As I was viewing a documentary on Assam Rifles (Indian Army) on Republic TV channel during my dinner some time back, I couldn't help remembering Mohan. He was one of my best friends during my college student days.
While I was studying for my degree course in Physics, he was doing his degree course in Electronics and Communication. Like all youngsters, we used to gossip about movie actors, our teachers and so on. The difference in my friendship with Mohan was that it was he who motivated me more into mathematics than my teachers, with the result that I began loving the subject to such an extent that I would complete all the excercises at the end of each lesson in mathematics textbooks before our lecturers taught them in our class. I was fanatically attracted to the subject irrespective of whether it was algebra, calculus, analytical geometry, trigonometry or any other area. By God's Grace, my practice in mathematics instilled 100% confidence in me, leading to fourth rank in the University Exams.
After our college days, we drifted away from each other in search of employment. I and Mohan communicated with each other until he was serving as Captain in Assam Rifles. At that time I was teaching in Bhutan. As with a few other friends, including two female pepals, I got the communication line broken because of my laziness in replying to their letters (I used to find it difficult to write. I wish there were facilities such as Skype and WhatsApp in those days).
In this context, Mary Hopkin's song "Those were the days" comes to my mind. I cannot forget the annual Eurovision Contest that was held in 1970 in which she took softrock fans by storm, thanks to BBC World Service Radio that used to be very well received in India even in analogue old fashioned radio receivers that most middle class households like ours, had. Paul McCartney of The Beatles, the legendary soft rock band of that era, had got a few of her songs recorded in their Apple studios. I remember how I used to long for the BBC's 'Top Twenty' programme during weekends. Those were the days.
Mohan was a great friend.
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