A reunion

She was the first to enter. And deservingly so. For no one looked forward to this more than her. As Shahi entered Le Meridien , the grand re-union of old schoolmates of Alpha who came out of school in the year 1991 had truly begun. And then came yours truly. Drove for some five hours just for these three and a half hours with friends. And just as I entered the hall meant for our re-union, pat came the pat on the back. A white sari devil (Shahi) started what she was particularly good at; demonising me :-) with her “Akka” supremacy. And soon Chitra joined us. You take any movie; any language; A lady drives in a macho vehicle like Scorpio , she’s framed a bully. But Chitra was as effeminate as the roses spread on those Le Meridien tables. Sari clad Scorpio driving Softie. And as Chitra and Shahi were evaluating if yours truly had put on weight or not, Amutha entered with her dazzling ku …ku… errr… cute sari :-)Though she calls everyone “vanga ponga”, She will not even mind if you call her “vadi podi” but try spelling her name with a  ‘d’ in it, and then it shall be “poda vada” for you! And some one likes French… Prabhu came in with a French beard and confirmed his penchant for the French wine. (What about the French k…. errr, French culture , Prabhu? :-). The daring Thiruna or the sky jump fame Thiruna arrived ( Thiruna, you insist that everyone calls with this prefix, or else,what is the point in jumping from such a height :-) . And he believes in “seeing is believing”. Cos, he played a video of his skyjump in his laptop and laid down any photo trick speculations :-) ( and raised video trick speculations ???). It was great to see that this old friend’s smile had not lost one inch of its grace despite this many years . LT Sounderrajan entered, smiled; conquered; kept smiling; kept conquering; and came to form a bit late ( only when the desserts arrived) . Wanna learn how to keep smiling without talking and still conquering, ask LT!

Arun , the born organiser that he truly was, enquired his brother if all the facilities were arranged. And boy, sports truly helps you to keep in shape. Want a proof? just look at Arun; “looks the same” phrase is made for him. K as he is popularly called , K.Senthil is an out and out, field man  ( no Arun, its not the outfield that you field in :-)) and K loves to work to make others happy.Indhu came in a white sari ( Any hidden deal with Shahi?) She spoke in measured tones and refused to sing with her nightingale voice but still managed to convince us that she hasn’t changed one bit and she is the same sweet Indhu that we’ve  known her as always; ( My part of the deal kept, Indhu, now your turn to praise me !). If in guys, the “looks the same “ award goes to Arun, Sowmya will bag it for the girls quite easily. And Sowmya believes in “Talk less and eat errr, sorry,  listen more policy ! And Mr & Mrs. Anand arrived in style. It’s always nice to see love triumph. And this love has not only triumphed but has planted its flag abroad. And then came whatever these “Made for each other” had made; Junior Anand ( Sanjay) arrived in a superior style sitting . And last but still the least , Ranjith arrived ( I meant he looked the youngest :-) ) Right from actor Abbas to our very own Ranjith , all these guys grow till 25 and stop there. Wish I could do that!

After trying to pull each other in an inorganised manner, we were given an opportunity to do that in organised fashion by our lion hearted K. The awards ceremony. And boy, what a speech he gave before that! ( Arun, I still suspect you gave him some things out of the common menu to evoke so many philosophical quotes) . Stories on Love, Friendship, ego… ( I propose “Thathuvath Thalaivan” award in next get together for K). For getting that name tagged glass wonder, the award giver had to say a few nice words about the award winner! We all said a “few” nice words and then the pulling was in full frenzy. And Anand is like Dhoni when it comes to parties. Starts slow ; gauges the situation; and once in control, goes full bang at it ! And he had  a go on almost everyone! Right from recalling Shahi’s oil applied “rettai jadai” to K’s thigh piece order at a hotel , he was just too good ! ( And Shuba, you are right, he’s got an elephant memory but never seen any elephant as energetic as Anand was in the party :-). Rajini comes late but he still comes with the latest fashion. And Ranjith came late too. Anand demonstrated Ranjith’s handkerchief fashion to a hall full of laughter. Nothing including Amutha’s earrings  and Sowmya’s thigh patting were spared. K described an incident where 50 men came to hit them when he was with Arun and how Arun escaped leaving K behind. Arun coolly denied the escaping part and said that he had just sprinted the hundred metres faster than K. ( Got a political career in hand , Machi!)  The other story where Arun copied in Tamil exam with the help of Hindi language student  Prabhu, was even more better spiced. We laughed our hearts out . And Shahi’s children  watched us wonderingly “ How childish these grownups are…!” .The dinner was good; dessert was great; And then amidst all the laughter , as we all walked out of the hall, a question hung in the air …Will we get another chance?? If not to relive those wonderful school days, at least, to have such reunions....