The longest ever friendship that one can have and I am proud to have such a long standing Friendship for over 32 years. Many of us might just know few of our friends for a long time and just meet once in a year or at functions, but we 4 buddies have grown together over the last 32 years. We have been in each other's lives and supported each other through out.
Ashwin (Ash), Imran (Immi), Shankar (BA), Hemanth (Hemu), Dhanya and me used to stay in the same locality near Shankarpuram, Chamarajpet those days (1990s) and we spent most of the time at Ashwin's place and used to play Cricket on the short strip of walk way in front of Ashwin's house in Chikkanna Gardens.
And that's how the name Chikkanna Gardens Cricket Club - CGCC!
The seed for this Friendship was sowed in our Primary Schooling at Mahila Seva Samaja (MSS) - A beautiful school that had huge play area all around. The School was just 10 minutes walk from home and the walk to the school together with heavy bags, half worn shoe soles, and a shabby uniform with loads of laughter along the way. We played all possible games in the School grounds from Choor chand, hand tennis to Paper-ball cricket.
Summer Holidays meant my entire day was at Ashwin's backyard, as we both stayed on the same street. Afternoons were spent playing indoor games such as Bank game (Few times our sisters would also join in the indoor games), playing hand tennis and cricket with all possible sizes of Ball (starting from TT Ball to Leather Ball) and in shortest possible cricket pitch strip one could ever imagine.
I used to have long and soft hairs those days, and I still remember how Ashwin & Asha used to play with my hairs and they loved making new hair styles!
Many a times I used to stay back at Ashwin's house even for lunch.
During Primary school days, our favourite time pass was playing Tyre game with other boys on our street.
Summer holidays also meant watching movies, sometimes with parents & sisters and many a times just me and Ashwin running to Uma Talkies and watching every movie released!
Ramanavami at Shankarpuram those days was a grand affair, and we used to go there every evening and stand in the Queue for Darshan multiple times. Nah, not that we were devout, but just to get that tasty kosambri & kashaya prasada :)
Deepavali was a festival we loved, as we burst crackers together. How we continued to burst crackers with packs of bijli patakis stocked up, Cape Gun kept making noises for weeks.
Ashwin's reading habit was blooming and he used to drag us to the Libraries and I was so bored to accompany him, I kept myself busy reading Tinkle and Asterix comics.
He used to also drag us to Swimming Pool during School Summer Holidays and drag us for early morning Jogs during the working days.
Best times and best childhood memories, I must say!
Secondary School is when we all started to split as a group with different choices of school, college & career. That didn't dent our friendship and bonding even a bit, as we continued to meet and play Cricket and spend time every evening.
Many broken window glasses, yelling from neighbours when the Ball used to enter their house, all were pleasing to ears those days.
We graduated from Tyre to Cycle to Moped to Scooter to Bike to Car. We have made the journey together :)
Eating Lolly in school days after playing Cricket in K.R Park/National School grounds or having Masala Soda and Chats in Srinivasa Cool Corner, Idli Vada at Brahmin's Cafe in College/Working days are times to remember
I still remember our first time ever to watch an "Adult Movie" during our College Days - Sharon Stone's Basic Instinct. We were shit scared to go & buy the tickets, what if someone sees us...
Couple of memorable trips we used to just set off and go like hippies with no planning, no bookings...Murdeshwar trip, Palakkad trip were times to remember.
Life took us in different directions of Career, and we were in touch through out. While Ashwin's work those days involved lot of short-term onsite visits to UK, US & Japan, we used to still visit their home and spend hours together talking to his Mother and Father.
We have been part of the ups and downs that life had to offer, been together when the near and dear ones departed us
In comes ladies in the group...Sindhu, Deepti & Preeti...the party times began!
We had many parties, get-togethers & outings
Our love for Kallekai & Kabbu hasn't tapered down even a bit, even today. The annual Kallekai Parishe at Bull Temple is still a compulsory visit for us.
It is mandatory for us to meet for every Sankranti and eat Kabbu together. Eating Kallekai and Kabbu together is an annual event which has been in practice for over 30 years now. Thanks to Sindhu, the Kabbu is now sliced for us 40+ uncles ;)
With families extending and kids in the group, Ashwin's house again became our meeting point.
The pure love between the childhood friends is incredible, filled with loads of fun and memories to cherish. With great understanding, nothing can compare to the beautiful and true friendship of childhood. Distance may scatter us apart, but the love among us will unite us and will never fade for a lifetime
Unlimited memories and many nostalgic moments:
