VINTAGE AASHIQ..........

A brand new road,

for that damn 'Bro Code'..

It is the big changes in life that one never actually sees coming. This is the story of one such change. I took an off last Saturday, the 25th of September, and went to ADMIS to meet two of my very close friends. Gurshran and Vasu. It sure felt nice to be around Vasu, the president and founder of the FOSLA group. A bastion of single, desperate and chauvinistic guys. By the way, I happen to be a proud member of the same. Gurshran has been a dear friend, so it was a pleasure meeting her as well. I spent the first half of the day with them, going over the past, the present and the future. And of course, my incredibly boring jokes were there to keep company as always. It felt great to be back in ADMIS, even if it was for just a couple of hours. But it sure felt like coming back home after a long time. And by the way, if any of my fellow ADMISEANS are reading this post right now, this is for them. For 2 years, we made fun of the fact that the front wall of our college building says "ADMIS ROX". Even though we made fun of it, even though the person who wrote it could not spell the word "rocks"correctly, the truth remains that thanks to all of you, ADMIS actually did "Rock". So for that, I say thank you.

After having a great lunch with my friends, I headed to Vile Parle (East) to 'Answer the call, of the al-co-hol'. I met Sid and started our daily Saturday routine of getting wasted. We were later joined by Gadre, who in a very weird way, is co-responsible for this particular blog post. It must have been around 7:00 when the discussion was spear-headed by the devil himself. My brother. It started with how silly smoking actually is. Then it went on to establish how dangerous it is. Then it somehow went on to speculate that it might also be the cause of my untimely death. It was no wonder that my brother's mind had excogitated this devious plot. It didn't strike me then because of the rum though. Anyway, then the conversation proceeded with me agreeing to quit smoking over a span of 6 months. Seemed like a fair deal to me. Little did I know that Sid was thinking, "Not so fast, junior". This tirade was interrupted when a dear friend of mine from ADMIS, Suri, called me up. Incidentally, she was also in Vile Parle at that moment. I told her to meet me outside the infamous bar at which we were busy getting sloshed. She got there in no time. I chatted with her for around 10 minutes while Sid and Gadre sat in the bar discussing football. At least that's what they say. I bid adieu to Suri and returned to my table. After a couple of minutes, the anti-smoking duo was back in business, serious than ever.

This time around, the stakes were even higher. Sid proposed that I should quit that very evening. And so would he. Now they say better is the devil you know than the one you don't. Well, Devil No. 2, Gadre, suggested that we add this as a new article in "The Bro Code". It stated that "One bro shall never ever indulge in an act of smoking, unless passive, if another Bro binds the former by this rule". "The Bro Code" says nothing about murder. So I guess I can kill Gadre for doing this to me later. So, apparently, we both were supposed to smoke our respective "last cigarettes ever". That was something that I was not supposed to fall for hook, line and sinker. But, sadly enough, I did. The clock struck 9:30 when we took our last drags. I even had to give back the shopkeeper the lighter which I had bought from him a couple of hours back. Ten bucks gone waste.

It's been a week now. The urge to smoke has lessened, but it is there nonetheless. But there was something in there for me in abiding to the code as well. Sid has promised that he will start taking the code very seriously. And also that he will never lie to me ever again, as that was the article I added to the code myself. I know what you guys will say. Sid is such a good guy. I know that. But I didn't know that he was so good at being so good. Damn it. And Gadre. The only man whose memory works better when he is drunk which made him remember "The Bro Code" idea. Damn it, again. But he's a good friend, too. Although he is not able to see ice when he's drunk. May be I won't kill him. At least not before I get a treat from him for his new job which is still pending.

So...in a very weird way, I guess I should thank these two drunken morons for making me sober in life. The smoke may be gone, but the rum...will always be there. This song never seems to grow old. We're devils and black sheep and really bad eggs...drink up me 'earties yo-ho...!