Thanks Yaraa...

Friends. Right from nursery days to college and beyond friends contribute so much in our lives, yet we don't recognize them enough. We get stuck with whatever relatives we were born with, but, we choose our friends. We choose them on their merits, goodness of their heart or just for the simple reasons that they were there for us when chips were down. They teach us so much, yet they learn from us, they fight with us and yet they make peace with us. They get critical of us yet they remain non judgmental. Man they are awesome people!

If a jebroni by the name of Mushtaq Singh had not helped poet and script writer Javed Akhtar, the world would not have seen Veeru and Jay's friendship in Sholay. Mushtaq Singh used to pay Javed Akhtar's tuition and boarding expenses when he was attending college in Bhopal. These incidents and many more like thses have had such a profound impression on Javed Saab's mind that in many of his films you see some extra ordinary friendships. One would have to read "Tarkash" to know how his friends created a Javed Akhtar out of a Javed Akhtar....

I am blessed to have some awesome bunch of Friends on both the sides of the Atlantic. When I was leaving India for America several years ago my major fear was not having enough friends in a distant land. My friends back in Mumbai had spoiled me so much that I was scared of not finding someone like them.

I was wrong. I did find them and more...and Jeff Shipman is one of them.

The reason I am writing this post is because I wanted to celebrate my friends and their friendships. All of our friends say something that we enjoy for a long time. I want to record these one liners so that we all can enjoy them. From now on, if any of my friends say something "original" and worth quoting then I am going to post it on this blog. I am beginning this celebration with Jeff "Jadu" Shipman and this is what he said the other day...

"I was at the Virginia Highland and saw this girl jogging next to me. Man, she was sooo beautiful...so beautiful that I could NOT see her face!"

I am willing to live anywhere in the World, endure any kind of hardship provided I am allowed some friends, a library and a tea stall that remains open late at night. I always believed that since beginning of time there is only one woman, one man, one friend and one enemy in our lives. They keep showing up with different names, colors and country of origin but they all are same - the Friends!