I landed in Kochi on August 15th without any plans other than welcoming Sunny on Chingam 1st. An instant plan was made to meet my Arya school mates. Kochi is the home of Renu. I gave her a call and decided to meet a day later at Haji Ali Restaurant. As directed by Renu, I got into an auto to Haji Ali Restaurant. The unfriendly Auto Driver dumped me at a cross road and asked me to find my own way. He was thinking that I have asked him to take me to Haji Ali Road in Mumbai. Another auto driver agreed to look on the left side of the road and I scanned the right side of the road as we moved forward to find Haji Ali Restaurant at Ravipuram. As I stepped out of the auto, I could see through the glass door, my school mate from Kaniyapuram sitting there and drinking a Mammutika Juice and waving at me. I pushed open the door and walked over to her, thoughts from school days raced through ' Have I ever smiled at Renu at school', ' Have I ever spoken to Renu at school for more than a minute'. Maybe in school the struggle for Renu was to catch a bus from Kaniyapuram to Pattom and then never take the eyes off the books and then rush to Pattom to catch a bus back home.
The Renu, I saw at Haji Ali Restaurant after 33 years is a cheerful person who can talk.. We spoke for a while, about the 33 years..., but I didn't hear a single word in Hindi. The sweet one to one ended with a selfi and limping Renu catching an auto back to her work... 
Trivandrum is where I could see many more of my Arya mates. A hastily arranged plan was made to meet Kannan at Alibaba and 41 Dishes at Vellayambalam. Aspiring cricketer from Arya who made it big in Cricket world, is always one I try to meet when I come to India. A banker now and running a cricket academy , Kannan was free for the day as the banks in Kerala decided to go on strike protesting against my visit to Kerala.
We spoke about cricket, his days as a Cricketer at Crewe, his experiences in England and a lovely story of an old person who was staying above his house in Crewe. The old person's love for Deepa cooked Rasam... As we were winding up for the day.. a call came from Sudhir with an Order ' Wait there, I will see you in a minute'
I thought Sudhir was in B'lore, but it was a surprise when he turned up at Vellayambalam. Sudhir is a kind of person who one day may be in Jaipur, and during dinner he may be in B'lore and having a midnight tea at Trivandrum. I always meet Sudhir when I come to Trivandrum, if he is around.
Kanan has promised to give Tirunelveli halwa to Sudhir. Sudhir never turns up for collecting the halwa and Kannan uses it for growing Mushroom. It is now officially called Tirunelveli Mushroom halwa. A few minute drive took us to Kannan home for Tirunelveli Mushroom halwa.. I also got some halwa. We talked about everyone and Sudhir kept ignoring Devi's phone calls. Devi uses an app 'Find Sudhir's phone' and when he disappears, she calls all his phones..
Vijaykumar's message popped up saying that he is in Trivandrum. He is supposed to be Trivandrum as per the information from Interpol. Vijay disappeared completely after leaving school and I have never seen him after that. The last I heard of him was he was on the banks of Naramada. It was a pleasant surprise to get a call from Vijay and chance to meet him. He and his son was waiting in front of Women's college. He is doing a good job in training his son on ' Vayinottam'. When you have an experienced hand at home, why get trained from someone outside.
As the banner says, two different flavors meet. Vijay son was deliberately kept out from the photo for privacy reasons( supreme court directive)....
Shivalal tricked me and didn't turn up for a 6.30 meet at Statue. He lost a chance to get his Civas Segal... Recreated the old memories with JK over the phone.. Spoke with Devi , Asaf Ali and Hari. Asaf says we will meet, but bread and butter priorities took precedence.
I wanted to meet Suresh Gopi- Sathish Krishna.. but was sacred that he will ask ' Orma Undoo Eee Mukam'
Thanks everyone for sparing few moments with me from the daily hustle and bustle...
Find me in that Crowd....
