Oh, I've been wanting this for so long, for someone to function as a physical link between my Keralaite medical past and the Mumbakar gay/musical-editing present/future. It seems my prayers have come true. May is coming to Mumbai! She's coming to join a two-year course in pediatric hemato-oncology at the Tata Memorial Hospital, which is next door to my alma mater, the King Edward Memorial hospital.
This will be so cool! I can finally speak to someone regularly in Malayalam in Mumbai. And of course, the various possibilities of hanging out at Mumbai with her. Well, her husband (Did I ever update you guys that she married recently? This was right around the time I broke up with Vinokur and I was in disarray, and hence I might have forgotten) will join her soon. So, I don't know if I'll get to enjoy a lot of 'alone' time with her. But I do hope!
I still remember how eagerly I had expected the arrival of Ray to Mumbai. That would have been at an altogether different level, of course. But that didn't happen. And our relationship has withered down to the occasional SMS about a movie or something like that. Relationships -- how they never cease to amaze you with their unpredictable highs and lows.
The one relationship that has not only stood the test of time, but passed it in flying colors recently, is with my third good friend from back in Kerala -- Chuck. The humor between us still remains the same -- the same self-deprecatory sarcastic humor that Kerala is known for -- and we connected to each other just like the good old days, over alcohol, cigarettes, and food, and took care of each other like how each other should. Yes, we had grown into two separate beings -- he being a succesful orthopedician, with a wife and a kid, enjoying life with its responsibilities whereas I had grown old and frail post-Vinokur and was rather stagnant in my career with music.
My three best friends from Kerala are at three different places in my life right now. They might have swapped places between each other and I might have changed as a person, but the love remains strong.
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