Behti Hawa Sa Tha Woh

"So what we have basically in mind here is that we generate power from all the mobile signal waves around us and create a self-sustained model of power generation that will basically require no maintenance what so ever" and so he drawled off after half an hour of monologue. The last bit registered, I was the electrical and electronics engineer, he was only a computer science engineer, I had to say something. Something didn't add up. Agreed that I wasn't a very good engineer but then he wasn't either. I absolutely had to say something. So all the while frantically waiting for some brain wave to deliver to me some long forgotten concept, I uttered the word that comes naturally to me in scenarios like these, impossible and for good measure added, It can't be done only to regret it the very next moment for I was subjected to an hour long lecture about how it was theoretically possible. My mind drifted off to the first time I met him.

I don't believe I was ever an extrovert. When it comes to meeting new people i generally pretend to be reserved and pensive. People generally take the hint, assume I am arrogant and leave me alone the first time they meet me. But this guy was different. Stupid to a fault, enthused like a child, the first words he uttered made me wonder if he thought I was his brother from another mother. Even as he failed to take the hint and kept coming at me like a barrage, my first impression about him was one that remained constant over the years. Here was a guy who was genuine and one of a kind. Over the next couple of weeks, since we had a lot of common friends we kept running into each other and things took off. We realized that we had a lot of striking similarities and endless intellectual discussions ensued. Both of us loved to talk and knew when to stop and hear. Both of us were adamant when it came to defending our beliefs. And among many things both of us had a rebelling streak. We were anarchists, treated every institution with contempt because we questioned the very reason of their existence. Why should engineering be any different? Neither of us attended classes, neither of us studied for the exams, both of us registered for the make ups, neither of us were ever homesick, both of us spent our vacation pretending to "prepare" for the make ups and doing everything but that and both of us either didn't go to write the make ups or walked out of it in 5 mins. We used to compete with each other over the number of backs we had. And term after term the same story would repeat.

We had our differences. He was committed to a cause, I was a drifter. He wanted to change the world, I wanted to bypass it. He knew what he was doing, I simply faked it. He could become annoying like hell when he would come up with impractical, impossible ideas and then defend it with everything he got. He was always an optimist, I was the cynic. He saw bright colours where all I saw were shades of Grey. In things that mattered, he would take a long time and evaluate every aspect very minutely. I always trusted in my impulse. He would believe in backtracking his steps if he wasn't sure of his approach, I was cocky enough to try and make new paths to connect with the wrong one so that I wouldn't have to beat a retreat. He was a perfectionist and was always seeking the elusive perfection. I was the realist who believed that that we ought to manage with what we have got.

The traits we had compounded each other’s strengths and mitigated our weaknesses. And hence when he asked me if I was game to start a start-up and outlined his vision I didn't really have to think about it. After we landed our first client, excitement was in the air and we were experiencing the heady feeling and I was pushing for the best apartment in Manipal that had a sea facing swimming pool of the terrace, it was him who refused to get drawn in in the madness and pulled me pack to the reality. He always said that all he wanted to do in the firm was pure coding and no managerial job should come to him and yet everything came to him and if they didn't he went into everything. And then the madness began. Quality vs Quantity debates ensued. Night after Night we found ourselves arguing about almost everything. He kept searching for the best possible quality while deadlines after deadlines were ignored. Clients who wanted a website were told their logos weren't good enough or that they should re think their marketing strategy because we didn't see a website as a separate entity but as an extension of the brand. It was him, who constantly pushed us to learn new things, sometimes he did succeed, often he failed but he never lost hope. We knew where we wanted to go but couldn't seem to find the path and ended up confusing ourselves and had to finally call it off hoping that we would all come back on a later date and start afresh.

For someone who had so much pressure on his shoulders, I hadn't come across one individual who had so much faith. The consensus about him was always the same; the guy's a genius if only he knew where he wanted to go. The problem with him was there were always parallel thoughts he wanted to pursue and then get confused and don't try any. There were nights when i found him in his room, lights off, quietly strumming the guitar, some soulful beautiful but sad tune but to the world he never let on an iota of worry. To the world He was always the foolish, bumbling energetic, enthusiastic fool that I had first met.