Getting Back the group… and the Friendship

                                               Getting back the Gang  

Sameer 

One month. Yet the routine that he had been part of has been the same. Waking up in the middle of the night, and not able to sleep post that. At 3’o clock his eyes were wide open. They say its’ the “devils’ hour”, but then for Sameer he was no less than a devil now. Cursing himself for everything that had happened. Time went on, till it was 6!! Three hours of his life’s recent happenings, all flashing in front of his wide open eyes, like a 3-hour Bollywood movie. He was monotonously going through his early morning chores and just like every day, skipped the breakfast yet again and then rushed to his office even before it was time.

Deepti

She hadn’t slept the whole night. Browsing through various channels, without even bothering what was playing on the idiot box, ending up watching advertisements more than the shows which were being played over there. It was a regular scene in her room for the last one month or so, Although while watching these, sometime back she used to doze off. But not tonight. It just went on and on. It was 6. Now, she got into the act of getting ready for her office. It was a Monday.

Exactly a month back, they Sameer and Deepti, called it quits.

Sameer and Deepti both worked in the same office. They had studied in the same college, along with Rahul, Azkia and Robin. The gang of five. They were one of the “hot and happening” gangs in the college, bustling with something or the other.

But things began to change when the two love birds of the group, decided to call it over. It has been over a month that this decision of theirs, has affected not just them but others as well. The group had slowly started falling apart. The evening hangouts were regularly called off due to either Sameers’ “work” or due to Deepti’s “headache”. And with these two doing this constantly, this also had a big effect on the others as well. It was time to put things back on track. Azkia was determined to do something. She chanced upon We Chat’s Youtube channel and Downloaded We Chat. She got together with Rahul and Robin got together late at night on Sunday, on WeChat. Each pitching in with ideas on how to stop this non-sense going about.

The plan was made.

Rahul, in his very carefree tone, “yaar, kaise wapas milaya jaaye inlogon ko?”

Robin : “There’s no need to patch things up between them, what we only want is why they become friends again ??”

Azkia: Exactly!! These two idiots did a big mistake to come into a relationship in the first place, and now when they have realized it, we shouldn’t interfare in that. But what we can do is, let them openly talk about the whole thing and become friends again.

Rahul: So, you are saying, it is a good thing that they aren’t together ?

Robin: Happy realisation Rahul baba 😛

Azkia : Hahahaaha..

Rahul : So, you all knew that they were not in love ?

Robin: Yo!

Azkia: Of course, you idiot!! Except them everyone knew.

Robin: Hey Az!! Add Rahul baba to that list as well 😀

Rahul: You #$@$

Azkia : hahaha now chill both of you, concentrate on the task at hand. Tomorrow we have to bring them together with us, and let them talk about it.

Robin: and get those days’ back!!!

Rahul: Ohh hell yeah man!!

Azkia: Done!! Now GOODNIGHT.

Robin: GN

Rahul: Goodnight. 🙂

8’o clock

Sameer

Getting early to office was something new that Sameer had been trying out for a month, keeping him occupied. And not just being an early bird, but even leaving late. Engrossing himself in work was what he was doing, or at least trying to. It was kind of a shock to him, as to how things have changed. He missed talking to Deepti, and also the whole gang. Confused as to what had went wrong, the hasty decision to get into a relationship or to get out from it.

Deepti

Office was something that didn’t interested her anymore. The work that was fun before now had turned into a torture. Everything reminded her of the time before. But then she had to. Now, instead of going office in Sameer’s Car, it was the Office cab that arrived at her doorsteps. Getting into the cab where everyone chit-chatted their way to office, she just puts in her earphones, with the shuffle on. Not caring what the music was, but just to let others not to disturb her already disturbed mindset.  

Office

Reaching office, while discussing the plan for the day, Rahul, Robin and Azkia reached office only to find Deepti and Sameer already there. While Rahul and Robin went ahead to have a little talk with Sam, Azkia went over to Deepti. Now, even though both of these, Sameer and Deepti, were sad yet they didn’t wanted to let others in the group feel the same for them and reacted as if everything was fine with their lives. Now, the task of Rahul, Robin and Azkia was to let them come together not face-to-face because that would put a risk of a possible breakdown by any of these two and even break their resolve of not “putting things out in the open”. Doing which, chances were high that things could get even more complicated. So, all these three carefully by asking random stuff, pitched in with, WeChat. Now, WeChat is a mobile messaging and voice messaging service which is free of cost and is super-fast and is available on iPhones, Android, Symbians and BlackBerry. They even ended up downloading the same on their phones. And adding them to a new group, while standing there.

The plan was working

Now it was time for the real action.

10’o clock

Robin started the proceedings by posting a group pic of the five of them. And then Azkia and Rahul started with their crazy talk about “those” days. Now, with Sameer and Deepti added to the group and in their contacts, which they made sure before so as to leave them with no other option. One important feature of WeChat is that it tells you the time of the last visit of the user as well. And hence they all knew who is there and who isn’t.

With voice messages just a press away, yes, here you just have to press it long to record your message and the moment you leave it, it’s sent. Simple. And so, when the series of messages started pouring in, with occasional smile from among these three. Now, for the first few messages, all knew that both Deepti and Sameer were listening and watching the messages getting exchanged in the group chats, but suddenly for the last five minutes, Sameer wasn’t there. So, they upped the ante by repeatedly messaging random old pics and videos which had all these five in them. And with continuous notifications ringing in, he had to keep aside the work and see those.

The plan was working. Sam just checked them out.

At lunch break, everyone was asked to gather in the canteen. Rahul, Robin and Azkia gathered and after a while Deepti came in too. But there was no sign of Sameer. Azkia silently messaged Robin, asking what needs to be done.

Robin thought for a second and then,

Robin: Hey guys, we are eating together after a long time. Let’s have a click together. Deepti reacted as if she didn’t hear it. They all jumped close near Deepti and took a pic, and Robin immediately posted it to the Group chat. And they just hoped that Sameer would just check the pic, and the caption, “You are missing the awesome lunch. Poor sam!! ”.

One minute, and we could see that there was a smile on Deepti’s face. A smile everyone had been missing for a long time. Rahul cried, “Hey, Sam just sent over a a smiley” And Robin said, “and now a voice message too”, with a big grin. Putting that on loudspeaker mode, “Kameenon, jaldi kya hai.. Main bhi aarha hoon” To which everyone was laughing their ass off, and just came Sam from behind.

He wasn’t laughing, but he didn’t look sad as well. He sat at the only place that was available, next to Deepti. No one started any specific topic, just their random office stuff, little bitching about boss, their upcoming weekend plans, etc. Meanwhile, Azkia needed some water and Rahul went to get it for her, doing which he got the teasing, “awwww” from Robin and a laugh across all the faces. A minute into this, Azkia said, hey I’ll be back. To which all of them said in unison, “awwwwwwww” to which a blushing Azkia remarked, “Shut up!!” and left.

Deepti, having understood already as to what was going on, asked Robin, “What are you waiting for?? Isn’t the plan working now?? “. Robin smiled and left in a jiffy. So now, it was Deepti and Sameer at the table.

Sameer: What crazy bunch of friends we have!!!

Deepti: Yep, we do.

Sameer: You saw what we all did with Rahul and Azkia a while back. Doesn’t it remind you of a time gone by?? Of, how they used to tease us the same way??

Deepti: and how, we ended up taking things seriously post that??

Sameer: and how this ended up turning up our friendship into something which wasn’t there??

Deepti: Sigh!!! Couldn’t have agreed more. And now, we have screwed up everything. We didn’t just break away with our relationship but what we had before, our friendship, our whole gang. Everything.

Sameer: Have we?? We are still sitting here, talking and having fun with our gang. Have we lost it all??

Deepti was silent. She didn’t had an answer to this. But she understood, everything was not lost. Meanwhile, Azkia, Rahul and Robin were watching these two chat through from the sidelines. The lunch break was over. They got back to their desks, but the WeChat continued. Jokes flying around about other office staffs, mimics, pics, etc with occasional smileys and “hahaha” from Deepti and Sameer as well.

5’o clock

The day got over. Deepti’s cab was waiting outside. All the others were coming down. And the strange thing was that Sameer was not doing his daily Overtime, rather coming down. Sam, shouted from a distance, so guys, what’s the plan for today?? Party at my place?? Azkia replied back, “Dude, today is Monday not Friday!! “ Deepti shouted in, “When we are all together, Kya Monday kya Friday? “with a big grin.

Looking back on that time, where we ended up building up our friendship by bridging the gaps left due to the fallout of Deepti and Sameer’s relationship. And how, technology and Nostalgia played an important part in making it all possible. One year has gone, and Robin, Azkiya, Sam, Deepti and I are still together going strong on our friendship. Continuing with our occasional fun on WeChat.

This post was written as part of a #WeChatNow contest in association with Indiblogger.