To uninhibited laughter and oodles of reminiscing…….

 

#Looking forward

To uninhibited laughter and oodles of reminiscing…….

2020 has finally ended….not a very big deal, every year eventually does, but this was one year which almost ate into everyone’s life and so the world was exultant when it witnessed the dawn of 2021!

Those who know me, are well aware of the fact that I did not have much to complain about this turbulent year. For me, its was filled with total relaxation of the mind, body and soul, unearthing my homemaker side and reconnecting online with some childhood classmates! Here I would like to emphasize on the word ‘classmates’ and not friends, because even though we were together in the same class (a few from different sections) yet we didn’t go beyond a daily ‘Hi!’ or some tiny bits of conversation. It was never like ‘friends’!

So anyhow, three or four years ago I was added to this whatsapp group by one of them whom I was most friendly with in school, among all the other members. It was a tiny close-knit group and I stayed in it quietly, not contributing much to the conversation there. In fact, there was hardly any conversation going on otherwise also. Then came 2019 and we decided to catch up. At least the ones in NCR could catch up and so we ate and laughed, and I caught up on what all had transpired in their lives in the last over 21 years, when I hadn’t met any, but that still meant I couldn’t meet two others who were not in NCR.

Then came the infamous lockdown and herein started our bonding journey. From the very outset of the lock down period, we somehow started chatting and the group slowly became our lifeline. No forwarded messages but still truckloads of messages being exchanged by just the five of us! Keep aside the phone for a while and you would end up missing hundreds of messages. The group became so famous among our family members that they would inquire if they saw us rather free! Coming from the same school and the same beautiful tiny town, we could engage in endless banter, reminiscing and discussing things. Another common binding factor was our undying passion for food. From discussing various state cuisines to dwelling upon authentic Kumaoni recipes and drooling over the food cooked by each one of us, we could go on and on.

We became soul sisters and I bonded with them all in such a way that was unimaginable despite the 11 years I spent with them in school.

We inured to the Covid mayhem but the incantation of the entire period was that there was never a dull moment. We stood with each other through all the upheaval this time caused and managed to bring a smile on each other’s faces.

In 2021, we are looking forward to three big things.

One is the arrival of a new baby, courtesy one of our friends. The baby, we are sure, will be thorough with our names and voices by the time she/he makes a grand entry into this world, and we are certainly, quite proud of that fact!

The other is, getting to taste the savouries of our entrepreneur friend’s startup called ‘Samosa Party’ which has several cloud kitchens in Bangalore and she’s soon venturing into the NCR market as well. Desperately waiting to taste those delectable things we just kept eyeing in pictures throughout the year!

Finally, is our much-awaited reunion back in our hometown. We are so looking forward to gorging onto the authentic momos by the Tibetans, the local chowmein, the chaat, the kaafal, the pahadi food, kainchi dhaam ka prasaad, madir ka peda, candy floss on Mall road, churan from the Flats (endless list) and then going for those lovely long trails in the hills where we can immerse in the quiet surroundings. Evenings would be spent, sitting by the lake and looking at the fish swimming happily in the still water and there is so much to do that whenever we talk of the times when we would be able to get back together, we become delirious, discussing and enlisting!!!!

So here we are, into the first week of the year, looking forward to getting vaccinated as soon as possible, so that we can get a slice of our past in the form of a lovely reunion with friends, sharing uninhibited laughter and oodles of reminiscing in our charming quaint little hill town of Nainital!