Blogging It Out With My Friend Kini

I am not the type that keeps in touch with old friends. I don't send them New Year e-cards, because of the belief (socially incorrect, perhaps) that you exchange seasons greetings with acquaintances. A friend is someone I tend take for granted. I must say my friendship with Kini, and many others, has survived on my terms. Communication between us has been few and far between, and generally one-sided.

In his e-mail a while ago Kini said he had shifted base from London (where he had spent over 40 years) to a chalet bungalow in Herne Bay, Kent -.a ' geriatric land where one is more likely to see dear old ones scooting around on electric scooters than young lads on noisy motor-bikes'. The real message in Kini's mail was in his sign-off line, which read - ' Uncertainty and hope fills our lives at present'

My friend Kini suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).

His other half, Catherine, decidedly, the better half, takes care of Kini, does the running-around in and outside their house, and still finds time for weekly Arts group meetings; and learning new skills as a water colourist. Catherine, he said, was enamoured with Herne Bay and Canterbury cathedral and spent much time there, hoping to become a knowledgeable guide to visiting friends and relatives.

Of her husband she wrote, "Kini's health is dire. He is now wheel chair bound and unable to walk much. With no diagnosis for his constant chest pain, leg pains and sleep problems, he is being advised by specialist to adopt a strict diet to trace food items that he is intolerant of, and vitamins, minerals and so on. ....He goes through weekly reflexology and counselling sessions. He has also seen a Homeopathic practitioner and has "healing" sessions with a healer. This has been difficult for a card carrying agnostic like Kini."

This was Kini's health status well over a year back. I didn't know how to react to his e-mail. Am not sure if I responded to it. This, then, was our situation when I heard from him again the other day, saying, "I hope you find time to visit my blogsite, where I have put in a short piece about you". The sting was in the tail, as they say. He made me feel guilty, for the first time in our decades old dormant friendship. I couldn't bring myself to e-mail him back. Instead, I did piece in my blog, dripping with nostalgia, and suggesting we stay in touch through our blogs. I reckon we have much to blog about the time we spent in London. Through such blog-to-blog dialogue, we might even reconnect with other friends, of whose current whereabouts we haven't a clue.

We were quite a bunch, mostly drawn from Delhi's Janpath coffee house regulars, who found ourselves in London. In the early sixties most youngsters with a college degree headed for the UK, if they failed to get into the IAS, do not find a covenanted company job, or, if they couldn't become a college lecturer (as a stop-gap arrangement while they attempted the civil service exams.). Getting a work permit for England was easy those days for folks from a Commonwealth country.

Kini and I landed in London around the same time (May 1964?), though by different means. I took a boat from Bombay to Genova and from there, a train to London (later day Orient Express)..And Kini, with a friend (Subash Chopra) hitch-hiked all the way, from Delhi to London. I wish Kini blogs about it.

My friend has reservations. He wondered if what we blogged would interest anyone other than the two of us.