He takes the honor for the third time, as the slam books of my 10th and 12th also feature this guy in the first page. It was fate that i changed my section in 10th and landed up in a different one, at the last bench, next to him. We were on hi-bye terms, until he introduced me to Eminem. That completely blew my mind. I also learnt to be 'branded' observing him.
We used to cycle back from school. Any true biker or cyclist knows that bonds formed over riding remain for life. I was surprised that this smart guy was in this section, notorious for mischief and dull heads alike. But what a year it was. I was mortified when the math teacher once slapped him in front of the entire class. He just came back calmly and sat down. Me, i would have screamed and ran out like a drama queen. But nope, not VJ. Plus, he was the class rep. That meant we had power on our side, plus access to girls phone numbers.
Unknown to him, my mom and dad had nicknamed him "style king". Whenever he came over to our house, the way he talked, dressed and acted amused my parents. Initially, when he called on the land line and spoke for 2 hours, almost daily, mum was displeased. But later, as Bob Marley said, "cause everything will be alright", mum let go. FYI, VJ did the talking and i just listened, which is true even to this day.
I don't call him up, nor visit him. I don't poke him or send him a card, but he still visits me whenever he comes to Mysore and ofcourse, via Facebook.
The lessons i learnt from him are ingrained in my psyche. Music and all things branded are my choices. More importantly, it's what i learnt from him in all those years that i still cherish to this day, including the fact that i gained a true friend.
