Asif Khan Inc.

As the flames died away (and rose again)

1 Jan ’08: approx 10.30 am

Nice sunny start to the year, and standing in my balcony looking for signs to the start of anything (like I always do), I hear the soothing voice of Graham Russell crooning ‘Making Love out of Nothing at All’ wafting through the pleasantly chilly winter morning air. And in the background, I have Mr. Timberlake saying ‘What Goes Around Comes Around’ to the superlatively spectacular Ms. Johannson. Hmmm…Making Love and Scarlett Johannson can make for a pretty lethally satiating experience on a Winter morning which heralds the start of a new year, but then as its goes around, after all its making love out of nothing at all, and so does it comes around.

***
It all started (or now that I look at it, tried to start) with the immensely immaculate amount of planning done by a group of rhyming, math geeky corporates who had the singular pursuit – ‘Objective – To ring in the new year in style. Period.’ (over which there was an exchange of some 40+ odd mails between an animated group, with topics ranging from musical preferences to preferred defecatory seating styles).  So ‘Run to the Hills’ it was for us.

***

30 Dec ’08:

It turned out, however, that the management of the Haj Committee and Air India had other plans in store for me – conspirators-in-arms – and managed to successfully delay the arrival of my folks back home by a good 36 hours, and to top it all, with no luggage in tow. I bow my head in disgust to the collective management capabilities of the duo, who by the sheer excellence of their execution of affairs have led me to believe that there are certain situations in life where Murphy’s Law applies ‘no-matter-what’!

Having missed out on the hair-pin bends of highways sloshed with melting snow, and having resigned myself to the drudgery of the plains, but not broken ‘in spirit’ to ring in the new year, we made a promise to ourselves that we would transport ourselves above the drudgery of the flatlands on ‘the’ eve, so what if that just meant the terrace at Level 3 of my ‘condo’, and ‘roll’ in the new year to transcend ourselves to heights hitherto unknown to dwellers even on the remotest precipices of the Himalayas.

***

1 Jan ’08: the hours beyond midnight

The efforts at bringing up the bonfire did manage to Light our Fires enough, courtesy our pre-midnight efforts at collecting wooden crates from vegetable vendors, Mr. St. was at his poignant best, indulging himself in some Shaman-ically stylized Native Indian tradition of going around the fire in concentrically widening circles and waxing eloquent with drum language (kick drum, tome, crash cymbals et al), Bass-it had been transposed to a plane of existence which allowed him to solely respond (and query) in giggle language, Stonerhead (though we were graced by his presence only during the fleeting moments of the past year and the moments post-midnight were fleeting anyway) was absolutely blown away (which was nothing unusual anyway), Riz’Grammy’ was sprawling on all fours owing to the mind altering effects he had subjected himself to (please don’t ever, ever at all torment us again with tortuously cyclical repetitions of A minor while under influence), all of this accompanied to the strum and hum of those lovable blokes of Path26.

As for me, floating in circles with a non-fixed radius, I just looked searchingly into the rising flames, growing ever deeper as we kept it alive with the fuel of our lives, and as the embers lay glowing in the wee misty hours before the dawn of the new year, I wondered if I was witnessing the life-sketch of the bonfire etched onto our souls in reverse time.

***

Family: Yes, I know there’s a lot that’s there on your mind this year for me, lets see where it takes us, and just in case its been long, I do love you all.

Kashif: Did miss you, as I did for the Bday bash, but then its just a matter of days now before you are going to back, and then we shall party together.

SamShi: Missed out on you guys big time, what with Mr. St. in an eloquent reverie, not witnessed during any of our past encounters, and Bass-it keeping stash aside with the thought of ‘what-if-they-just-turn-up’ (even though it was 5am when we last spoke), and just in case I haven’t said yet, you have been the best thing to happen to me when I was in Allahabad…love and God bless!

Saadi Bhai: My original rockstar bro, you were definitely missed in the midst of this revelry, and your presence with the guitar would have made the night much more profound.

Mr. St.: Yes, I know you were on a trip traversing clouds of dizzying sentiments, but then yes, say and consider what you may, you are one of the best bros I could ask for.

Bass-it: Just keep slapping those ‘base’ chords in life, and I am sure you would make it, just don’t give you mom reason to come after me for your ‘apparently’ decadent lifestyle (see, its started showing already, what with the ‘stones’).

Joseph: Missed you ‘hair’-there-everywhere, all the best to Reshmi and you this year

And yes, all those who have to find a mention in this space, yes you were missed (yes, I know you know that you deserve this place here), and a couple of you were missed for the sheer vivacity with which you lighten up a fun-sized bonfire, each one of you, I do love you all.