Friends and then some.....

Have you wondered like i often do how friends, whom you feel so close to just drift apart?
I know people change, circumstances change but i still wonder......
My friend and i were chatting the other day and she was saying the same thing. we were lamenting on loss of contact with a close friend who recently got married. We were an inseparable trio,then she got married and lo, havent heard from her in months. I know friends fall in love, move to another city, get married and so on but that does mean friends need to drift apart???? yeah, i know i am being emotional but does it have to be that way? In the blink of an eye your relationship changes..... from being joined at the hip you become distant. do those people regret it too? do they miss their friends too or its just people like me.... impractical, sentimental who think this way?
There is the other end of the spectrum, where people try real hard to maintain the relationship even after equations change.But that breed is very rare. I hope i am one of them.
I remember friends whom i have shared my innermost thoughts with, laughed with, cried my heart out, shared their feelings, lend a shoulder to cry on.... now those friends are mere acquaintances and it hurts. I cringe at the thought of saying hello cos i remember the good old times and wish if they cant come back at least something better then a hello....
some practical soul will say maybe the relationship was not meant to be, life goes on.... yes it does, i know . But could we make the effort to keep friendships alive? could we make new friends and at the same time strive to keep the old?
I believe that in life we need enough money to survive, a comfortable home, a good job we love and the company of good friends.
could the good friends and the not so good/ distant ones please step forward??

Sarcasm

My sarcasm has always taken me by surprise. Even when i don't mean to, i invariably end up being sarcastic. I sit to contemplate very often about the fact that sarcasm seems to be a family trait. When i am out socialising, i see sarcasm as a part of the Punjabi culture. We seem to be born with sarcasm in our blood. Everybody is trying to surpass the other in levels of sarcasm. Try as hard i cant get out of the intricate web of sarcasm. My young cousins seem to be much better at it.
I try to delve into the levels of sarcasm. Is it me? my family? my society?

Sample this, last weekend, I had been to the vegetable market to buy mangoes for making pickles. Standing solemnly beside the vendor, in the excruciating heat, I heard the exchange between him and a potential buyer. The buyer asked the price of mangoes. he just wanted to know the price with no intention to buy. The vendor said why ask the price of sandalwood before your funeral !!!! . The vendor takes a filmy pause before adding if you don't want to buy, don't bother asking the price before hand. The poor buyer walked off mutely. I am flabbergasted!


Is sarcasm a part of the larger Indian culture or goes much beyond?


I am still thinking

Mangal

Yersterday morning, while i was taking my car out of the house, my uncle screamed.."look your Rickshawallah is here".
I got of the car and saw Mangal, my school rickshawallah.

Since the time I remember i used to go to school in Mangal's rickshaw. 10-12 children cramped in one rickshaw. Mangal was our epitome of smartness. we all wanted to be smart and in control like him. Anybody who bothered to do some mischief, was reprimanded by him. "Lago Kya Kanpat ke niche" would be his words. Yes Mangal could hit us. Those were the days when our helpers would have the right to beat us. Status no bar. You do mischief and you got beaten up(although i confess my grandfather hit him once for beating my delicate elder sister)
Anytime we wanted to irritate him, we would chant" Mangal Dhanghal Char Aane, Hirvi Mirchi Bara Aane" Mangal would rise to the bait and one of our adventurous lot would be hit. But we loved the ride. We loved Mangal. The one who used to treat us to tamarinds from the road side trees. He even used to teach us to ride the rickshaw.

Today, things have changed....
I tower over Mangal by almost half a foot.His hair has turned grey.His eyes have sunk and look glazed, his face is lined. Mangal still rides the rickshaw. Only his ride has a few takers. No school children:( [no respectable parents ] he is a content man.
Although we all live in the 21st century but this short dimunitive man is still living where he was 20 years ago.
Content.....