Jab (when) we met !

I am not particularly good at remembering dates. Am notorious for forgetting birthdays, anniversaries, and sometimes even important once-in-a-lifetime occasions. I do need reminders, and so far my mom has been super helpful reminding me a day ahead of any special day in the family. I also do have a few fantastic friends who accept this weakness of mine and message me ahead of other friend’s birthdays. I remember a year back, I had a hard request to all of them to please please please remind me of even their own birthdays! Why am I telling you all this ? Because, today must be really special - as I remembered!

What? Today is the 28^th of September 2010. Remember what happened a year back ? We met ! I know Kiki has a super write up of the exact order of events complete with time stamps, and she was so kind to print a leaf from her diary and put it in my scented message bottle! I haven’t read it yet (well just a bit here and there, when I was breaking the bottle!).

How time flies! Was it only a year back on the 26^th of September that I was standing at Mumbai airport saying farewell to my friends and family who had come to see me off. It must have been the nth time I was flying to the UK, but probably the first time I was ever worried. Not knowing what to expect, whom to meet, and how to live on campus for a year! I remember putting up a very happy face, but being extremely anxious within. In my moments of weakness I would often wonder why on earth I’d left my secure and cosy job, blown up my savings, and was putting myself through all this ordeal. Well, I knew the answer within, but I guess it is difficult to suppress such thoughts especially when you see your mom and friends leaving you the airport.

On the flight, I couldn’t sleep a wink nor could I read a line from the book I had got along - ‘Making globalisation work’. Guess I should have carried something more light hearted like say Nancy Drew or the Famous Five ! Reaching Manchester was okay, but the journey from there was nothing short of a nightmare. Try dragging 60 kilos from the airport terminal to the bus station. And then up to the campus, and then up to a flat on the second floor of a building with no lifts. After having travelled for 16 hours all I wanted to do was dive into my bed and get a good night’s sleep.

The next day was my first at the management school. I got up in the morning completely refreshed, and it was as if I had a new burst of energy. The first day was induction, and it was wonderful in its own right. But, this is not about what happened at school. This is about what happened afterwards. I came back to the flat and met my first flatmate - Jay. We both introduced ourselves and agreed on going together to the international students welcome at the Great Hall. On the way to the Great Hall, I remember Jay telling me that he was a Phd exchange student from NUS, and I told him that NUS was actually one my choices for doing the MBA ! So much for commonalities between us, and we walked on !

The wait at the Great Hall was long, with the pro vice chancellor running late. So, we helped ourselves to the free wine and tried to make some conversation. Well, we didn’t struggle much, because out of the blue Ms. Kiki came up and introduced herself. So, we said Hi ! made some small talk and then, I actually thought she would go on her way and say Hi to someone else. Hahhaha . But no ! Ms. Kiki had no intention of leaving, not that night, and not for the rest of the year as we’d realise later! A self-confession from Kiki later was that it was probably our positioning (next to the wine table) that attracted her to us and made her stay put!)

So, by then it was Jay, Kiki, me and actually there was another girl doing her undergrad who had joined our little circle (we lost her in the next 15 minutes though!). It must have been my second glass of wine, when James and Richie entered the scene. They were Jay’s acquaintances (well, later that year we would know that Jay is a self-confessed introvert who is actually Mr. Popular; he knows just about everyone, he knows someone from all corners of the earth, and he has 1500 FB friends !) I gathered that James and Richard were doing a Masters in finance, and I remember nothing from the rest of the smooth conversation – well blame the wine! After waiting for an hour, we were officially welcomed by the pro-vice chancellor, and then we (by now, kiki, Jay, James, Richie, and me) headed off to Graduate college where students were being served with a free Chinese meal ! The first perk of having oriental friends! – (you get to know about free Chinese meals – only a bit too late in our case ;-))

At the graduate college, outside the common room, we stood at the back of what seemed to be a never ending queue. Students from all nine colleges were there to get their share of free Chinese food, and we were the last J We were cold, hungry, and extremely worn out. Aha – Perfect setting to meet Pat – another of Jay’s acquaintances who had the pleasure of experiencing Jay’s ‘drumming feet’ all the way from Manchester to Lancaster two days before. I gathered that Pat was doing a Phd in nuclear physics ( well, for my ease – I kept relating it to Atom bomb!), but what was more interesting to me at that point was the bowl of Chinese food in his hand. It was filled to the brim with different things, and while we were still awaiting our bleak chance to get our free plate, Pat was ready to throw out the food in his bowl which he didn’t like. Hmmm... a lesson on how life is not fair ! Well, later during the year, we also learnt that no one messes with this man’s food and what he does with it ;-P !

As fate would have it, by the time it was our turn, the food was over, and we had to make do with leftovers! So, with an empty stomach, but after having met this cocktail of wonderful people, I went back to my room and got ready for my next day at the management school. To be honest, I didn’t think I would ever meet any of the people again (except for my flatmate - Jay). To me it was just random, and one-off. I considered it the end of the evening, but little did I know that it in fact was the beginning of a year with this very set of random people. The very same people, that in a few days time we’d be referring to as ‘friends’ and our ‘Lancaster family’. If I had any concerns of being away from friends and family (the horrible things I felt at the airport), well this was the answer to my concerns. Super fast right? Who could ever think of it!

Many times during the year whenever we met up for one our family dinners, at the grad bar, or even after a night out, we couldn’t help musing about how we met and stuck together despite being from different courses, age groups, having varied interests and commitments. It’s amazing, isn’t it ? Jojo – I know you don’t feature in that evening, but you know what, that’s because whoever is the master planner behind this all realised that something was amiss, and so had to put Kiki back to work meet you and complete the picture !

And so dear ‘lancaster family’ members ( Jay, Kiki, James, Richie, Pat & Jojo), here’s three cheers to that one evening that made the rest of the year so much eventful and filled with love. Here’s to – Jab we met !