India, Nov. 16 -- Reunions are not just about those organised, structured, reasonably well planned, assemblages of erstwhile classmates who've now greyed. Many reappearances in our dotted lifescapes actually occur unannounced, unheralded and utterly out of the blue. Very recently, I received a welcome text from a chum of yore. He had contacted me after years, nay decades, and I was thrilled to receive him at my home a few days later. Time-induced chasms vanished within minutes as we slipped very comfortably into a vibe that had been ours in years gone by. We laughed quite uncontrollably, with stomachs almost aching, and eyes quite teary, simply because of our mirthful delight at recounting instances from our early days. Somehow these stories from the past are never as pleasurable to recall, as they are when a pal from those halcyon days is with us. My wife, Neena, was only too happy to chuckle along at the silly jokes which our boyhood memories evoked irrepressibly. Some of those boyhood jokes which we would never have shared with her, were now an acceptable facet of the conversational menu even for her (though not allof them)! Engineers (and perhaps doctors) are among the ones who seem to have had the most rollicking of times in their hostel days. Many a tale is also exaggerated by the haziness which father Time has manufactured. A roti eating competition, for instance, had probably resulted in a national record of thirty six rotis being devoured by the winner. But my aforesaid chum insisted that the number was more than double of that! In any case, statistics don't matter when age old alliances are renewed. Those hoary tales which are shared and reshared are often the stuff of legends and produce many a goose pimple. Professors from the past don superman-like robes in the collective imagination of the 'reunionists' and simple teenaged crushes develop a Bollywood like aura over the years! Sportspersons too have elephantine memories that tend to don larger than life avatars over the years. Thus a quickish swing bowler will be transformed by romantic memory into a fearsome fast bowler when being discussed by batters who've now retired. A sprinter who probably broke the college record will be presented as a national champion by juniors, once they meet as ultra seniors, much much later. A goal scored from a reasonable distance will be presented as having been scored from the halfway line! Romances that perk up the lives of twosomes as well as their 'accomplices' who are only to eager to enhance the prospects of college romeos, will also take on a sparkling glow in future decades. Even if the two in question were caught 'red handed' just once by the senior warden, they will have magically set the town on fire many a time, in stories told over the years! Awkwardness also arises at times when old pals meet up. One individual may have shone like a beacon in his or her career while the other may have made modest progress in life, despite having been the class topper. It is for the more successful one, in such cases, to go out of the way to make his friend feel as loved as he used to feel. Time is a great modifier after all. None of us are the same any more. We metamorphose, every few years, into unique versions of our innate selves. Priorities change, preferences alter, friends often grow apart and some bonds become weaker or stronger, as the case may be. Yet, in our very happening lives, and the frenetic pace at which we lead them these days, a coffee or chai with a long lost friend is surely an embalming encounter. The instant reconnection that is effortlessly established, enables us to be totally ourselves and to share secrets which no one but a childhood friend can empathise with. True friendships verily outlast all other associations of life. The innately selfless raison-d'etre of a friendship forged in our early years, ensures continuum and strength beyond many milestones or millstones that our journeys may accrue. One simple exchange of gleeful smiles and one warm hug, is all it takes for long lost but eternal friends to belong to each other, forever more....