The story of Jai and Veeru reminds us of ideal friendship. That’s how true friends should be! Everyone craves to have a friend like Jai or Veeru with whom you could share all your secrets. You could blindly trust that friend. Very few are blessed with such friendship. I consider myself lucky to have found a Jai in my life in form of my friend Ankit Jain who happens to be my blogger friend.
I could talk for hours and days about this special friend of mine. He holds a special place in my heart. During the young days of blogging, I remained anonymous. That was when I was actively involved in writing short fiction stories in form of series. It was then he discovered me through random blog hops. I never knew that he saw me as an inspiration. He soon shifted to Mumbai, the city of dreams, to join a multinational software organisation as a Mainframe Developer. By then only my close friends used to know the real me. It was during a book project, I met him. We used to meet quite often and it was one such occasion that he confessed that my blog was an inspiration to him. I was flabbergasted at first. I remained speechless for a while. I hardly knew him then.
From strangers, we got to know each other well. There was something that bothered him much. And it was food. Trust me, for someone who was used to eating homemade food, adapting to outside food is a terrible thing. My home away days made me transform into a better individual. During one such instance, I got to know that he was missing his mother badly and the food cooked by her. Whenever we met, I used to bring home food for him. That was the least I could do for a friend like him. Since, then our friendship grew, even more, stronger. We used to travel together for various blogger meets. I used to call him at Andheri and he would arrive in time. But it would still take hours for us to locate as he would be at the rear end of the platform and me at the front side. And then we would greet each other abusing. Such was the bond! He is a numismatist and his love for collecting rare coins is admirable. He used to cajole me to accompany him at various coin exhibitions. It wasn’t my cup of tea but he made me realise the importance of hobbies.
I sought inspiration from him and I again started collecting postcards from different countries of the world. Table Tennis is a sport that is played across the world. Ankit is a die hard fan of table tennis. During a birthday treat, we happened to bump across a venue at Versova. We spotted a table tennis bat and a table. That was the first time when I played table tennis for the first time. This friend of mine taught me to play table tennis. I am not a great fan of sports but through his passion for Table Tennis, I developed a deep interest for Foosball. Ankit loves writing. He loves writing Erotica. During our Bookster team meeting, he came up with a story of a mistress. I still remember to what extent we made fun of him. He is good at photography. His Instagram account is a proof of his photography talent. He has clicked some amazing photos and they are outstanding and picturesque.
During his professional exile of one year in the States, I missed this friend a lot. Of course, he was my partner in crime and a friend with whom I could go for various events. We used to talk through Facebook and Whatsapp but virtual communication is not as effective as a face to face meet up. That was when the memories of our South Mumbai travel, frequent HUB Mall movies flashed through my mind. Ankit loved a woman badly. But due to some personal reasons, the bond collapsed just like an old bridge. It was the most depressing moment of his life. All my attempts to soothe him remained futile. I had never seen him upset before and for the first time, I saw tears rolling down his cheeks. I felt weird and helpless for not being able to help him much. But life moves on and he bounced back to normalcy soon. He is defiant and a rebel and his never say never attitude is something that I admire in him. Ankit is back to town after 1 year of Firangi days.
Everyone needs a friend like Ankit. He is my go-to man with whom you could talk when you are upset. He is a guy with whom you could share all your secrets and trust him because he is a trustworthy guy. You could abuse him and still find comfort in his company. In short, a friend like him is essential in life. I found my close friend in Ankit. What about you ?
Here is something I dedicate to my friend Ankit.
Yeh dosti hum nahin todenge
Todenge dam magar tera saatha na chhodenge
Aye meri jeet teri jeet teri haar meri haar
Sun aye mere yaar
Tera gham mera gham teri jaan meri jaan
Aisa apna pyaar
Khana pinaa sath hai, marna jeena sath hai (2)
Saari zindagi
Yeh dosti…
Aye meri jeet teri jeet teri haar meri haar
Sun aye mere yaar
Tera gham mera gham teri jaan meri jaan
Aisa apna pyaar
Khana pinaa sath hai, marna jeena sath hai (2)
Saari zindagi
Yeh dosti…
Oh yes, we both call ourselves as the Jai Veeru of the 21st century 🙂
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