We Met After 20 Years
I got a message on the college WhatsApp group, from my college friend Nilesh, “ Can we meet tomorrow? Give your confirmation quickly ”. I was surprised to read that, because we all were planning to meet from last few months but nothing was getting planned. Just out of curiosity, I replied in that thread, Time and place? And Nilesh replied ‘Vashi, Navi Mumbai’. It was one of the convenient and central place for all of us. And what a magic! Almost all the friends started giving confirmations and we decided to meet at 4 PM the next day.
We used to study in T K Tope Arts & Commerce night college in 1993–1997. Some of us were going to meet each other after 20 years. I was eager to meet my friends, who were my dear friends in college life. That night I couldn’t sleep soundly, I was so excited. I was trying to recall their faces all night. Probably same thing was happening with my friends also.
Next afternoon, Sachin and I caught the bus to reach the destination. Due to traffic, we reached at Vashi after three and a half hour travel. Our other friends were already there. When they saw us, we are walking towards them, they waved at us. We greeted and hugged each other very lovingly. It was such a happy moment for all of us.
After meet and greet, one of us said, “Let us go to the beach, so we can have a chat and enjoy.” So we went to the nearest beach in one of the friend’s car. While traveling towards beach, we enjoyed street cutting chai (tea). We reached Vashi beach in half hour. After taking a stroll at beach, we sat on one quiet place. We recalled all our old memories and shared experiences which we got in all these years after college.
In college days we all were working in small offices and workshops to meet our expenses. Now, almost all have changed their jobs and profession. I saw a drastic change in all.
(Left to right) Nilesh works with Pharma Group as Manager Accounts. Alankar is in the teaching profession. He is a sports teacher. Balakrishna works with the hospitality services. Balkrishna Patil became a businessman. He runs his own business in multiple countries. Kailash is working in the banking sector. Raju also, in same profession. He works for a co-operative bank. The last one is Sachin. He is IT professional, works for multinational bank. I found all are settled in their life and happy.
After spending a little more time at the beach, we went to the restaurant Barbeque Nation at Belapur, where Balkrishna Patil had already booked a table.
There, we enjoyed different types of food and drinks while chatting. We really enjoyed each and every moment of these meeting, which we will never forget.
This happened only because of Balkrishna Patil and Nilesh. I must say thanks to them, because we could meet each other after 20 years.
