on Subai... random thoughts

Subai is what his family and college/school friends address him as. We address him as Abhy.

The first thing that I remember about this guy is the sweet way he used to say ‘vishal bhai’. He was the quietest of all, and perhaps second to shabab in patience. In fact, I rarely saw him violently angry. It’s not in his nature. He would not deny anything if anyone asked for it: his time, money, or advice. At 3 when we used to reach office after siesta to practice for the next class or importantly to browse, I used to bug him by asking solutions to the questions that the students could ask. I never focused on the logic, I wanted solutions. Isn’t it true for so many of us, we want a comfortable, everything laid out, life. And this guy would sit and learn different things.

I vividly recall how happy he was when he had succeeded in creating a small chat application using xml or some crap language. I was happy to see him beaming with a smile, and next moment he was back at the keyboard refining the application. For me, learning how to write ‘Dim A as Integer’ was a feat in itself, or even revisiting the javascript code that Shabab provided me as solution to ‘displaying the one to five star’ question!

I still have regret; I could not teach Oracle to Abhy [subai] though he kept on asking me about the same.

We were talking about college life one day. The discussion begun when I asked him if he required wearing glasses all the time and he told me that he wore it even when he used to bathe in open in the hostel. That’s because while bathing when someone would call him, he would not recognize people by their voice… or something like that.

In his college he/others were a lousy lot. When the bed sheet used to become dirty, they used to reverse and use it. Same with socks! Though he did not tell me about other things, I hope during winter season they did not reverse the shirts and wear sweaters on top!
Subai is a favorite of most of his relatives. When he was in Calcutta, he would make it a point to visit almost all his relatives. I wondered what pleasure he would derive meeting everyone, and here I was, avoided my lot and at time wanted everyone to just perish ;-)

Amusing incidents which we laughed on and shared:

• Occasionally Abhy would start chanting "हरे रामा हरे कृष्णा, कृष्णा कृष्णा हरे हरे!"
• He would invariably start his conversation with a ‘हाँ भाई’
• He strictly believed in the adage, ‘एक तीर से दो निशाने’ in his case it was multiple निशाने, does anyone remembers his “Me Too”? He certainly believed and practiced on sharing objects… or in this case sharing the same messages with everyone – maintaining consistency!
• One day, while walking towards office from Villa, Abhy very hesitatingly said, ‘एक बात बोलूं विशाल भाई, बुरा नही मन्ना, अपना बेल्ट तोंद के ऊपर बंधा करो, नीचे जाता है तौ आप मोटे लगते हो!” I follow his advice till date.
• Abhy’s ‘का’ I still remember and laugh about it whenever I see a vehicle with Karnataka registration.
• Then there’s one incident when we all were about to start a ‘nice’ movie using the projector in the master bedroom when Abhy asked us to stop, and then addressing Anshi said in a serious tone, “हाँ भाई, याद रहे पायजामा मेरा पहना है तुमने, कुछ होना नही चाहेये.” And then he said, “स्टार्ट किया जाये!”
• The other day while walking to work in the peak summer season, Abhy kept on grumbling about the scorching sun and the humidity. I got irritated and told him that it was all in his head, “don’t think about it and you won’t feel it.” Promptly he said, “आहाहाहा, कितना ठंडा है , बरफ गिर रहीए है!”

Abhy sings quite well. Though few, yet he has enthralled us with good songs from the movies. I remember how he and I used to listen to audio cassettes of Rabindra Sangeet in his master bedroom, and also Gulzar’s Mirza galib, and Jagjit & Chitra Singh’s collection.

His rapport with his students was excellent. Neena Gopalan came to meet us all when she was leaving Middle East to settle down back home in Bangalore. Then there was another one whose name I don’t recall.

I always felt this guy could easily be tricked into something by anyone. People borrowed money and would not return, and he would feel embarrassed to bring up the topic with those people. And then people became parasites. But good sense prevailed, and our Abhy was a better man later ;-)

The best time with him was when he used to tell about Rabindranath Tagore – that he has written songs/poems on almost everything: love, hate, passion, compassion, relationships, and every mood and melody. He would often translate the rabindra sangeet for me. Those were the moments when it seemed he was pulled back to the land where he belongs to. Sometimes even the best written word by the author are not as appealing as the ones in which another person translates or explains what the author would have felt… it was similar to something like that when Abhy explained.

Abhy fell ill and had to be operated. He was in Salmania for quite some time. That was quite a bad experience. Every experience leaves behind some memories and some learning. Abhy realized few, and would talk about them, albeit in brief. We could not feel his grief. We were not aware would be good to admit. I can now relate to his situation where one feels an urge to talk to a close one, but everyone seems so far and aloof. But time flies, and it’s always good to remember, “जो गुज़र गयी , व्हो कल के बात थी, उम्र तौ नही , सिर्फ़ एक रात थी.”

Abhy invited me to attend his wedding just a day before the wedding, and the wedding was in WB, some 1300 kms away from Bangalore. I will remember this Abhy, and revenge is due – I have not changed a wee bit.