Flashbacks: A Year To Remember (Part VIII): How I Met Nirmalya

I don’t actually know what to write in How I Met Nirmalya, yet I have scattered bits of memories to write which made this idiot one of my bestest friends ever. I kept thinking for weeks that Nirmalya didn’t quite welcome me among them before Aditi showed me a video of that memorable Wednesday. Nirmalya was the one shooting the video and there he said “Now PAPANDA has become PAPANDAS – PAPAN DAS – it has become!” (PAPANDA was the group name earlier the “S” added was my initial)... He doesn’t do it with everyone, but he did this with me!

Nirmalya is a guy whom everyone loves to be friends with and he has plenty of friends around him always. He is the Mr. Perfect as seen by others, and people just tend to adore his company anytime, anywhere. He knows sooooo much about friendship but doesnt apply even 05% of them (intentionally or not, don’t know). He is a tall fair guy with the most innocent eyes any guy can ever have. He is sensitive inside, but this side rarely comes out. Still he manages to be the person everyone chooses to open up their heart to. He is very much driven by concience and acts very slow in important matters like “Understanding A Friend”! He would try to keep a problem pressed down deep within wearing strange expressions in front of his friends (thinking that we are too dumb to notice) and won’t say a word before the water gets over his head!

How I Met Nirmalya traces back to September 1^st 2009. Even though actually met him that famous Wednesday, but he didn’t speak a word to me that day. So, it was a Tuesday, and our college had some strike going on for some silly reasons and I texted them to ask where they were. Arka texted me back that they were outside the gates and Nirmalya was treating them for birthday. I, not wanting to miss the fun, shamelessly went with them. We had the most amazing bus ride to a mall named Mani Square. we just jumped off the bus, and everyone was still inside the zeal and the first time, Nirmalya and I found some time alone, walking towards the entry gates . Our talk began:

“Many Happy returns dude, aaj hi pata chala”, I said.

“Thanx Thanx, orkut mein update nahi aaya tha kya?” he replied.

“Aaya tha, par mai bhul gaya hehe”.

“Oh! ...Tu hindi badi achhi bol leta hai”.

“Haan yaar, maine apni aadhi zindagi Calcutta ke baahar bitaayi hai”.

“Achha, I see, chal isi bahaane meri hindi ki practice nahi chhutegi!”

And all blah blah talks. That day was fun, the first day I actually came to know Nirmalya. He treated all of us with McD Burgers and a lot of photographs. Later that day, all those guys teased me when I asked for Nirmalya’s number saying that something weird happened once when he gave his mobile number to somebody and that’s why he doesn’t distribute it to anyone and that even Aditi didn’t have it and I was almost convinced. It was not before an hour that those idiots told me that the forwarding message texted to me the previous night with a “Hi!” attached in the end was actually Nirmalya’s mobile number, which I kept dreaming and wishing (and quite happily convinced) to be a good looking girl’s mobile number (Kiddying!). Later that day, he also allowed me to use his mobile to call up my mom to inform that I was going to be late...

Adventures with this guy are just too many to fit inside just one blog. And any crazy thing you name, Nimmy and Sammy were always within a common bracket. When he does something wrong, he won’t come and apologise, instead he would be silent and maybe after a fortnight he would start his usual boring speech that he knew that what he did was wrong, and you should be angry, and that time, anyone would want to smack him in the nose, so hard that he would remember, but once you take a look at his eyes, so innocent and kind that you would feel guilty that you even thought to smacking him! Just like holding a teacup pig in your hand! I have a special connection with this guy that even I don’t know how, that by the time I tell him something I want to tell, he would have already guessed it upto 10 decimal places accurate!

I just wonder sometimes, this guy treated me for his birthday even when I didn’t initially know it was his birthday that day and I am maybe the most shameless guy in this whole universe. But somewhere I feel lucky that I was shameless that day, because months later, when we would be sitting at the stairs of a subway station, I would ask him, that how did he feel when I didn’t give him a birthday present, he would laugh out loud and say, “I already got the birthday present idiot – ‘YOU’!!”. One of the best lines anyone ever said to me...

Whatever he is, I know I can kick him around, and he will still value me like he always does. He is my Bestest Friend... Nirmalya the DHAKKAN!!

Still To Come: How I Met AkanKsha...

To Be Continued...