Journey towards knowledge

I remember a time when I had four good friends. We would walk to school together as we did not have bikes which we could ride to school with. Anyways I would get up in the morning and get ready for school and go outside. More times than not, my friend S. would be waiting for me or just coming down the road. His house was just two blocks up at the end of our road. We would walk together towards the other end where we would meet up with another friend, N., whose house was at that end. Cross the road and joined by M. the four of us would walk up Majeedhee Magu to Sosun Magu where we would be met with the last member of our little Qunitet, Sh. So the five of us would be taking our time – talking about nothing and everything – while on our way towards the school. This would sometimes take half an hour but should have taken only fifteen minutes.

Sometimes the five would not be all there. Sometimes S. would get a bike which meant that he would ride to school which he often did. Sh. didn’t really join up with our quintet until the last year of school or so. So mostly I remember going to school with N. and M.

Let me tell you about N. He was quick witted and quick tongued. His would move a mile a minute. He always had something to say about each and every topic. He and M. were very good friends. M. was a bit on the heavy side but not as fat as I was at that time. M.’s family were supporters and managers of a very famous football club. He also had a quick tongue. I remember once we made plans to make our own movie. I was going to write the screenplay. N. was going to star in it and M. was going to direct it. That didn’t happen as we gradually lost touch over the years.

After we finished Grade ten, N, S, Sh and me all went to SEC. M. didn’t. I think he didn’t have the grades but anyway I lost touch with him. We would see each other on the road sometimes and talk for a bit but we never met up and did anything together. N. became really popular in SEC. he had lots of friends and although we remained good friends, we saw less of each other.

S. and Sh. Remain to this day my very good friends. They are part of my inner circle and know all there is to know about me. Even though I am in Australia, S. is in India and Sh. back home we still keep in touch via the internet. N. is in Russia and the last time I saw M., he was working at the airport. I saw him the last time I went back home on holidays.

During my years of studying I would always remember those walks in the early morning that the five of us together took while going forth towards that fountain of knowledge that would eventually drive us some distances away from each other. So here is a shout out to all of you my four walk buddies wherever you are. Stay cool. Drop me a line when you can.