The Inseparables...

सायकलिंग हे एक व्यसन आहे आणि प्रत्येक सायकलिस्ट हा एक व्यसनाधीन व्यक्ती!* आता मात्र तुम्हाला राग आला असेल. अरे लिहिता येतं म्हणून काहीही लिहायचं? साहजिकच आहे ते. पण जसजसं आपण कथेत पुढं सरकू तसतसं तुम्हालाही माझ्या उपरोक्त विधानाच्या सत्यतेची खात्री पटेल. शनिवारी रात्री अरुण भाऊ काळेंचा  फोन आला. *उद्या काय करताय?* वास्तविक हा रविवार *ट्रिपल SR गणेश माळीच्या* २१००० हजार kms पूर्ती निमित्त R2G2 ग्रुप ने आयोजित ride चा दिवस. पण खुद्द सत्कारमूर्तीच व्यवसायानिमित्त व्यस्त असल्याने ठरलेला कार्यक्रम फिस्कटला आणि गणेश, रतन, रामदास, डॉ राहुल, किरण आणि समीर सर या दिग्गजांच्या सोबत ride करण्याचं माझं स्वप्न तूर्त तरी अपूर्णच राहिलं. काही विशेष नाही. Ride ला जायचं आहे. पण मार्ग नाही ठरवला अजून--मी बोललो. *सकाळी शार्प ६ ला तयार रहा. मी येतो विंचुरीला. मग आपण जाऊ.*  अरुण भाऊ म्हणजे अस्सल मराठमोळा रांगडा गडी. पटलं तर जीवाला जीव देणारा, पण बिनसलं तर समोरच्याला कच्चा खाणारा. एक सळसळणार्या रक्ताचा तरुण. कायम त्याच्याशी बोलताना-वागताना मी एक लक्ष्मणरेष...

  19th March 2020, this day is really special for me, not because it's my birthday. Birthdays come every year. My family and friends celebrate it with great pomp and joy. When I was a kid, I was too embarrassed to call my friends at my humble home, unsure of what they would think about the faded colour of the walls, open windows without curtains, old sofa covers and most importantly homemade snacks by my mother. Having richer friends compels one to wonder what they would think when they see your lifestyle,the way you live, the way you upkeep upholstery, the way you eat, the grey matter you have hardly matters. What mattered most back then, was whether the snacks were prepared at home or ordered from a hotel irrespective of the lavishness with which they were served. A few years down the line this date invariably fell during the final examinations sparing me of the tensions of inviting friends home for a treat.             Birthdays ...

           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, Capt...

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...