Vidat and Shashank.

Vidat had met Shashank's mother before he met Shashank,as she was the doctor having a clinic near Vidat's primary school at Porur,to whom Vidat was taken by his teachers when he suffered a gnash on his forehead when Vidat collided headlong against a girl in the narrow corridor of his school at Porur.The tear was expertly stitched .
Vidat and Shashank' s friendship or rather enimity [that was how it started] began when Vidat joined PSBB school at class 5 and boarded the same bus ,went to the same class and section for several years.
In those early days of their acquaintance Shashank ,who lived a Km or so away visited us enroute to visiting his relatives who lived in our colony.Vidat refused to talk to him calling him evil.Shashank pursued but Vidat rebuffed him and even joined his colony pals in throwing pebbles at him and chasing him away!
A love -hate relationship at the beginning that slowly blossomed into a firm friendship over the years
Shashank and Vidat were like chalk and cheese.Vidat loved the great out doors,was always on playgrounds or open spaces playing an assortment of games like cricket,Badminton or simply cycling or swimming.He was at home only to eat or snatch a nap or flop on on the bed at night to sleep. The time Vidat spent watching T.V. was minimal ,limited to viewing cricket,tennis and hockey matches or formula car racing or Gounda mani Senthil comedy ,when he could successfully snatch the remote away from his persistently T.V. watching younger brother whilst his friend loved watching T.V, like movies, serials etc and did so along with Vineet which prompted Vidat to comment''you need not come all the way from your house to mine only to watch t.v. you can do that at yours''.
Whilst Shashank visited I.I.T.culturals-sarang,rock shows and English Plays excitedly Vidat would be lustily cheering Indian batsmen at Chepauk or LeanderPaes in Nungambakkam stadiums or Dhanraj Pillai and hockey players at the astro turf play ground.
Vidat hated travelling and the maximum he deigned to was to school ,college or office as he had to and was happy hitting the ball in the open spaces around his house.Yes ofcourse he didnt mind travelling to beach or to any available open stretch of ground how so far it may be to play a cricket match whilst Shashank liked to traverse the length and breadth of Chennai,India and the world tirelessly.
Vidat was a early bird, early to bed and early to rise a' lark' whilst his pal was an' owl' staying awake most part of the night It seems that Vidat remarked once that his friend's ways were similar to his younger brother's and the two of them would hit it off together well !
Vidat had a lot of friends so what made Shashank so special? Most probable reason could be that Shashank spent nearly all his free time at our house playing, fighting, eating, watching T.V ,singing , and sleeping, Whenever Shashank turned up Vidat's father used to remark ''here comes your middle son''. They went to the same school ,attended the same college,lived nearby and when we shifted to the city his office was so near that he was for ever passing in and out of our flat.
Vidat had a younger brother to tease,play and talk to 24 hours a day .Yet Shashank was Vidat's close friend.I suppose it is only a friend who can fill in certain gaps which other relatio nships cannot.
The duo had a lot of adventures and misadventures together.Here is one for a sample.One day whilst Vidat was working at Wipro', both came home smirking at noon and Vidat hurriedly packed a bag and told me that he and his friend were off to Bangalore on the huge monstrous motor bike owned by his friend and would reach the place in2 hours time. And both were off in a jiffy!That night got a frantic call from Shashank's father to equally frantic father of Vidat enquiring about the whereabouts of the duo who promising to return after a long ride in a couple of hours hadnt returned even after several hours .When I let the cat out of the bag all hell broke loose .Both father's fretted and fumed and were besides themselves with worry for the safety of their son's on the accident prone highway whilst the duo were merrily speeding on the highway to attend a party hosted at IIM campus at Bangalore.[It is another story that they abandoned their motorbike at a friend's ,came home next day by bus with a sore back]
In the week preceeding his final departure Vidat never got to meet Shashank though both were in the same city but Vidat met his mother. A full circle.