Tomorrow I will be 63 but I have stopped celebrating my birthday completely this was the day my best childhood friend Ramesh Alva passed away ..he was a pillar of support in my young days ..when I was broke hungry I would walk from Strand Cinema I stayed at 3 Mohini Mansions till Madras Cafe next to Mercury Travels Rythm house and food was free thanks to Ramesh who loved me dearly ..we called him Anna and he was generous feeding the pavement dwellers feeding kids without charging a dime .
I have in my life never seen a person who could match the caliber humanity of Ramesh Alva my first South Indian friend he was crazy too sometimes he sensed our pain he would bring a Tiffin full of idlis dosas and hand it to my mom and my mom would tell me with tears in her eyes why did you tell him about our hard times and there were many unavoidable days ..my dad was going through a very bad period .I cried a lot at his funeral I cried like a wild man I had not just lost a friend a brother too and this is what my birthday means to me I used to once call his wife but I stopped I don't want to add to the pain she carries memories ..
And I remember Ramesh dropping his kids to school and Ramesh was like a child himself vulnerable soft within the giant of a body that stood out amongst all of us.
We had some great times and though I always thought Ramesh got of better and was very close to my other childhood friend Ramesh Mulchandani ..they were like peas in a pod ..and another friend close to both both Ramesh and me was Dennis Fernandes .
And as I write this on my mobile phone since the time Mr Danny Denzongpa got married his wife has never missed sending me a bouquet of flowers and sadly I could never do the same on Dannyjis birthday .
So these are some stray thoughts on 9 December and I shall now send a message to Mrs Poonam Sinha wishing her on behalf of Mr Shatrughan Sinha I have till date never forgotten to wish her and both Poonamji and I are connected through Shiva ...call it a cosmic connection .
And all these great people have helped me in life I could not be what I am today without them.
Happy Morning from Bandra .
