September 23 - Sidhu

As I was surfing the usually visited sites on Internet, I came across a message informing me that Sidhu has added me as a friend on Facebook. About time Sidhu!
Can't blame him though, he's a busy man. (If you search for his name on Google, there are 11,700 results matching his name !).

WPS Sidhu and I came to know each other when he joined my School and Class -8th standard, way back in 1974. He has come from St. Joseph's Academy, Dehra Dun.

Sidhu was a smart and bright kid, and created a favorable impression on all teachers in School very early, for a new comer. He was an excellent debator, with an exceptional command over English language. He chose to pursue Science in Senior School, but at the end of Class XI, concluded that it would be a mistake for him to continue. So he took a bold but what he thought a wise decision to move to humanities for Class XII. We joined St. Stpehen's College together - he as student of History, and I, a student of Science. We studied together till graduation after which he moved across to JNU to pursue a Master's degree in International Relations.

We knew each other casually in School for the first two years and then we came closer. We lived reasonably close to each other, so visited each others homes often.

There were many common interests but main amongst them were music and girls.

He had an extensive collection of western music, meticulously created on his own, through the process of borrowing and copying recordings, many of them rare. We would sit for hours listening to music on his sophisticated music system,also a rare commodity, and exchanging notes on our respective love affairs. A typical visit to the other's home would last one full day.

Sidhu was also instrumental in getting me interested in watching movies. He would go home from School, and manage to reach my home barely minutes away from the matinee show time. We would invariably walk across from my home in RK Puram to Chanakya theatre. I am particularly thankful to him to have seen some of the ever famous movies that were shown in Delhi. Almost all the movies that I saw during my School days, were with Sidhu.

Sidhu got along particularly well with my father. The admiration was mutual.
I was also always welcome in his home, where in the initial years I got to see only his mother, since his father was sailing.

We drifted for the first time when he moved to Mumbai to pursue a career. And then, for many years when we were tied up and preoccupied with our jobs, we lost touch.

I hunted him down three years ago with the help of some friends. Life had moved on by then. I had lost my father, he, more recently his mother. Now when we are some distance apart, contacts are few and far between. However, I know, and I am sure he does that the old bonds of friendship are as strong as they were many years ago..