From Devashree

Abhi.. I find myself struggling with words when I am writing this post. I don't have anything much to say now still would try to make it in some lines thinking that you might read it.

"This pic in red was your favourite and clicked by me, making me remember you even more every time I come across this pic. I believe that you know me well. You will always remain in heart and memories will never fade. You are missed from the core of the heart."

Dear friends, I think few lines won't be sufficient, let's come together and remember Abhishek with a smile.

God bless your soul Abhi.

-Shree.

Dear Gullu...

I was shocked to hear about your death. It was a bad week for me, that.
But generally, I think I have learnt to survive.

Been living and travelling on my own since I was 18 and well its been 8 years now.
Along the way, I have learnt to balance & compensate, roll with the punches and go with the flow... and barring a few people, my parents and cricket for example, I am a find-replacement kind of person.

It's an approach that has resulted in my making most of what comes my way; with no permanent strings attached. We were not very close friends, except perhaps for the last 2 months.

I wish I could tell you that I think about you from time to time. I think all of us realise that you stood for things beyond MBA level competition.

In you I could recognise a fellow journeyman. While you were showing symptoms of slowing down, I was still game for more. :)

I must confess though, that you had been a round a lot more than I have, but there is no way to compare now is it ??

So here I am, on a fucked up saturday... waiting since 9 for a project review, for an internship about which you gave me very strict instructions, and feeling pretty empty about what is essentially sound work...

Now I realise. Maybe it's freedom I so desire. I must admit that nowadays, on reflex, I sometimes think of how you would have done something. Met someone. Had a good time. Generally.

It makes me do something, like writing this blog, that I generally don't do in my everyday life. Reveal myself.

You are dead. But you know.. maybe it's teaching us something you tried everyday of your life to convey and generally failed.

Learning comes at a price, doesn't it ?

Hmm.. why the f*** did I write so much crap ? ;) (Sorry Annie. Ghising. :D)

BRM Class...

I think the best times Gullu and I had together were in BRM classes. We used to catch the last three seats rights next to the AC. Our other constant companions were Shivam and Ghising. And we would sleep while everyone else was feverishly taking down the wise sermons of Chawla. We almost got caught once thanks to Bhutti snoring. Everytime Chawla would look our way, Gullu would wake me up and then say " chal, ab aaram kar le, bahut sun liya". Miss him..

- Sowmya V.

Why?

Sent by a dear friend of his.

Why?

That's what we ask. The truth is, we may never be able to know for sure why.
But we do know that there is no single "should have done" or "could have done" or "did" or "didn't do" that would have changed that why.
All that love could do was done.

Gullu, I hope it was really done. If not, I hope you will forgive us. Peace.

His Aversion to Classes!

Gullu hated attending classes. Usually, he would be found napping, reading a newspaper or a magazine in the back bench corner of the class. Sometimes, we had teachers who didn't take attendance before or after the break. He would always sneak out of such classes, always! I would berate him about it and had been trying to brain wash him to pay more attention in classes next term onwards. Of course, I didn't really think he'd listen to me but then who knew.

In the last term, we had an IE class one morning. Gullu had just come from home (Meerut) and landed in the class with his luggage, just to get attendance. His was the first roll number to be called out. He hollered present and slowly sneaked out of the class. A couple of other students followed him and one of them fell. The teacher heard the fall and figured out that people have sneaked out. She started the attendance again!

Unfortunately I had forgotten my cell phone in the hostel that morning and could not call him or sms him. Fortunately, some other friends did. Soon, he was back in the class explaining how he had just gone to keep his luggage to the room. The teacher gave a lecture on how we must not attend classes by the force of the attendance rule, how she will give attendance to everyone (though she never really did).

Although I was a little irked with Gullu for his constant bunking, I know I had heaved a sigh of relief when he finally got attendance. I think I worried more about his 90% than he ever did! :)

Going to miss you in class buddy. I am going to miss the one minute when attendance would start and I would hold my breath, worried that you either hadn't turned up or you'd fallen asleep and you'd not answer your attendance. But you'd always answer, unless you'd overslept. And I would find myself breathing again. Sigh.

Remembrance

Dear Abhishek,

I wish that you somehow know that how much we are missing you.
This world had lost a loving and caring and so full of life person, the kind of people we need more and more in this world.
May you rest in peace brother.
I know for myself that I have lost a jewel.. so precious that it cant be valued.. ever..
We will miss you all our lives Abhi...

Love and Peace,
Gaurav, Shalini and yours sweet Sabby

More remembrances

I will miss u all my life brother
Rest in peace.
- Ankit Malhotra

I will always miss you .
TMI will always remember you as a person full of life and joy.
May god bless your soul, rest in peace.
- Sandeep Aggarwal

May your soul rest in peace.
- Vaibhav Nesargi

Will miss you man.... Rest in peace...
- Saiprakash Rajendran

Gullu, I cannot imagine a person like you full of life and zest is no more. I cannot explain how much I am going to miss you.
- Giridhar Gatte

Hey Brother...maybe I'll never get the reply for this post...but we'll all miss u so......its really hard for us to explain it...but u take care..
- James Daimari

Abhishek, I'm going to miss you so much. You taught me so much for one so young. I will always remember what you told me, and i will still visit when i get there.
- Jayne Nixon

I would so want this post to to be answered. still want ur voice to fill the room, still want to hear ur silly jokes and still gang up with u and pull other's legs.but....I know heaven is waiting for you, but even down here u will always be missed. We will meet again someday brother..I m sure of that.
- Abhishek Kant Ghising

Will miss u all always!!
- Divya Kodati

Will miss u forever..........
- Amandeep Malhari

Will miss you Gullu... Cant believe you are not here with us.. Want you 2 come back.. Only if life can be 'rewind'ed..
- Sagar Parekh

Will miss you buddy
- Ritu Raj

Gullu,
I have been trying to find words to say how I feel since yesterday, but simply cannot. Its still hard to believe that I wont get to see you again. The TV room seems incomplete, the parties would always be less fun and the birthday bumps just would not feel the same.
You were an awesome friend who believed in sharing and believed in living life king size.
May your soul rest in peace.
- Akhil

Its been hard to fathom the fact that Abhishek won't be amongst us.
He was a guy full of energy, enthusiasm and definitely believed in living life king size.
Will miss you Gullu....
- Abhishek Bhandari

I came to know about the tragedy just now. It's unbelievably shocking for me. It's like as long as we have people around we do not understand their importance in our lives. We do not realize that as much as they were destined to be a part of our journey we can never know for how long God has planned it to be this way. And probably this is why we don't cherish each other's presence while its still readily available.
I read each and every condolence message sent before this...may be I was trying to catch up with Gullu through them.
Rest in peace Abhishek....You have left a void so big that can't be expressed in words.
- Avijit Vikram

I am still in a daze and have probably not fully understood what has happened.
This is my small way of remembering Abhishek Agarwal, who I am sure touched all of our lives in some way or the other. Personally he was a great friend and I have many wonderful memories of our time spent together. My only complaint is that this time was too short.
My heart goes out to his family. May God give them the strength to deal with this.
- Ankit Bhutani

How will you remember him?

Gullu had asked me 2-3 times about how I would remember him. He would say, "Aneesha, when we pass out of college and someone asks you about me, what would you say or what would be the first thing that you think about me?". I'd try not to think about it. I did not want to consider the possibility that we may drift apart or not be in touch after college. So I never dwelled on his question and would just say, "Why will I remember you? Will you stop talking to me or being friends with me that I would have to "remember" you? I don't know. I don't know what I will think or say, will cross the bridge when I come to it." He'd try to get me to say something a couple of times, but soon he would let it go.

I hope he didn't mind terribly that I never answered his question properly. In my mind, we remember people we don't have. I never wanted to consider that possibility and did not even think it would happen.

Well Gullu, I hope you are reading there somewhere, I remember you as a very dear friend and a vivacious person. I always wondered how we became such close friends so quickly. I guess it was all your doing and it was meant to be this way. Perhaps I was supposed to learn something from you, there are so many things though, I wonder if I will be able to do justice to everything.

Miss you always dear. May you find peace.

Manchester United!

Abhishek was an ardent "ManU" fan. From what I know, he started following football and siding with ManU in the early years of his engineering. It was a big thing in college and he also got exposed to it.

It was one of his passions, he could talk about it to no end. Every football match with ManU in it was naturally accompanied with a lot of noise and exclamations. Occasionally this would happen in the mess in the Old Hostel, so much so that I could hear the noise in my room on the first floor. It would annoy me a little, especially if it were around a test or exam. Of course, when it came to ManU, he didn't care for anything else. He'd watch each and every match, no matter what weather or what time or what day. After a long day of classes, I'd be totally drained and he would still go and watch the match. Amazing stamina, I would say to him.

On the night before the fateful Sunday, he went to watch a ManU match. ManU was trailing 0-2 before half time but ultimately won 5-2. He was ecstatic! He was also telling me that his football mania seems to be spreading, that Anshul follows scores and sometimes mentions about a match. It made him happier that he could get his friend involved in something he so obviously enjoyed so much. Suddenly he paused and said that his throat hurts, I asked why, what did you eat? He said that he didn't eat anything, he just screamed too loudly in the match and his throat is now sore... !!!

On Wednesday, ManU defeated Arsenal 1-0. I suppose there is another match ManU vs Arsenal this week. Let's see how it fares.

I am sure that he is cheering on in his loudest voice from wherever he is. I cheer on from here... Go Gullu!

P.S. - Pardon me if I got any facts wrong. I don't follow football or ManU.