Happy birthday to the one I never want to miss in my life!

 

Imagine. You are downloading a karaoke app. Getting addicted to it, you start singing day in and out. You are meeting a person there and he continues to guide you throughout. You talk to each other and later he becomes so important in your life that he becomes an extended member of your family and vice versa. This may happen. What if you stick to each other for four years and still counting. Sounds imaginary right? But no. We made it. I and Ranju started from Smule and now we are Veetal to each other in all aspects.

Let me tell you our story. Rewinding to three years from today, I was on my first visit to Trivandrum. Aswathy chechi (my cousin) suggested me to download Smule so that I can sing along. I wasn’t much interested initially, but two days later, the app found a place in my phone. I started with her and then slowly I picked up pace and I started singing almost every day. I made new friends there gradually. As I was used to singing Malayalam songs, most of my friends were from Kerala. Nenjodu Cherthu album was a trend then. I joined with Ranjith_R_Nair in his duet invite. And this is it

I found this awesome recording of "Nenjodu Cherthu - Yuvvh (Short Version)" on Smule: https://www.smule.com/p/998675796_1411121761

And the comment section was our first conversation window. Slowly our conversations moved to the inbox. We started planning what song we were about to sing for the day and then gradually to what we did, where we are, our families so on and so forth. He even advised me to drink hot water a few minutes before singing to grab the right pitch (lol).

 As days passed Ranjuettan, became Ranju. A fellow singer on Smule became my human diary. We video call with each other’s families, we fight at 2AM, we mock at each other. We continue to be that Tom and Jerry (I am the Jerry and you are the Tom because you are tall and there will be no negotiations on this. Paranjilanu venda!) We continue to be each other’s Bagyathinde Vidhi. He is my best friend and I am his and we never liked anyone trespass into that position. There were people who mistook us for lovers (lol).

 “Ningalkonum vera pani ilae? Idhinae friend ayitu sahikana padu eniki arayu. Apola ivane keri premika?”

 Trust me, we love each other more than anyone. But our love will never translate to the love you meant! WE FRIEND US FOREVER, ale da chekka?

 Ranju means a lot in my life. From deciding whether to choose Anthropology or Zoology as my UPSC optional, to eda eniki orakam varunlya, nee oru paatu paadu (at 2AM literally), to eda eniki bore adikunu, njan Bengaluru varate please, eniki engotengilum ponam. From deciding whether he should shave his beard to forcing him to visit that doctor for godsake! Men may come and men may go, but this korangan stays forever. People may tell ridiculous things about us, but we know what we are. That’s what matters according to us. And I cannot afford to lose my best friend in the name of relationship.

I have been planning to write about him for a long time, and I am publishing this on your birthday. You can call it an appreciation post maybe.

Also, I and Ranju have met only twice in person that too for less than half an hour each. If you are still interested to know us, then here our memories.

 

Our first meeting

I was, am and will be a pishuki as he says, all my life. One such day, I had 60 bucks. I felt empowered for that. It was during my Under-Graduation at Coimbatore. I had spent the entire money in the canteen that day. Chill! I did have the pass to get back home. Suddenly, I received a call from Ranju. He was there at Coimbatore for some reason which I don’t remember at the moment. He said he was waiting at Gandhipuram as he was aware that I had to reach that point to go back home. It was around 3 PM. He told me that he was waiting near a temple. I managed to reach the temple but he wasn’t there. I continued to wait. He called me up after 10 minutes and asked where I was. Both of us were near the temple, still, we didn’t spot each other. After a few minutes, we realised that I was waiting in the entrance and he was waiting at the exit. Suddenly, it started raining heavily. We met near a sweet shop. At around 4 PM we decided to make a move as the rain had reduced a bit. He wanted chai. I had drained my pocket already. He had to drink or eat something as he had a long way to go. I confessed that I didn’t have a penny. He had 120rs. Including his return bus tickets, we can afford to spend 10rs per chai. That was our maximum budget. We continued to walk across the streets of Gandhipuram searching for the shops which do not charge more than ten per tea including the tax. We walked almost a kilometre and finally, we managed to find a shop. Later I took a bus back home and he went to Palakkad.

 

The train

I was returning from Trivandrum and he was somewhere on the way. I shared my train number and he said that he could manage to get the train if he rushed. As I was chatting with him, a few girls, maybe around 15 years of age boarded the train. He was close to this station then. I was pretty sure that he would not concentrate on my conversations if he boarded the train then. Hence I told him to catch the train two stations later by boarding a bus. The innocent fellow followed my instructions. I was aware that the women would get down on the station he is likely to board and that was my intention (lol). When he boarded, all these women de-boarded from the other door of the compartment and accidentally I started laughing. The fellow recognised my evil plan and stared at me and chose not to kill me!

 I can go on and on telling about us, maybe write a book about us (Okay. My first book is pending and I know you are pissed on me for that but I promise to publish before this year ends!).

 Trying to conclude here, wish you a very happy birthday old man!