It is almost 11:30. Argentina is all set to face Croatia in their second group match of this World Cup. I can hear the commentators speaking excitedly downstairs as the national anthems start amidst the thunderous noises of the stadium. Yes, I do want to go and watch the match but a promise made primarily to myself is important too. I have not written much in months and had vowed to myself that I will start penning down the barrage of thoughts that flood my mind. It never ceases and the arduous task is to filter what needs to channelled down to all you to devour.Topics are many and thoughts are wayward. It might take some time to get a definite direction and purpose and to write in my most natural style. Even gold loses its lustre over time and the polishing could take a short while for me to shine again. I am not going to let my hands rest from now on and let me try and build a long and sustaining relationship with my string of words.
Few days could be better than today to start off. It is indeed the perfect day to start doing what has always made me feel happy and liberated. Today is a day to remember each year in my life because my first friend in life celebrates her birthday today. The years have probably made us drift too far apart but I had the first taste of a proper friendship through her. 19 days from the day I was born, Smitha Gabriel followed suit. I don't know if it is destiny or sheer coincidence that we met as young toddlers. No two tiny tots could be so different like we were. We may not have been exact opposites but she was probably the epitome of the good kid while I was the mischievous one who was always up to something or the other.
For those who are not aware of my family background, my mom (Amma as she will be addressed from here on) was a Botany professor and I was lucky enough to have had interactions with and pampered by a lot of distinguished academicians of the time. Valsa Aunty was one such teacher and a close friend of my mom. There was an immense sense of homeliness and calmness about most friends of Amma, and Aunty was no different. As if it was meant to be so, she became the mother of my first and real close friend in life, Smitha Gabriel. There is a reason why I am saying her full name, which you will come to know soon.
Over the years, a lot of people have said that even though I exhibit a very rough and tough exterior appearance, I probably possess a lot of feminine qualities including an extremely emotional mind. I guess it has got to do more with the fact that most of my initial interactions of friendship was with girls and primarily with Smitha. I have faint memories of me playing Doll house with her and her patiently putting up with my whims and fancies as I always wanted to be in control whichever game we were playing. Over a rather long period of more than 30 years and a timeline which makes you start feeling really old when you look at it now, my memory has hazed down a lot mainly due to a lot of medication I have had and maybe partly due to the fact that I probably told myself not to cram my mind with a lot of memories. My mind needed to be free and accommodating for all the weird and intense thoughts which keep creeping up on a very consistent basis.
Coming back to the significance of my friend's full name, it is a story happily shared by my amma with almost everyone who has some sort of connection to Valsa Aunty or as part of a spicy subplot while she lays out all the intricacies of my personality as a small kid. As the story goes, I swear to you that if you asked me my name 30 years back, the answer would be Arun K, without being aware of what K stood for. Maybe I did not find it significant to know the expansion of K or maybe I felt that my name was just Arun K. Like I mentioned before, at this point of time, I really do not know the reason for that ignorance with respect to my name.
It was the first day of our LKG class and being the best of friends, I never had anything to do with anybody else when Smitha was around. Amma says we used to sit right next to each other all the time. As with the start of each academic year, the class teacher was asking the names of the students. This was not just a mere academic year but the start of our educational journey. I do not know if I remember this correctly but I think most people had full names like Anish Joseph, Thomas Cris Sarasam and so on. The names felt so defined and complete. Suddenly my name felt a bit short and missing something. K just did not cut it for me. The teacher had reached Smitha by then and she proudly stood up and said, "Smitha Gabriel". I did not know what to do but I knew I did not want to feel incomplete by any means with my name. So, when I was asked, I had no hesitation in blurting out with a smile - "Arun Gabriel". Did the whole class laugh along with the teacher? I do not remember so well but I felt quite like an accomplished person.
I could not wait to get back home as the next challenge was to learn to write it. Until that point of time, I was content with learning to write Arun K. But the K has now made way for Gabriel and I could not see myself inadequate in writing it out properly. So, I rushed back home and asked my mom for the spelling of GABRIEL. Amma probably was busy with something and did not ask about it much as she spelled it out. She probably thought that I was trying to learn and write my best friend's name. The closing act of this whole eventful circumstance was when Aunty called up amma and asked. Aunty's question was very simple - "Edo, did you know I have a new son now?". Amma was a bit surprised and confused apparently. Aunty had a big laugh and said, "Arun Gabriel". She then went on to share the whole story which was narrated to her by my close buddy and both the mothers had a hearty laugh.
The significant aspect of this story is that most of my amma's friends from her teaching days during that time still address me as Arun Gabriel when they ask about me and the name has stuck. So, when I decided to crush my writers' block and start writing again, I decided to find inspiration on a day when my first best friend life came into this world. Smitha has turned a year older and as it is not fair to ask or share a woman's age, let me just say that she is more about the person than her physical being. Even now, I know that if I call her, I would probably still feel the same warmth and a smile will most probably be beaming across both our faces even though we haven't spoken a word in years.
Happy birthday dear and hope the memories of you that has transcended itself on to this post motivate me to write more. May you live long with perfect health and happiness. This is a start and what better day to start but the day my first best friend was born. It might be a few minutes past the day as it is already past 12am but then the wall that I had against writing was too thick and wide and I had to claw and punch and explode my way through. I think the stage has been set hopefully for more.
