Dil Chahta Hai!

Going for a second show at our favourite theatre without prior planning, has been quite a "tradition" in my house! At the spur of the moment, we decide that we want to watch such and such movie and we just drive off to the theatre, hoping that tickets will be available for a second show on a weekday. Thats how I watched this amazing movie "Dil Chahta Hai" for the first time. It was a nice movie. I laughed, cried, enjoyed every scene and walked out of the theatre feeling happy. But the movie didn't really "mean" anything to me at that point of time.

The second time I watched that movie, one of my closest friends, Sow, was sitting by my side. This was her second time too. We had fun discussing our favourite scenes and all that stuff. But still the movie didn't "mean" anything to me.

Sow, Nairi and I have been friends for many years. We have studied in the same school and our homes were located around the school. We used to meet pretty often. One of our regular meeting points was a stadium, near my house, where we used to take long walks and yap away to glory!

When we were in 10th, we went to the beach together. As we were sitting there and talking, Sow brought up the topic all of a sudden.

We are not going to be able to meet up like this after a while. Just imagine yaar... in another couple of years, we are going to go in three totally different directions. I'll be doing my B.Com, Nairi will be doing M.B.B.S and you will be doing B.Sc. A doctor, a scientist and a CA.

At that moment, we realized that what she was getting at was true. But I really didn't want to believe her. But soon I was forced to accept what she said.

The very next year, Sow shifted to a different school to get into commerce group. Nairi and I stayed on in the same school. In 11th we still met each other pretty often. Then in 12th, the problem started. Nairi had to juggle between all her extra coaching classes and school, Sow also had a few extra classes and I plunged head-on into my text-books. We all needed good grades. We never found much time for each other. Whenever Sow and I had time, Nairi didn't, when she had time, I didn't and so on and so forth. We were rarely seen as a trio after that. We became duos with different combinations!

After school things really became worse. We normally always meet up for our birthdays, no matter how busy we are the other days. This time, we didn't go out for any of our birthdays. Our usual routine of going to the beach became highly impossible. (Sow and I still acknowlegde the fact that we owe each other birthday treats!). Now, Nairi lives further away. Our houses are no longer around our old school.

In the movie DCH, the three friends sit ad watch the ships sail away knowing that their own lives were similar to those ships. They were together at that point, but they had no clue what life had in store for them and whether they would always remain together. For the first time in my life, I found that I could actually relate to a scene in a Bollywood movie! Incredible! Sow, Nairi and I are like those ships now! I flew to Singapore, Nairi went to Manipal and Sow stayed back. The three friends are scattered around. Now its Christmas season and Nairi and I are back for the vacation. Its been three weeks since I came and I'll be leaving in another week. I met only Nairi, still haven't met Sow. I called her up and as we were talking, we were trying to form a plan to meet. A plan to meet? Trying to find time when we are free? Sheesh! I never imagined this coming! And to think just 2 years ago, we met when we pleased, where we pleased and as we pleased. Now we "plan" our meeting. I guess thats life. And I guess thats friendship! Life might have taken us in three separate ways, but friendship remains just as it used to be. So what if we can't meet every other day? We have the memories of the times we met and had fun! Trust me, those memories will keep me going for a long time!

Although I have those precious memories with me, I can't help but to sing, and finally "mean" every word in the song!

Dil Chahta hai, kabhi na beethe chamkile din
Dil Chahta hai, hum na rahen kabhi yaaron ke bin!

(loose translation: I never want the wonderful days to get over, I never want to be without my friends!)