20 years and counting

It was the summer of '92-'93...at Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1 Air Force Station Kalaikunda, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India. 

Last day of the batch. Think it was the Biology exam!

Back from a long vacation a bunch of students joined XI Std Science. Giving them a foothold in a field they always wanted to be in. Stakes were high, so were the ambitions. Some wanted to pass the sound barriers in their MIGs & MIRAGEs, some others took a nosedive into the world of Physics & Chemistry hoping to make it to the elite league. And there were some others like me 'Live life as it comes...' 

This was the bunch which along with everything else enjoyed life and whatever it had to offer, to the fullest. Woh bhi kya din the!!! Soon everybody left in pursuit of their ambitions, their dreams, their aspirations... Days became months and soon years. 

Most of us being from defense background hand moved multiple schools & cities before Kalaikunda. And sadly at the end of that year it was my turn. Much against my wish I had to move...to a new city, a new school, a new bunch of classmates. 

Inland letters from a few close friends kept the connections going. I still cherish almost all of them. Soon it was the time of internet & e mails followed by facebook & chat. With the advent of mobile phones it should have become so convenient? Not really! Life took is in all different directions. Still pretty much chasing their own ambitions!

Inspite of all this I did keep track of a few friends of mine. Met Shalini first in Pune & then in Hyderabad, Nitin, Harvinder & Tushar in Bangalore. Soon thanks to DD got back in touch with Anu, Showmic & a few others. Thanks to facebook a few other busy souls do drop in an ocassional one liner!

Harvinder and couple of other friends did try to have a reunion meeting which thanks to distances and varied locations is yet to become a reality. It was a good decade back when yahoo was in vogue, I tried bringing the group together with a yahoo group titled kkdclan (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kkdclan/?tab=s) only to fizzle out shortly.

I think it was a couple of weeks back when I suddenly realized that's its been 20 years...yes 2 decades since we all came together. From 50th birthday and 50 weeks of successful outing for movies to today's times where every year and everyday is celebrated 20 years is a really really long time! And the best part is some 8-10 of us are in good touch. As a part of celebrating this moment I was planning to create some memorabilia and put the word out. Response was muted & not encouraging. Expected that!

Moving on I thought the least I could do is capture the journey in my own way and celebrate it in my own way....

Happy 20 guys!!!! Happy to be in touch with a few of you. Happy to have known each & everyone of you.

Cheers!