Blessed are those with good friends

Friends are gifts from God. No doubt. Through the years I have been blessed with quite a number of friends who have a special place in my heart. I will later dedicate blog entries for them in chronological order, but right now I have to write about one of them...in my list of what i'd call "best friends", she's one of the latest additions....she's been in my life for 4 years now....well, almost.

You meet new friends in all walks of life. School, college, hostel, work....this particular friend and I crossed paths on the internet. Before you shake your head in disbelief about what a dumb thing it is to befriend people one doesn't know, let me let you in on the details.

Let me take you back to the year 2006. Armed with the new knowledge that I am expecting a baby, I decided that I will learn every darn thing about pregnancy and will not be clueless about anything. My search led me to many sites but the one I liked best was www.babyfit.com. It is generally an American site, but there are many women from all over the world (like me) who have joined and are exchanging their knowledge, experiences, problems, joys about the one thing we have in common....Motherhood.

Till Tim's birth, i preferred hanging around in my "due month" group - A group consisting of women expecting in Sept 2006, who are generally going through the same phase as I am. After Tim's birth, I started exploring the site a bit and chanced upon the "Indian Mommy" group. I had a warm welcome and was soon a very active member of the team. This is where I met this young lady, who became an indispensible part of my life.

The Alchemist (as she likes to call herself) and I realised that our birthdays were just 2 days apart and that we shared a love for Calvin & Hobbes and Garfield. Frankly, I didn't need much more to befriend her. We started mailing each other outside the website as well and were even soon known as the twin towers of the Indian Mommy team.

We "took our relation to the next level" on her birthday, when I called her for the first time and things just went on from there. There wasn't a thing in my life that she wasn't aware of and vice versa...We sent gifts and even cakes on our children's birthday and she was overjoyed for me when I told her that I was expecting again.

Now, there are often times in life when other things take priority. Children, work and all finally caught up with us, but a true friendship survives anything. I think there was a time when we were even too busy to mail each other apart from a monthly mail of "how are you and what's new". But nonetheless....we remembered each other every now and then and finally even found time to update each other regularly.

Now, Alchemist is living just around 5 hours away from my home, but....as you know...it's difficult to just pack up your kids and lock the house and go visiting....but we finally did just that. Last week, my 3 men and me went to Chennai and finally met my friend in person. We went to her home and ..... it felt like I was meeting her after a vacation and I just had to catch up with her. There was no awkward silence or silly smiles and chits with topics to discuss....we just got along great the same way we did over the internet.

I was glad that our sons all just started playing together and soon enough realised that their common language was English. They played and fought and shed some tears and watched TV, ate together and had a jolly time all together. Even Lindo felt like he knew them all when we finally got to meet her husband too. I am so glad that we finally made this meeting happen and I am so looking forward to having them over at our place some time soon.

A few promotions...

I love having hobbies. I've always had one or the other, be in reading or jigsaw puzzles...I generally keep myself busy.
Of late, I have taken to paper craft.
I am not particularly good at it, considering that I can't draw and depend on anything I can copy or print. My dream is that one day I can decide that I have worked enough and that it is time to relax and do the things I like. I could maybe start a small business of handmade cards or other paper items.....it's a dream....but I hope it becomes true some day.

I have a special respect for people who make time in their day to day life to work on their hobbies. People who are so dedicated to doing something outside their routine work because they have a passion for it. And I sincerely hope and pray that they will make it big in those areas and show other people that it pays to follow your dreams.

Today I want to mention a few of these people I know, who have followed their passions. They deserve a special pat on their back for taking their dream a step ahead.....or even several steps, for that matter.

Vishak Panicker is an old classmate of mine who has recently released his first music album "Loveletter"...check www.loveletteralbum.com for more info. I remember Vishak singing during our college functions....a music enthusiast. Here's the link to one of his songs....

Another person I'd like to mention is Vipin V. He's my colleague and I was recently surprised when I got to know that he and a few other colleagues made a movie.....They actually made time in their busy schedules and did this! I hope that they have more ideas like this and come out successful in life....doing the things they love.
A few parts of the movie can be seen on Youtube. Click here

Chetan J deserves a mention. This friend of mine, who is also a colleague, is a budding photographer. He spends most of his free time out in the sun (as is the case in Bangalore these days) taking photos and coming up with wonderful results. He keeps on studying new techniques and hones his skills. His photographs have gotten selected for exhibitions as well.

Some may wonder what my motive is behind writing about them...(not that many are reading this blog). My only motive is to spread the word a bit on these people and do what is in my power to help them....At the moment, there is not much I can do....but I hope that I am of some help to them and that this will motivate them to carry on....