When Shekhu met Nagu….

No, I am not nuts… and I am not writing about the reunion of two pets here…

Today I met a friend after eight years. We graduated from the same engg-school 15 years ago, and had met only once in the interim. I used to call him Nagu (or Snakey!) at e-school (a dig at his name!), and he used to call me Shekhu (I do not remember why, somehow :-). We were (almost) room-mates in the third and the final year at college; well though we had our own individual rooms, we spent more time in each other’s company than in our own rooms.

I was eagerly waiting to meet Nagu ever since I had planned a Bangalore trip a few days ago. Though we had initially planned to meet at a local pub (to relive a few high-spirited moments), and you bet that would have been much more fun, my travel logistics did not allow me an evening to myself (we are all slaves of the corporate world, aren’t we..). Not willing to forego an opportunity to meet Nagu, I quickly lapped up his offer to have breakfast at his house.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Nagu just the way he looked 15 years ago; the man had obviously done some hard work on the treadmill in the last few years. In fact, as we exchanged pleasantries and compared notes on who all among our batch were we still in touch with, I was amused to note that Nagu had not changed at all. He is still a very pleasing personality, extra generous with his laughter, and a bit extra modest about his achievements. I remember, at e-school, Nagu was easily one of the brightest people around. But unlike most other I-know-I-am-smart elites, Nagu was always too willing to mingle with the lesser mortals (like me) and ever too eager to share his academic gyan so that folks like me could also practice our writing skills at the annual examinations! He always went the extra mile to identify with folks around him, though he was clearly very different (read smart!).

Really enjoyed the one hour Shekhu spent with Nagu… and they do plan to meet more often in the future.