We had a visitor yesterday. Argentyne. Someone who has been visiting the bar for years now, but visited in person today. It was wonderful to meet her (and not just because she said I'm taller in real life than the impression my blog header gives. Muahahahaha.) On a serious note, it didn't feel like we'd never met before. That always amazes me in a way. From the time I started blogging, I've had the opportunity to meet many many bewdas/bewdis in person, and not once did it feel like a first meeting. We just started talking as if we were picking up from an earlier conversation.
Very few of these actually live in Singapore. Most of them are visitors, just passing by. Singapore is a great hub for travellers, and at some point or the other, many of the bar's bewdas/bewdis find themselves on our tiny island. And if our pockets of time match, we meet. I have vivid memories of all the visitors of my blog whom I have met so far, and one of the closest to my heart is my dear darling Shub. She'd been reading my blog since 2005, and was a regular commentator for ages before we met over aloo ka parathas. We hit it off straightaway. A soul sister, I'd say. It amazed me to no end to have found her through the online world. Through her, we came to know Pizzadude and Sumanth. Pizzadude and I instantly bonded over our undying love for Bollywood, and a rocking bromance bloomed between Viv and Sumanth. Shub served as the glue that held us all together.
They say you are the average of the five people you hang out with. And the five of us sure had some above-average fun. I just went back to read the post I'd written about the five of the us and the mad things we did together, and now I'm in full senti mode. The nicknames (S2/D2/P2, husbandu, oifu, Joey, Thudson, veshti-man), the airport garlanding (Shub was the founder of SMART - Shub's Mind-blowing Airport Reception Technique, which we first used on Pizzadude and eventually on her too), the elaborate birthday surprises like this and this, the orchestrated kidnapping of Viv, the typewriter slap, the power-packed India trip to attend Shub and Sumanth's wedding. Everything. I always feel that my late 20s had really rocked because of these guys.
And then one day she dropped the bomb. They were moving back to India. I was in denial for the longest time, and on some levels I think I still refuse to believe it. But before leaving, she had done the most wonderful thing of introducing us to two of her friends (the ones we had the post-baby baby bash for) who were, I kid you not, exactly like them. 1 for 1 exchange offer. Jokes aside, her departure was a lot less painful and my 'Mera is duniya mein ab koi nahin hai' feeling was mitigated to a great extent due to these guys and Pizzadude who had thankfully not decided to pack up too.
One day, during a bus ride (obviously, as all such thoughts occur only during bus rides), it struck me that my current primary circle of friends has its origins in my blog. Most of our friends in Singapore had been from our university days, but most of them moved out of Singapore, breaking my heart (Hello Dubaiites, are you reading this??). We do hang out with the rest of our NTU gang from time to time, but our closest friends are these guys whom I met through Shub. If she'd not visited my blog, we'd not have met and I would have a completely different group of friends now. It might have sucked, it might have been great. I don't know and it doesn't matter. What I have now is awesome. The 30s are rocking because of these guys.
Thank you, Shub, for wandering over to my blog that fateful day. I love you and I miss you and I hope we can meet again soon.
Very few of these actually live in Singapore. Most of them are visitors, just passing by. Singapore is a great hub for travellers, and at some point or the other, many of the bar's bewdas/bewdis find themselves on our tiny island. And if our pockets of time match, we meet. I have vivid memories of all the visitors of my blog whom I have met so far, and one of the closest to my heart is my dear darling Shub. She'd been reading my blog since 2005, and was a regular commentator for ages before we met over aloo ka parathas. We hit it off straightaway. A soul sister, I'd say. It amazed me to no end to have found her through the online world. Through her, we came to know Pizzadude and Sumanth. Pizzadude and I instantly bonded over our undying love for Bollywood, and a rocking bromance bloomed between Viv and Sumanth. Shub served as the glue that held us all together.
They say you are the average of the five people you hang out with. And the five of us sure had some above-average fun. I just went back to read the post I'd written about the five of the us and the mad things we did together, and now I'm in full senti mode. The nicknames (S2/D2/P2, husbandu, oifu, Joey, Thudson, veshti-man), the airport garlanding (Shub was the founder of SMART - Shub's Mind-blowing Airport Reception Technique, which we first used on Pizzadude and eventually on her too), the elaborate birthday surprises like this and this, the orchestrated kidnapping of Viv, the typewriter slap, the power-packed India trip to attend Shub and Sumanth's wedding. Everything. I always feel that my late 20s had really rocked because of these guys.
And then one day she dropped the bomb. They were moving back to India. I was in denial for the longest time, and on some levels I think I still refuse to believe it. But before leaving, she had done the most wonderful thing of introducing us to two of her friends (the ones we had the post-baby baby bash for) who were, I kid you not, exactly like them. 1 for 1 exchange offer. Jokes aside, her departure was a lot less painful and my 'Mera is duniya mein ab koi nahin hai' feeling was mitigated to a great extent due to these guys and Pizzadude who had thankfully not decided to pack up too.
One day, during a bus ride (obviously, as all such thoughts occur only during bus rides), it struck me that my current primary circle of friends has its origins in my blog. Most of our friends in Singapore had been from our university days, but most of them moved out of Singapore, breaking my heart (Hello Dubaiites, are you reading this??). We do hang out with the rest of our NTU gang from time to time, but our closest friends are these guys whom I met through Shub. If she'd not visited my blog, we'd not have met and I would have a completely different group of friends now. It might have sucked, it might have been great. I don't know and it doesn't matter. What I have now is awesome. The 30s are rocking because of these guys.
Thank you, Shub, for wandering over to my blog that fateful day. I love you and I miss you and I hope we can meet again soon.
11 comments:
Sabse pehle, me firstttttt!!!!
Do ppl still get gold??
Golllddd!!
N whattay coincidence !! Yday evening I went through the tag blog buddies here n I ended up reading all posts related to it! N I was actually wondering how awesome it is that u met such mast friends thru ur blog...n now u write about it today :-) :-) :-) :-)
Lovely post! N pls continue posting in may, June , July n soooo onnnn....plssss :-) :-) :-)
Yes, I vividly remember meeting you, in Singapore. I stayed at Tampines for 6 months, before circumstances forced us to relocate back to Bangalore. I still miss Singapore. I also wish we had got to know each other better. But, in the end, I am glad to have moved back to my hometown. I would make plans of visiting Singapore, maybe in the next year. Hope to catch up with you again.
I have yet to meet ANY of my blogger friends despite having known most of them for over five years now. I don't know, I feel strangely shy, like the blogger bubble I love will be burst or something.... I know, weird, but I can't help it.
This post should be tagged NSFW, you nearly made me cry.
Incidentally, just this morning (on my auto ride) I was thinking of the time we decided to move back and your reaction.
Hugs.
Sometimes I miss the time of the third paragraph, I witnessed on this blog :)
I met you waayyyy too late :'( But hey I had awesome but unique fun with Xena! If it makes sense!
Aww, this was lovely. :)
I'm at that point where I'm about to lose all of my university friends to other countries, so this post gives me hope I'll find my own close set of new friends soon!
OMG! you have done an A to V already ...i cant believe I have stayed away from your blog for so long.. Well I am superb excited to have so much to read... !! YAY!!
I keep saying you should write a novel. My mistake. Right suggestion (you should write), wrong genre (novel). You should write movie screen plays. You could do that with a collaborator, a fellow Bollywood fan.
I promise to sit after the movie is over to read the credits :)
heyyyyy :) I got featured on your blog! Wah, wah :) Sorry, crazy deadlines last week. Want to make plans for this week :) Will mail/sms you!
This makes me feel so emotional. I dont know any of you guys personally but just reading about it makes me remember all my friends and the times I had with them.
Most of them have left for Bangalore/US/Singapore. And i miss them badly here in Noida.
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