Bye Bye Birdie.....

"There goes my baby..."

Exactly 15 days ago, exactly this very hour, i talked my dear friend Akshay lovingly called Jhantu. I was visiting Bombay, the forsaken city of a hundred deaths a day. We planned to meet the next day. Enthusiastic and caring as ever he asked me to come to Bandra to watch a movie with him; little did i know that i would go to Bandra but for an altogether different reason.
The same night at 2 i was rudely woken up by a phonecall with TG on the other side in a trembling voice,
"Abe Jhantu...Jhantu mar gaya be.."
"Kya bakwas kar raha hai! Mazak mat kar!"
"Nahin be...seriously, local se gir gaya."



...and then the longest pause of my life. I kept lying there in a daze, my mind blank still trying to understand what had happened. When it finally sank in i felt my gut on fire, felt like vomitting...but no respite.One phonecall and its over...

Last time i went to bombay...his memories remain with me; those are the only things left now.


Life completes a full circle and the 13th was on Sunday. All the final goodbyes have been said, and my loving friend is gone. I bid adieu to you pal, may you find peace and better friends in your next life. Wherever you may be we will miss you...

Alvida......