Cats, Mirrors and Raju

“This has never happened before,” Raju exclaimed as he surveyed the rear view mirror of his car in my hands.

All I had done was run my hand through the rear view mirror and presto it was in my hand. This put us in a piquant position. Rajus’s parents had gone to meet a doctor leaving both of us in the car. The immediate task was to restore the rear view mirror to its original position. Although Raju was no engineer, he managed to fix the mirror back before his parents came.

This is an enduring memory in a friendship that is over a quarter century old. Raju and I came into contact in 1981 when both of us joined the same college in Mumbai. In the first year we were mere acquaintances and realized that we had some common interests like a love of the English language. Acquaintance deepened into friendship in the second year It has continued to this day. Over the years, Raju went on to do his MBA and I went on to become a communications professional .

If in the previous instance I was the culprit, there have been times where Raju’s honorable ideas have clearly not lived up to their potential. Like the cat business for instance. A cat had strayed into one of the rooms of his ground floor flat and quite naturally, he wanted to evict it from his premises. How I got roped into the endeavour, I shall never comprehend. After a couple of abortive attempts I had to inform Raju that I could not assist him further in his endeavour. More so after one of the cat’s mews suspiciously sounded like the roar of another specimen of the cat family.

There were of course other lesser efforts which he roped me in. One of them was to place the order for the gas cylinder. Those were the days when piped gas was unavailable and cylinders were in short supply. One in fact had to remember a rather long number. I always managed to remember his gas number but not mine. So often did I find myself accompanying him for booking his cylinder.

On balance I must say that he has been a real friend who has been there for me every time I needed him. Raju is one of the very few persons who has managed to influence my life. I mean, convincing me to do things other than just chasing cats.