When we finished graduation,we walked away .. We walked away with a single thought in our mind,one hope etched deep down within,"Unlike those who strolled out before us,We will always stay together".And so,even a year and half later,we met up on odd weekends and went on with what we did the best(pulling each others legs).

When we finished graduation,we were still boys .. Not wanting to grow up,yet,wanting to change the world .At a time when having a job was a far-fetched dream, almost all of us had one.Days of hard-work had finally paid off.. I say days, because when calculated to the utmost precision,that is how long we must have studied. The rest of the time,well..we just squandered it.

The biggest hindrance to staying together is,being busy. Something that we were'nt alien to.Everyone got occupied with their personal and professional lives. But,somehow it was still,fun enough to be in each others company.The more I say it, the more I associate, the more it hurts.The crude realization that the honeymoon trip would end anytime was never pondered over..

That day when we met,we were no longer boys .. although we cried but,if you may,please teach me to cry like a grown up .. because,you bury the cause of pain and .. pain is plain old-fashioned Pain.

They kept telling each other,'If it had been anyone but him, it wouldnt have hurt this much'.I beleive its just a way of consoling yourself..kind of a defence mechanism your heart puts into work to justify the sudden grief.All I know is that,anyone else would have mattered to us in the very same magnitude.

The one thing I hate about 'good byes' is that you can overcome the absenteeism, but you cannot overcome those memories.Atleast that is the toughest thing for me.. We are born,We all die.. What makes it worse isnt the fact that he is no more among us, but the suffering that he might have undergone when the final call came.I have tried questioning myself and all I could conclude is that it wasnt planned ..not by fate..not even by the Gods. I guess they needed a good laugh up there and he was the best clown I had come ever across in my lifetime.

I know I could have written something better for him,something that could have made him smile.For,smile I do whenever I think of him..The other day one of my friends who was unconsolable said to me,'Har cheez mein uska yaad aata hain'.It is perhaps the only way I could have summed it up for those who do not know what exactly have we lost.Now as I sit here staring blankly at this blinking cursor, I have come to realize,at times it does not matter if what you have written is spectacularly exquisite..And.. this is what the past few days have done to me .. you tend to switch off .. Go Numb.

Most of us are still finding it difficult to accept the unfoldings of that day,three weeks back.I hope time makes its presence felt.. that it heals these wounds .. afterall Time is our only keeper .. Time helps .. Time strenghtens .. Time argues .. And at the end of such arguments,We tend to accept life as a series of facts .. Facts that are not supposed to be published nor commercialised but only imbibed from.Facts that bear no choices .. just an insipid continuation .. and then,a momentary Full Stop.

Pardon me if the above few lines seem illogical and unknown to a well laid plan .. Still,when you know you are going to miss someone,itself,is such a virtue that even tears refuse to flow .. that they freeze in there ever-so stubby path.And right now I dont find anything else worthy enough than this silence that surrounds me .. this silence that has been left around .. by him ... this huge Void created.

I dont know what it is that I feel so ashamed of .. Is it the sense of helplessness that wont let me release the pain? Or is it that,the once sensitive US turn as emotionless as a stone underneath a riverbed .. the one enveloped by water with no other choice but to roll-over,pushed whichever way?.. I guess I'll never know.

All I know is that,He was my partner when it came to singing stale rotten songs .. Songs that had it in them to screw even the most patient of minds. He was my partner when it came to irritating others .. When it was non-sensibly funny to make a fool outta your Own self .. And if there was one person in the world who could have sang one of those shamelessly loud songs at My funeral,I know for sure,it would have been him .. And take my word for it,I wouldnt have been lying down silently either .. For,that is what Mukul Puranik was/is/always will remain for me.

In closing,I'd mention just the two words through which we made him famous .. Something we shouted on the top of our voices and with great sense of pride in our friendship .. Something we cheered him with .. and even though the words wouldnt seem meaningful to you in the current context;that only describes how much of an angel he was. Those two words are 'Mooookooool Suckkkxxxx'.

Will miss you forever dedh-phutya ...

P.S. : The first thing am going to do after I die ,is, find you and beat you up for running off in such a hurry...