Quarter Life Crisis !!!

I turned 25 on June 9,2011.I was woken up by my parents, who wished me "happy birthday", and dragged me out of bed. I started off my day with a visit to the temples, and returned home to find a big party being arranged by my aunt at her place. The presence of my parents, bro, cousin, sis-in-law, grandma, and other relatives made it a very special affair for me. It was a memorable day, and I had my aunt to thank for, for making it a special day in my life. Unlike last year, I had decided to spend my birthday with my parents and relatives. I planned my holidays accordingly. Birthday's have always been a very silent affair for me. My friends broke the trend last year, throwing me a surprise party. Perhaps the sweetest memory I had in my two years of IIT life.

However, birthday wishes from unexpected quarters brightened my day further. Sreetama, was the first to call me at 12 am, followed by Ashish. I knew more were to come. However, no one called until morning, and I was again surprised to see an SMS from Pradeep. I received another call from Sharmada, and I knew more were supposed to come. There was no word from my five dearest friends..Gaudhaman, Abhijith,Sourav, Sindhu and Krishnakali..I was a little disturbed, and I dropped an SMS to all five with the following content:

"This is ur last and final chance to wish me on my 25th bday. Hurry !!! offer valid till 11.59pm today"

Abhijith called me immediately,wished me and chided me for not posting my bday on FB, followed by Sindhu, who was really sorry for missing the date. Krishnakali called me a little later with a rhetorical tone asking me "Why, no one wished you or what ?". I was a little shaken, and by the time I thought of an answer, she had wished me, and I hung up thanking her for calling. She followed it up with an SMS that left me awestruck. Gaudhaman was down with severe food poisoning and he was on sedatives. He rang me, and blamed it on the sedatives for having put in sleep for almost 12 hrs. However, the sad part was, Sourav, could not call me, as he was super busy with his marriage preparations.

Now, an obvious question would prop up in the readers mind, why am I writing about this at 4am in the morning after more than a month? Today, my friends Sreetama, Abhijith, Gaudhaman and krishnakali outsmarted me, and gifted me a Shirt. I had expressed my disapproval to the trio Sreetama, Abhijith, and Gaudhaman against any such celebrations, but they went ahead,bought the gift and tricked me into going to MoD with them. It was a pleasant surprise (or was it?) and it left me thinking how much they care for me. I am sure a huge void would be created in my life when Gaudhaman leaves IIT for Germany. He was a younger brother to me, one whom I used to scold, advise, and listen to. I guess he was privileged to get the odd slap from me once !!! There is also some talk about Abhijith and Sreetama too leaving IIT. Abhijith, is more like a mentor to me. He advised me on the nuances of maintaining personal relations, when all I bothered about was maintaining Professional relations. Sreetama,is a confidante, who chides me, if I am wrong and supports me all along, if I am right about something. These are gaping holes which cannot be easily filled. The very fact, that I would miss all three of them in the nearby future is making me jittery.

Many of my friends had asked me recently why I had suddenly become serious. I can only tell you that I am preparing for the impending transition that is going to happen in my life. I am the one who will face it, and hence, I need to be better equipped. I need to learn to live without a little brother around, I need to live without a mentor, and I should do away with a confidante. I have reasons to worry about, and at times it just translates into my basic nature. Well, I apologize to those friends who found it little irksome. Well I guess, this is what they call quarter life crisis !!!