“Pehchaana kya??”

“ Rohit Takarwankar??”

“ Abe tune to pehchaaan liya!!! Bahut time hogaya bh#^@*^$ !!!!!!”

“Haan yaaar, 12 saal ho gaye hain…”

And for the next 1 minute, all we did was laugh. We would have looked like lunatics to any third person.I dont know why he was – i did because the above incident came to my mind, bringing along a flood of memories – school, cricket, Damle mam, Maa, friends, shorts, scandal, failed in algebra….soon we went our ways….he was out of touch with most school guys….and he says he is not on orkut!!! i dont think i’ll ever follow up with him, nor will he.  But the day i met him was definitely one of the best days i have had in recent times….

And it set me thinking, how would i react if i were to run into someone i was close to after a gap?

After all, if i am not in touch with someone i was once close to, there must have been a reason, The memories are not likely to be the best ones, infact the first thing that would come to your mind will be the reason why you stayed away all these years. Can be circumstantial. Will that be forgotten? Will i be civil to the person – “Hello, how have you been?”. I guess the best would be to see how the other person reacts and then decide – but what if they decide to do the same?

And will the time gap have any effect – people mature, grow and the same situation/decision that looked right at that time looks silly now.

And, then, lets say you resume the relation. Do you pickup where you left off (as in, not the unsavory incident but more like the comfort level you had and so on….). I think its best to keep things simple, formal……

Hmmm, there are atleast 3 people i can think of whom i’d like to run into……what would i do…..AS – i would probably be cordial, AR – Talk, interact but rude, snide, intentionally hurtful comments (expecting the person to guess this though and steer clear of my path!!) and the third person would probably be whacked. Again.

Ok, decided. Though i know from experience now, what actually happens in such social situations is always different from whats planned on paper or what you have advised other to do…….