My Two Darlings!!!

Anu - Anuja - Mosiqi

Guess its time to introduce Anuja(s). My both best friends share the same name. Yeah, one of them is Anuja Shah (previously Taktawala) and another is Anuja Kastia (who soon will adopt Shah after 7 Dec)... But Anuja Shah (ex-Taktawala) is fondly called Jadu (she is thinner than me now... but not so in the olden times and therefore the name)... and Anuja Kastia is called Anu (short and sweet as per her frame)

I met both of them in 11th std at MK Higher Secondary School. It was the most historic time of my life. Completely shocked at the culture of the school - i had a real tough time getting use to the environment. Students would talk in Gujarati (we always spoke in English at AG)... teachers had aliases... all students would rush outside the class after each lecture and would come in only when they saw the next teacher approaching... and if all this wasnt enough, hardly 10 out of 50 students were interested in studying the subjects that ARTs stream offered. As i understood much later, most of them had been 'dumped' into arts because they hadnt scored enough to be in Science or Commerce. And there was I. I had chosen to be in Arts. I wasnt dumped into that stream. And i found very few students who fell into the same category. Anu was one among them. She loved Psychology and planned to major in it one day and therefore had chosen to take up Arts. And Anuja was least interested in studying. It was forced upon her. And she didnt mind coming to school as she got to hang out with friends and bully the rest. She didnt care if it was Arts or Science or Commerce. 'E to jene bhanvu hoy, ene chinta'....

Anu - Shital - Tulsi - Mosiqi - Anuja

Anu was very sweet to me. Asked me my name, helped me catch up with the chapters i had lost out on and generally chatted with me, giving me company in the breaks sometimes... And Anuja was verrrrryyy bad to me. She use to make fun of my name, use to tease me 'what sort of a name is this that sounds like mosquito'.... and did everything in her means to bully me. She would eat away my samosa... and one day when the red sauce fell on my uniform... she kept on teasing me that i had stained myself... GOD, it was so embarassing...

That was the start of our friendship... we went on to study with the same Tuition teacher when we got into XIIth... we (anu and myself) somehow got Anuja interested in studying and she scored so good that everybody was left dumbstruck...

We went to different colleges.... they went to LD Arts and i got enrolled in Xavier's... but the love that we have for each other continued... it was extremely easy to be around each other... it was so comfortable that you could talk about how stupid your boyfriend was being to exchanging clothes and beauty tips and romance tips... thats how girls are... and thats exactly what we three were about... but inspite of being so alike... we all three are complete different individuals...

Jaymin Anu - Mosiqi Amul - Anuja Aditya

ANU - She's the dabbu one... though extremely good at academics, she lacks the worldly wise... she's so sweet and naive about so many things in the world... and lives in her own cocoon. She is extremely friendly with everybody around her but when it comes to her relationship, she's this quiet one. Prefers to keep quiet (because her guy-jaymin talks a lotttt) and she's so petite in size that one can hardly do anything but cuddle her... thats Anu. She refuses to believe that she's the shortest. (even after 12 years, anu and anuja argue who's taller. My verdict - Anuja's taller) But that's Anu. Even with her small frame, she can argue forever...

Anu has this most irritating habit of making us pamper her when she wants to go to sleep. She will nicely take your hand rubbing softly on her arms... god... its so irritating.. but as anu explains it, 'please yaar... mane bahu sari ungh aavse'... and you end up obeying her...

Anu is also the world saver. Prompt in her actions to offer kindness to anyone who asks for it. And god forbid if there's a tsunami or an earthquake, no force on this earth can stop her from going to serve the needy people. She loves living in the muck, among needy helpless people and providing them care and support. She's aptly chosen the line of Social Service for herself... I will never understand why should one go to a place ravaged with such a calamity when people are dying and suffering... But that's Anu. 'You know me mos," is what Anu always says....

YES i know you babe... i will be extremely unhappy when u get married this Dec... not only you will be officially engaged in a different life of your's but will also find even lesser time and absolutely no reason to be in Ahmedabad... I hate marriages!!!

ANUJA - The married one!!! Yeah, she was the first among us to get married. She's this epitome of how a woman should be. Ekdum pati-vrata and family oriented, her entire life revolves around her 5 lakh relatives... god! If there was a family management and communication program, Anuja would be a topper of that course. She's extremely good with managing relatives... Hello, kem cho? Accha... Su Vaat che... Le, accha... God.. and it will go on and on. If i go crazy and anti-social if i am left lose between more than 10 of my relatives, Anuja can juggle 20 conversations together at a time. She's an extremely good event management, be it her own wedding, birthday parties or just parties... She would know whom to call, when to call, what to cook, how to cook, how to manage and viola... the party is a hit!!

Anuja though extremely good with people, can be a real bully with the others... She use to bully me a lot in school. Once i knew her, i turned the tables and made her study when she didnt want to and actually managed to take her to a trekking camp, which she hates from the core of her heart. I still remember Jambughoda camp. She use to literally frown at every other step. And if making her walk wasnt enough, on a self exploration trek, we took the wrong track and ended up walking seven extra kilometers that day. When we returned to the base camp, last among all the groups, we discovered that we had taken the wrong path and therefore ended up late. God!! Anuja was so furious... she not only swore never to go on a trekking camp again, she made it a point to frown in all the pictures we took at the camp. Not to forget that how she use to bully a newly married couple who had come on the trek... GOD!! Anuja will be at her furious best, if you take her trekking... where she cant bath twice in a day and can hardly manage hygiene.

But when she's not bullying her sister, or aditya (her husband) or Anu and me, she loves to cook. She's extremely good at time management and can actually manage a 3 course meal in an hour's time. 'Vaar ketli laage?'... is what she will remark when Anu and I are wide eyed at her achievement. That's Anuja. One from whom i learn all the worldly wise tips of how to behave domestic and sweet and good.

My two darlings... as i call them... are far away in Mumbai. One is already married and another one's wedding is 2 months away. I miss them tremendously. Every time's there's a sale or i feel like buying cosmetics or just going out for a coffee... i miss them the most. There were days and also nights when we chatted up without realising how many hours had pass. Nowadays, its all time bound, we meet for 30 mins at a nearby cafe and sometimes just manage to talk on phone. What with having to please an entire horde of relatives and parents and other responsibilities to finish, no one's got the time or rather that kind of time that we use to spend... some 5 years ago.

My wish - Just the three of us on a Bangkok Holiday!!! Now that would be great!!!