Thanks Gaddu!!

"I love DD National!!", if my sms inbox reads a message like that, I know it can be no one other than Gaddu.
Rahul Gadahire, alias Gaddu was my batch mate in MBA at IITK. This guy is the most jovial yet wierdest person I have come across in my life. And what makes me conclude this about his character is his amazing habit of smsing the most out of the blue one-liners available on the face of the earth. Just the other day, he smsed me saying "main pak raha hun". Now the first reaction that anyone would have on recieveing such an sms from someone is to call up the person and cheer him up. Gaddu being a close friend of mine, I had enough reason to respond immediately. And guess what, when I called back all he could talk was in mono-syllables, and when I ran out of conversation, which was about 2 minutes after dialling in, the conversation boiled down to the mundanity of "aur bata". After a couple of aur batas, the choice was limited, so we hung up. This is typical of Gaddu, he usually is short of conversation, but mind you, he is an amazing listener. When he was in Mumbai (he shifted to Gurgaon a couple of months ago), any time i used to be frustrated and wanted to blurt out my frustration to someone, I knew he would just be a patient listener on the other side of the phone, or sometimes a mirror reflection away from me, on a breezy evening at Marine Drive. That guy has amazing capacity to listen, his silence shouldnot be mistaken for his dumbness, he does offer open-ended solutions/analyses of the problem at hand, once he listens to it all.
My camaraderie with Gaddu began during our placement season at IITK, when he was unplaced and needed someone to cheer him up. I am not too sure if I did ever cheer him up, but I did spend quite a lot of time with him then. Thereafter he got a job in Delhi & me in Mumbai. He, so very disliked Delhi that he just left the job in a couple of months & came to Mumbai to find a job(Mumbai is also his hometown). During the year (or little more) that he was here, we had great fun (all the wierd types). From walks on marine drive, to dinner at bade miyan- colaba, to running to catch local trains on a rainy monsoon evening at lower parel station (not to forget he was the one who first introduced me to the concept of using local trains in Mumbai, i must thank him for all the adeptness that i have developed in the same now).
But i guess, Delhi always had a soft-corner for him. So he is back there once again. But his wierd sms's just keep reminding me that he is there. The surprising part is the range of these sms's. From: "what is bounded rationality?" To: "tell me the name of some german movies to watch" and sometimes a PJ : "Dont read this sms, its very dirty...a white dog fell into a mud puddle...chhheee so dirty!!" I mean his sms's have this capacity to make u think for a moment, even though you may eventually ignore them in the long run.
Another aspect of this guy's personality is that he manages express his concern in a very wierd form. I still remember when Sandy had got engaged, he called me up very concerned saying, "tujhe pata hai sandy kisse shaadi kar rahi hai? u know whom sandy is marrying?". I replied unperturbed, "ya, she told me, he works in wipro..." and i went on with all that sandy had told me about her would-be's profile. He just cut me short and said "do u know what his name is?". Then i was perturbed, I thought, probably she is marrying some big-shot, who has a big claim-to-fame, but i perhaps missed out on that detail. So i inquired. He replied "His name is Pulasta!"...my reaction was "who is he?". To which he said "Sandy's would-be husband". I was irritated. But before I could express it, he replied, "I asked Sandy what this name means, and she said it was Ravana's grandfather's name" He went on"pata nahi yaar wo kisse shaadi kar rahi hai...mujhe to chinta ho rahi hai...I am worried!!" My first reaction was a chuckle, not at the description of Pulasta's name, but the anxiety it had induced in Gaddu. Of course my next reaction had to be some words of solace for Gaddu, " Dont worry yaar, she will be just fine!!"...He said dejectedly " I hope so...". She sure is fine even after 4 months of marraige, as per the update from her side, yesterday. So I know I didnt console Gaddu in vain.
Of course Gaddu never went to Sandy's wedding to validate if she really was going to be fine. He claims that by policy he doesnt go to any of his girl friend's wedding(meaning his female friends' weddings). He tells me that he maynot even turn up for my wedding, unless its exceptionally convenient for him. I have told him that I have already granted him forgiveness for not making it to my wedding, so there is not compulsion to be there. I appreciate people's policy & philosophy, as long as they are candid about it. And thats why Gaddu & my friendship has worked a long time. We are just too candid...we never shun from saying "yaar tu mujhe paka raha hai/rahi hai."
As I write all this, i am reminded of another incident in the recent times in which a very excited Gaddu called me up. His words were " Hello shubham, do u know what is serendipity?" I was quite taken aback, i mean anyone who knows me well enough would know that I bear a reasonably good vocabulary of the English lanaguage, then why test me!! then I thought maybe since he doesnt have a dictionary with him, thats why he is asking me this...anyway just as I began to explain he blurted " guess what, I was just strolling down my street in Dwarka singing some songs, and I passed by this couple. Just when we crossed each other, the couple turned around and yelled 'Gaddu'"...ofcourse i had to ask " who were they?"...he said very casually " they were Neha & Amit"( Neha & Amit were also our batchmates at IITK).....ohhhh...i thought to myself...now i knew what serendipity means...cool...see Gaddu is such an amazing tutor too!!
Gaddu was close to quite a few people in IITK, another of whom was Gaddi - that was the epithet given to her because of Gaddu & her closeness on campus, which used to raise the brows of our batchmates. I must say Gaddu took Gaddi's epithet in the most sporting spirit, though Gaddi did complain once in a while. Everyone on campus knew, that there was nothing romantic between Gaddu & Gaddi, but just that the jingle of Gaddu & Gaddi ( together) sounded so melodious, that they were targets of some bantering. That was the cute part of Gaddu's personality.
All said & done, this guy is adorable for his sheer love for DD National, his love for movies of all genres & languages, his tendency to get pako-ed, his capacity to crack poor jokes, his concern, his tutoring, his contraversial association with Gaddi and most importantly his capacity to listen. Thanks Gaddu, for always being ready to lend me your ears!!