Bankstar Day 29-Nov-2014

29-Nov-2014

What a fabulous day it was. It was decided well in advance that whenever Mangs will come to India all the bankstar ke sitare should meet once at least. So after American Mangia declared that he will be in India in the month of November the plan started. English Bagra also made his plans to come to Mumbai during the same time. Though Bagra did his ticket booking well in advance, true to his nature he was trying to surprise all of us. Ritu, Mangs everybody made him very senti and he was finally frustrated to the extent that he had to admit that he will be there in Mumbai.

The day started at around 6 o clock when Bagra came to my place. I was very happy to see him standing in front of me. We hugged each other and it never felt like it has been so many years have gone by. It was absolutely fantastic moment. It did not took us a second to call Mangia. “Salaa main itna raat bhar travel karke aaya aur Mangia abhibhi so raha hai, uthaa saale ko………” were his words. So next minute Mangia also was waiting for two of us. In fact Mangs arrived a week ago, in spite of him meeting me after close to two and half years, it never felt like that. It is really beyond me that how come this feeling stays with me. Even after meeting some of the bankstarites after so many years, it never felt like we were not in touch with each other for so many years. Whatever is that feeling, it is absolutely beyond words to describe that. It can only be felt.

So Mangs, Baggy and me kept talking for at least couple of hours before we went for tea and breakfast. In the meanwhile Jijesh, Ritu were waiting to hear that Bagra has arrived without any problems. Given Bagra’s knowledge of Mumbai roads, suburban railways and confusion in identify east and west side from railway platforms, their concern was fair. After nice tea and breakfast we got ready for the day. We asked Jijesh to come to my place and then proceed from thereon. Only plan we had was to meet at Bankstar’s office in Bandra. We had no clue what all things we will do for the entire day. Seriously, with no plans in place it turned out even better. Jijesh finally decided that we all should go in his car for the entire day. So we were now four of us. Bagra, Mangs, Me and Jijesh. Finally chaar chaand were together.

We decided to pull Ritu’s legs. So I called her up and informed that Fazal had conveyed our plans to Geeta and even she was joining us at Bandra. This threw Ritu absolutely wild. She was absolutely mad at me when I broke this false news to her. Later on she sent lots of senti messages on whatsapp saying, she is being hurt a lot, she is disappointed and she is not going to come. She also said “You Guys Enjoy!!!”. The words she had to take lot of flak throughout the day and in near foreseeable future. After her message, I called her again and told her that we are pulling her legs and she should not worry about it. But she was hopping mad but somehow we convinced her to come to Bandra. We finally met her at Badra reclamation and she was absolutely happy to see all of us waiting for her. After only few seconds she was in her splits when we told her our entire plan about Geeta. The height was Jijesh showing her the Bhagwad Geeta and telling her that this was the Geeta, we were talking about.

We laughed on it for few minutes and were absolutely at ease with each other instantaneously. Bagra was meeting Ritu after a gap of 10 to 12 years but not even for a moment it felt like that. Again that same feeling was there in the group. The day was just warming up for all of us. We proceeded to our Bankstar office. We took a few pics standing at the closed shutters of the office. Sea of feelings and happy moments were running past in our mind. Everyone was recalling the Bankstar moments and it was all crowded in the head. We stood at Tony’s store and had few pics clicked there and kept laughing at the memories. We proceeded to Balaji to have some snacks as Ritu was hungry. She was the only girl amongst us and we also treated as the centre of attraction for the day. We obeyed her every single demand. But we also pulled her legs on her favorite quotes “You Guys Enjoy”. Now it was Fazal Khan to whom we were supposed to meet. So we split into two sets and decided to meet at Bandstand. Jijesh, Mangs and Ritu went in one car & Fazal, Baggy and Me went in Fazal’s car. True to his nature Fazal has not spoken to me in 2 years, but when he came to know about the plan to meet, he was ready. All we did was exchanged few messages on Whatsapp and Bankstar ki shaan, Fazal Khan was there to meet all of us. It was scarcely believable that we were meeting him after such a long time. Again that feeling.

So at Bandstand we stood for around an hour, chit chatting, leg pulling and laughing all together. It was certainly a moment of mental picture. There it was Mangs, Bagra, Jijesh, Me, Ritu and Fazal standing all together and each one of us was so very happy in the company of each other. Not even for a moment we felt like we have not met each other for years and years.

Having no plans for the day turned out to be a better plan. We decided to head to a coffee shop since not many of us were hungry enough for lunch. So we went to Café Coffee Day in Linking Road, Bandra. There we spent at least 3 hours. The agenda was simple. Laugh and Laugh more and when you got tired, laugh some more. This went on for a while and we were having absolutely gala time. We had never laughed so much in one single day in such a short time. After our jaws and stomach was aching, we decided to move out from CCD before we were asked to vacate it. It was like we were watching hilarious bollywood movie together. So after that Ritu said her next demand, she wanted to see the sunset at Marine Drive. So after lot of hesitation we all decided to brave the South Mumbai traffic and decided to watch sunset at Marine drive. Ritu was really our commander. Just in the nick of time we managed to reach marine drive. We parked our cars in what we felt as a safe zone and decided to watch the sunset.

Our amateur photographer, Bagra took lots of pictures and we were laughing like crazy throughout the day. To top it all, Jassi gave us a call to talk to each one of us. It was very nice of him to chat with all of us on the special day. So after spending around an hour at Marine drive, we decided to head for dinner. We searched for Khyber restaurant in Kala Ghoda but learnt that it is closed. So we decide to go to Indian Summer. The dining restaurant at Churchgate. So we were ready for a relaxed and good early dinner. Even during dining we laughed a lot, chatted a lot, celebrated a lot. Almost turn by turn focus was shifting on each one of use. “You Guys Enjoy” for Ritu, “Toota hua chappal” for Jijesh, “Lets start from Beginning” for Yogesh, “Main to kuch nahi karta….” for Mangesh, “Main Sharif hoo rey bawaa” for Deepak and “Tujhe sirf navy wale hi kyon achche lagte hai” for Fazal Khan were the central theme for everyone. It was laugh riot all throughout the day. It was like those Bankstar days again. In fact even when we were in Bankstar, we did not had a full day like this. We recalled every single moment which we can recall. Remembering every member of Bankstar. Everyone of us were thankful to each other that everyone else could make it for the day, but nobody was willing to concede that because he/she would have been called “senti”. But we were just so happy with each other. So after dinner we decide to drop Ritu at her home and then move to Bhandup for another only boys session. The journey on our way back home was full of laughter with all the navigation tips I extended to Jijesh. After dropping Ritu, we decided to home in Bhandup.

We picked up some booze on the way and then gathered at Mangs’ house. Even after spending close to 16 hours laughing we were not tired one bit and were ready to laugh again. The drinks session lasted till 5:30 in the morning and we were talking about everything and anything. We also talked general life, family life, professional life and off course our old memories of Bankstar. It was complete 24 hours of laughter and joy for all of us. We decided to have some rest and tired body helped us a lot.

The next day morning Ritu was to come for a lunch and we were again up for it. This time it was a family affair. So we decided to get fresh and head for the lunch. It was Ritu along with her son Tani, Mangesh and his better half Prachi, Me with Kavita, Rutuja, Neil, Jijesh with his wife Reesha and daughter Avani, Bagra, we all headed for lunch together. After a brief stop at Jijesh’s place in thane we went to a nice restaurant, where we had great fun. Kids were playing merrily, ladies were enjoying the food, we all were clicking pictures.

After spending so much time with each other, we decided to bid goodbye for Bagra who was heading back home that evening. We dropped Ritu later on before returning home.

It was a fabulous couple of days. For me it just proved that if you have clearest of mind, cleanest of intention and desire to meet your friends, the gaps of number of years, the physical distance, the time difference and any other thing will not matter.

I am calling 29-Nov-2014 as Bankstar Day.