The last time we spoke, i remember myself taunting him showing a 'L' shaped gesture as i rushed to catch up my bus for hyderabad. he was really good at it, coming up with some poor jokes or flop shows, which we termed as 'L' aka Labodh. a few days later, when i was celebrating the diwali with a few pegs of rum at my residence in hyderabad, i was told that his body was lying somewhere in goa... and this diwali, when we were lighting up diyas at home, he is two years away from us, probably awaiting for a judgement at the kingdom of heaven. who cared? and who remembers?

yes, we almost forgot because he doesnt bother to drop a fewlines any more; beacuse he ceased to exist in the present. but that's the rule and i am too insignificant to challenge the almighty nature. we, the living ones, are too busy to forget things that dont have a mortal impact on our lives. but the irony is, we all will end up lying in that category someday! so, what if i paused for a while to dig up the memories? nothing better will happen, i know. it's easy to come up with a few lines that wud remind us of a guy called soumen. but this is not an obituary with some stone-hearted '1976 - 2003' label. right? and i am not gonna remind you about him either. i know, he's still remembered by a few. the guy who re-phrased his much known nick-name as 'original juto', was claimed by a merciless god, who scoffs upon the human challenge to out-perform the puppet show that he runs..

i remember him flashing his smiles all the time, sometimes like a fool running a 'hee hee' show..but that's the way he was; a big hearted small guy who was always there when we needed.

but why i am writing all these? i am not too sure. to find sanctuary by venting out the sorrow of losing such a dear friend or encrypting a rememberance?? perhaps the both. oh boy, you will always be there with us, we miss you a lot.