Vim rants...

Milan and Spade Jac

This photo in Spade Jac's album made me lay back in my chair and I found myself walking down the memory lane.

I am not able to express all that's going through my mind. many colours, many feelings...a hundred thousand pulses traversing my brain.

Milan Mathew, my college-mate, classmate, and a good friend.
We were also room mates during the final-sem-project days in Trivandrum.

Othiri nala ormakal thanittu avan yaatra ayi.
A very respectable individual, a cucek-ian with his own style statement.
The gold capped rudraksh mala, the solid gold bangle, he was a great fan of Mohanlal.

He was an honest chap, and responsible too. I remember how the ABVP leadership made him the Party President for our college. He was dedicated, I never expected anyone to do that job with so much dedication and enthusiasm.

The day, we came to know that he was sick, I could see tears run down Sreeja's cheeks. He was a good friend to both of us, always offered a lot of moral support.

I had called him up when he was hospitalized. He was too tired from the radiotherapy. He never gave up hope, and was strong at heart. He was happy that he had cleared all the exams. This is what he told me, "Eda njanum Pillayum passayi. Njan ippol oru engineera" (Me and Pillay cleared our papers, I am an engineer now). He talked about beginning his job hunt.

Months later I called him, He was quite happy, and was getting better. The cancer that was eating into his lungs had subsided. He was feeling much stronger. There were a few more tests, and then he would be declared free. He was waiting for that day. We all felt happy for him. He talked to me about coming to Bangalore. "Aliya ninte bedinte adiyil eniku paay virikan ithiri sthalam" (Leave me some space under your bed, i'll sleep there).
When I talked to him about my life, there warm and consoling voice at the other end..."ellam sheriakum aliya" (Everythings gonna be alright dude)

A week later that shocking news came as an sms on my cell. I was frozen. Could not believe it. I called up Nimesh and Rishi to confirm the genuinity of the message.
Soumya and Dinup were with me. Everyone was silent.

I never went to his funeral, couldn't bear to see my friend's lifeless form. I didn't want to believe he was dead. Didn't want to see the mourning.

It was a lot of fun in class, and outside. I feel I am getting too emotional to type anything more. There is this strong feeling within me to ask our other friends to leave their comments on this post... that would speak more about this big buddy who left without a word.

Friend, we miss you. Rest in peace.