Farewell

Friday 5th march was the last day in office of one of my colleagues. Rathod left the organization to 'pursue better opportunities'. Knowing the circumstances and reasons he was leaving, I felt real good for him. I told him that day that I will write a blog on him, his time spent here, and his departure. I wasn't serious then. After all, I think of writing a blog about anything and everything all the time.

And here I am writing this very blog. When you leave some place, or when someone around you leaves elsewhere, the realization never sinks in until it actually happens. I know, it sounds cliche, but after the initial shock/surprise when the news first breaks, things again start to settle down. The reality begins to dawn once the final goodbyes are said. Like today, when before going for lunch, I inadvertently tried to ping him on SameTime, only to realize in an instant that he isn't here anymore. It’s moments like this one which slowly but surely bring forth the fact.

I've felt like this before; when mangaa (Gourav Dash) left Cogni, when Sid bhai transferred to Mumbai, when Shyam transferred to Bangalore. This is how it begins; the disintegration of a group in any place. When Nigam left, I was myself in such a hurry going to Germany that I missed the last goodbyes. But I realized he wasn't there on my return.
One of my collage friend has a theory on this; he says that for working bachelors in India, colleagues/roommates/girlfriends (in some cases) become as close as family, because most of us hardly see our actual family twice a year. And so, when someone from the core group leaves, the change in social support structure fills slowly.
As the Metallica song goes, "The memory remains"

I remember when Vivek came here in April last year; straight into my project. Being from Cogni Mumbai, I knew a bit about him beforehand (courtesy Rahul and Chinmay). I had a good rapport with him instantly and we started working on stuff together. Working together was fun, as we were both so-so in PRPC, but wanted to work. Also we had our Cogni anecdotes to share. I even started to like his eccentricities with time. We had the best of times in numerous KT Sessions and weekend Production Supports when I went over to stay at his place. The weekend when we worked at a stretch 6:00 am - 1:30 am was the best. Irritating asshole he was then, and remains to this day, no doubt.

Time went by, I moved to a different team, but we still chilled out together. Rathod remained an integral part of our group till the very end. He was a pain in the ass most of the time. More often than not, he was the detonator that set Chinmay off. In one year, we all knew each other pretty well … work life, love life, college days, family, insecurities, ambitions. We found out the three most important things in his life; Tomatoes, rasgulla and Amitabh Bachchan. Each of them reminds me of some small things. The way he would fight tooth and nail with the Cafeteria guys to get one extra rasgulla by paying more, the way he was completely turned-off when a beautiful girl ordering a sandwich besides him told the guy 'bhaiya tamaatar kam daalna', and how he loves horrendous movies like Laal Baadshah and Mrityudata just because of the Big B.



His last day was pretty cool. He was being badgered by one and all to get senti and cry before leaving. Everything happened over the day as he rushed about getting clearances; last trip to cafeteria, last trip to Paradigm B, his farewell Jumbo King treat, the customary snaps. But the image that everyone will remember will be the last couple of hours as he sat in his seat, surrounded by all. He sat cowered, hunched a little. He did not speak anything. A weird smile played on his face. He was sad. He just wanted it all to be over and go home. We were all sitting around, teasing him, reading the comments written by all in his farewell card one by one.

I really felt bad, because there are very few people who know all about you and to whom you can talk to about anything at anytime without being pretentious. He was that way. A guy who thinks different about money, girls, work, life …. I, like most others disagree with him on all; we've all argued with him on each of this every now and then. But he has his fundaas (weird fundaas, I repeat). He knows what he wants and how he wants it. He is a mature badass

I doubt I will ever find a guy who falls asleep in a blink.. I really want to be there when he first tastes alcohol. I hopes he gets a 1 TB hard disc and downloads more things like Coke Studio. The good thing is that because of some reasons I visit Pune regularly, so hopefully I'll meet him occasionally.



He wanted me to put his last email in the blog; it was sent to a select few:


Hi, I just wanted to share a line that’s been dear to me during these days…..It states….“You never really leave a place or person you love, part of them you take with you, leaving a part of yourself behind.” Not sure as to how much of me I will leave behind… But I am sure… I’ll carry those sweet little memories of working with a group of frens who have grown to become an integral part of my Life…..
I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.

Note: I am mentioning certain words which have enriched our vocabulary courtesy him
fish , freak, BhaisChand, Bhoss***, jamvaanu , snakes, custard

P.S
This was my farewell gift to a wonderful person who will be missed by one and all
(fingers crossed)