mehendi rang layegi

life plays out strangely. arathi (with an h) got married yesterday.

16 years ago, i joined St. Xaviers college, Bombay doggedly certain that i wanted to only study physics. Xaviers is a culture unto itself and anyone having passed through its haloed doors is a citizen of a community that connects on some innate level. but, for all that, there is snobbery and snootishness galore from some who live, say, in "napeansea road" rather than, say, in dadar.
so quite often, dadar hangs out with mahim and kanjurmarg hangs out with chembur. napeansea road hangs out with carmichael road. but somewhere along the way, as one grows up and charts life paths, carmichael road finds kinship with chembur and santacruz is best buddies with cuffe parade and it equals out eventually. but when one is 16 or 17, being from "napeansea road" matters. and being from "the suburbs" matters even more.

and so, as affinities developed, anupama, arathi, arati and aparna hung out together. like minds, like lifestyles and like natures. inseparable 4-As we were called. then suddenly, one day -- a month into my three year sojourn at Xaviers, arathi disappeared. just like that. no byes, no explanations. anupama, aparna and arati stuck on, finished their bachelors and then went separate ways with the due byes and "we'll catch up later." oh, and we did.

but arathi (with the H) was awol. until 6 years later. sanat and i were getting married. and sanat casually mentioned one day, "my cousin was in xaviers for a month -- her name is also arathi." eureka! i had found the missing fourth member of our gang. turns out she'd left to study engg in pune suddenly. suddenly was right... but, it was great to see her again.

she disappeared and re-appeared several times in the decade of my marriage to her cousin, but somehow we always knew the general area she was in. for now she was related. and relatives have a way of keeping tabs ;)

and now, 10 years on, arathi tied the proverbial knot. and once again will disappear -- this time to dallas. but, today, we are going out for dinner and "byes" and au revoirs will definitely be exchanged. this send off will be proper.

i'll miss her though. she's a fun loving, talented, interested creature.
and yes, afterall, she's a xavierite.

;)