श्रद्धांजलि.....

. In this digital age Face Book has become a major source for staying in touch with friends right from School days to College times to your one time office associates to your current associates of senior citizen clubs. Over the years I have become so addicted to FB that the first thing in the morning post coffee I  sit with my I pad scrolling  my feed in the FB On the 26th of November early in the morning as I was scrolling through my feeds in FB, suddenly I noticed a photo with a caption  श्रद्धांजलि.....that left me simply numbed .It was like a punch to my heart which made it surge so hard that for a moment I thought it will stop. It was the photograph of my very close friend from college days Pramod Bajpai. Our friendship dates back to late 60's  those were  our college days . Pramod ,I still don't want to believe that you are gone.I know even if I close my eyes and pray you will not come back but memories of our 50 years of friendship will keep living.  I know you  were so found of walking, I still remember once we had a bet where you  decided that if you win the bet, we both will walk to Red Fort from South Extension, that was were I was staying then. The bet was ...Has Manna Dey ever sung for Johnny Walker in any film. My answer was firm NO  but you said Yes and you were right .."Kisne Chilman Se Mara Nazaraa Muji" this song was sung by Manna Dey  for Johnny Walker and the film was "Baat Ek Raat Ki" and those were the times when there was no google to google around  That day you really made me walk and that was some walk I will never forget..I was almost limping by the time we reached the Hanuman Mandir in Jamuna Bazar.and I was so pissed up that I took the Tivra Mudrika to Home and you walked home to Nai Sarak. Your knowledge of Astrlogy, Hinduism and Brahminism was amazing, I still remember how you and  my mother will discuss on the subjects hours together, whenever you came to my  place.  Post our college days we were the only two who continued to remain in touch. However with passage of time we migrated from real time to virtual time The last time that we met was at my place at Mayur Vihar and that was last week of September 2016  but the fact remains that we remained in touch all the time on FB till that day 25th of November,late night when you for no reason decided to leave us all  for ever.  I wish I would have been able to say goodbye to you, If anything that I have learned from your passing away is that time is truly precious and that we will never know when will be the last time we will see someone. I keep reading your book "Vakroti"  but I know next time when I pick it up to read I will not be able to hold my tears. Will miss you Brother...RIP