The Inseparables...

           It was one of the most pleasant evening parties I had ever enjoyed, The Bollywood Retro Night, a theme where we were asked to dress up to mimic a film star of the eighties and nineties. I adorned the Rani Mukherjee look, not that I resemble her, but for straight hair and round flat facies, thinking it was the simplest and so it was. Just a sari, sleeveless blouse, straightened hair, minimal makeup and my conventional kumkum. Believe me, all this did nothing to make me look like one of the most liked actresses, Rani Mukherjee, the Khandala girl. So be it. Well, in the party we had about four Neetu Singhs, one Hema Malini, one Mumtaz, one Reena Roy, one Rekha, including one Rani Mukherjee and others who decided to wear retro but be themselves. Hey wait a minute. Did I just missed the boys? So, these once handsome now bald with dancing bellies (mine too) came as Amitabh Bachchan, Shakti Kapoor,  Sanjay Dutt, Mithun Chakraborty, Captain Rustom (better known as Akshay

            १५ आॅगस्ट १९९१ चा दिवस, वेळ सकाळी १० वा; मी KTHM GYMNASIUM hall समोरील रस्त्यावर कोपर्यात white apron घालुन उभा होतो. भिती याची होती की पहिल्याच दिवशी senior आपली रॅगिंग घेतील का? तेवढ्यात एक  मित्र शेजारी  उभा होता white apron  मध्ये व  घामाने भिजलेला , मला म्हणाला काय घाबरतोस चल . मी नाव विचारुन introduction करुन घेतलं , त्यांच वेळी मी निश्चिंत झालो राकेश धिंग्रा , म्हणजे पंजाब मुंडा मग कशाची भिती ,तडक काॅलेज मध्ये पहिल्या दिवशी entry मारली . कोण senior व कसली रॅगिंग?       Nirmala convent मधुन शालेय शिक्षण व HPT मधुन १२ वी , नंतर NDMVP मधुन MBBS झाल्यावर BJMC PUNE येथुन MD GYN तेही gold medal नी पास असा हा माझ्या मोठ्या भावाचा शैक्षणिक प्रवास होता.     तसा MBBS च्या तिन्ही वर्षी माझा व राकेशचा खुप जवळून संबंध आला नाही कारण दोघांच्या बॅच वेगळ्या होत्या परंतु internship मध्ये नाशिक सिव्हील ला सोबत असल्यापासुन ते शेवटपर्यंत मात्र याची सोबत मिळाली.      Internship मध्ये असतांना राकेश ने सर्व interns ला घरी नाश्त्यासाठी आमंत्रित केले होते , तेव्हा तब्बल ७-८ प्रकारच

I loved the way we bonded this time.... with real love and concern for each other, maturely understanding and without any pretense. Just a confession, I used to have a tough time at the college coming from a small town, never wanting to do medicine, burdened with some interpersonal issues, having studied in an all-girls boarding school, having lost the only brother in the previous year and being blamed by my mother for letting him go out of the house on that day.....it was very difficult to cope up...with that much pressure I never did know what to do, how to talk, how to behave. And with that confusion and ignorance came my share of being misinterpreted. No one better than me knows what it is to face social rejection. I used to hide my emotions, sometimes there were outbursts sometimes frivolous attitudes, at times just repressive measures. Now, when I look back it all seems so weird that I actually used to die crying and thinking about all the rumors and that my name used t