Drifting Apart
One saying that is repeated in almost any context, almost ad nauseum is that 'Change is the only constant in life'. This is perhaps the most brutal reality of life, much more serious than we really comprehend.
Just over a year back, I graduated from B-School. It was 2 years of great fun, bonding, friendship, and a lot of hard work. Somehow, when people live through adverse situations together, the bonding between them is much more than under normal circumstances. I guess the rigour that B-School put us through brought us closer to each other as a batch and was the cause of some wonderful friendships. I must say that I have been lucky to have made some very very dear friends from B-School. I'm also fairly certain that a lot of these friendships will be lifelong relationships.
While I was part of the Alumni Committee of my institute, I had the opportunity to be part of a team that organized the annual Alumni gathering. It appeared strange to me that the further back a batch had graduated, the lesser the enthusiasm to attend the event and catch up with batchmates. How could someone not feel like meeting the same folks with whom he spent two wonderful years? How could someone not want to relive those countless hours spent arguing over projects, cursing the pathetic canteen food, bitching about batchmates, taking a tea-break at the roadside 'tapri'????
It's now close to a year and a half since I've attended my final lecture at B-school, and the very thought makes me nostalgic. I have very fond memories of the 2 years I spent at B-School and if I am ever granted a wish to relive a part of my life, it would most certainly be those 2 years.
Today, life seems so different, almost cruel at times. Work dominates most part of the week, leaving one with no time on weekdays to really catch up with friends or even call them. I am more fortunate than a lot of my friends in that I have a 2 day weekend. More and more, I find that there are too many demands on my time, that leave me very little time for myself. I sometimes feel that I am losing control over my life because I am unable to keep in touch with people I really care for. There are so many of my really good friends that I haven't spoken to in months. Life is just getting busier and busier.
A lot of my friends are in that phase of transition where they get engaged or married and then that completely changes one's priorities in life. You want to spend time with your spouse / fiance on the weekends. Once in a while, you receive a call from a friend that makes you realise how long it's been since you last met them. You decide to meet up 'sometime in the next couple of weekends', which never happens. You slowly start drifting away from friends and lose touch with what's happening in each others' lives. Over a period of time, you are out of touch for so long that you don't really have much to talk even when you do meet.
It is extremely sad, but I'm sure we all go through this phase. Now I realise why alumni were not too enthused by an annual gathering. We all move on in life. 'The most important' thing in life keeps changing. So, while we continue to have the same regard for our friends, life simply keeps taking us along its merry path, twisting and turning all the time, distancing us from parents, relatives, friends, and I suspect, even from ourselves.
Much as I want to, I don't have a solution for this. This blog is just an outlet for my thoughts. To all my friends, whether they read this or not, I want to say that I treasure all your friendships and will always do so. Somewhere, they have played their own parts in moulding me and making me the person I am.
Oops, I just remembered that one of my childhood friends is in town until tomorrow and I must plan a meeting with him!!!!!!
Just over a year back, I graduated from B-School. It was 2 years of great fun, bonding, friendship, and a lot of hard work. Somehow, when people live through adverse situations together, the bonding between them is much more than under normal circumstances. I guess the rigour that B-School put us through brought us closer to each other as a batch and was the cause of some wonderful friendships. I must say that I have been lucky to have made some very very dear friends from B-School. I'm also fairly certain that a lot of these friendships will be lifelong relationships.
While I was part of the Alumni Committee of my institute, I had the opportunity to be part of a team that organized the annual Alumni gathering. It appeared strange to me that the further back a batch had graduated, the lesser the enthusiasm to attend the event and catch up with batchmates. How could someone not feel like meeting the same folks with whom he spent two wonderful years? How could someone not want to relive those countless hours spent arguing over projects, cursing the pathetic canteen food, bitching about batchmates, taking a tea-break at the roadside 'tapri'????
It's now close to a year and a half since I've attended my final lecture at B-school, and the very thought makes me nostalgic. I have very fond memories of the 2 years I spent at B-School and if I am ever granted a wish to relive a part of my life, it would most certainly be those 2 years.
Today, life seems so different, almost cruel at times. Work dominates most part of the week, leaving one with no time on weekdays to really catch up with friends or even call them. I am more fortunate than a lot of my friends in that I have a 2 day weekend. More and more, I find that there are too many demands on my time, that leave me very little time for myself. I sometimes feel that I am losing control over my life because I am unable to keep in touch with people I really care for. There are so many of my really good friends that I haven't spoken to in months. Life is just getting busier and busier.
A lot of my friends are in that phase of transition where they get engaged or married and then that completely changes one's priorities in life. You want to spend time with your spouse / fiance on the weekends. Once in a while, you receive a call from a friend that makes you realise how long it's been since you last met them. You decide to meet up 'sometime in the next couple of weekends', which never happens. You slowly start drifting away from friends and lose touch with what's happening in each others' lives. Over a period of time, you are out of touch for so long that you don't really have much to talk even when you do meet.
It is extremely sad, but I'm sure we all go through this phase. Now I realise why alumni were not too enthused by an annual gathering. We all move on in life. 'The most important' thing in life keeps changing. So, while we continue to have the same regard for our friends, life simply keeps taking us along its merry path, twisting and turning all the time, distancing us from parents, relatives, friends, and I suspect, even from ourselves.
Much as I want to, I don't have a solution for this. This blog is just an outlet for my thoughts. To all my friends, whether they read this or not, I want to say that I treasure all your friendships and will always do so. Somewhere, they have played their own parts in moulding me and making me the person I am.
Oops, I just remembered that one of my childhood friends is in town until tomorrow and I must plan a meeting with him!!!!!!
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