Mohan was a bundle of energy and ideas and would frequently get into the edgier side of things. We both kept it straight between us though. He was fond of dogs and had a series of them - Jackie, a black cross bred daschund, Sultana, Caesar and some other white alsations. One of Sultana's pups was brought home by my brother Ram, and was christened Caesar, and poor fellow lived a long loveless life because we weren't really dog people.
Mohan and I were the founder members of our colony cricket scene. Initially there would be Sundar Nagar vs Model Colony matches - he was in Model Colony and I was in Sundar Nagar. Early on the Model Colony team figured out an impatient streak in me and got Mohan to bowl donkey drops which i would hit high in the air only to get caught at long on. We then combined forces and played against SR Nagar, Vengal Rao Nagar, ESI Hospital and so on. He fancied himself as a wicket keeper and opener.
While me and Ram studied in All Saints High School, Mohan studied in Nrupatunga School in Kachiguda. Every evening he would land up at my house and we'd play - cricket, maram peeti, shuttle, or just roam around. He took me to the shop which would rent cycles for a buck. He also took me on an adventurous trek in the vast TB Hospital estate with Jackie which was great fun until some strays decided to attack Jackie and we beat a hasty retreat. We started a small library at his house. We'd shin up the water pipe to the terrace of our house and set up a tent there to read books. Once he tied a note to Jackie and sent it, and it was such a thrill to see that Jackie got the message over to me. Another time he tried to convince me that he saw a ghost in the well next to our house. There was never a dull moment with Mohan. He was always upto something or the other.
Once when we were still in school, my long lost cousin from the US Ratan Raj visited us and gave us some foreign clothes etc as gifts. One lovely white and red t shirt was not my style nor my colour and I knew it would suit the fair skinned Mohan better. I gifted it to him and he loved it and the next day came around wearing it. I saw him just in time and asked him to duck and make a getaway because my cousin has come visiting us again! Mohan quickly understood the situation and made himself scarce.
Our other pals from the colony were Srinu, Shiva, KV Rao, Vijay, my brother Ram. Others who joined us for games were Ramana, Seshu, Baabji and some other kids. Mohan and I would plan all the activities be it cricket matches or cycling escapades or any such activities. We were the chief conspirators. There would be many twists in the story with Mohan around - always stuff that would get the adrenaline flowing.
As we grew older we started going out to movies. I think we watched many movies in Gokul theatre which was the closest. He has this zany sense of humor and would imitate Kamalhasan and others which would make me laugh a lot. We would laugh a lot. Apart from watching 'Sagara Sangamam' with him, the other movie experience with him was 'Gold Finger' at Amaravathi. He took me along and when we got to the theatre we realised he didn't have money, walked some three kms to Liberty, borrowed money for the movie from his cousin Usha who was in her hostel, came back and watched the film!
As we grew older we drifted off a bit thanks to new friends and pastimes. My cricket took off a bit, while he made a lot of friends who were on the margins of the local mafia. Maybe by Junior College he had started smoking too. He never asked me to smoke or anything ever though. I went to St Alphonsa's Junior College and he went to Babul Reddy Junior College where he would get into scraps every other day. We still met and caught up - just not as frequently. When we did, we laughed, caught up, had lots of fun. He shared my joy when i got selected for the state teams and introduced me proudly to his older friends. He figured out a way to signal to me without coming home and yelling out for me - he would pick a stone and hit the electric pole which was as discreet a signal as any - the whole colony would know he was there.
It was at the end of our Intermediate college days that Mohan and I had been to watch a first show at Gokul theatre and had returned when we saw a policeman outside our gate asking about my father. He said there had been an accident and we should go to Gandhi Hospital. I told my Mom that there has been some small accident and I'll go check. So Mohan and i went to Gandhi, searched all over, until we found Dad lying in a stretcher on the floor in a corridor, a barber preparing him for surgery by shaving his head which had severe head injuries. By this time Mom had called Dr Rama Rao who was the Superintendent of the hospital and well, Mohan stayed with me all night in that crazy rain while the surgery was being done unsuccessfully and till they told us Dad didn't make it. I had to tell Mom who was waiting in a car with Ram and my other sisters, and realised we needed to bring my youngest sister back from REC Warangal. Mohan it was, who I sent to bring her and he took the morning Krishna Express and came back by 3 with her and Chitra. We just did it without thinking. All of that day went, funeral and all, and I lost sight of Mohan in the melee and never got to thank him. But in the toughest moment of my life till then, he was there, my crazy friend.
Life went on. I joined Engineering and Mohan joined JNTU Fine Arts to study Sculpture. He made some rough friends. He started drinking, smoking, swearing. But he was always gentle, courteous and kind to me. When i came back after making my Ranji Trophy debut he invited me and my friends to his college festival, was smashed when we went there, slapped a few guys and generally created a ruckus. I figured he was just happy to be with me. But that was a minor one by his standards as I know. One time he took my friend Sanjay from Engineering College to a bar near Khairtabad and they came back pissed.
He would go off on trips to Agra and Delhi. I still have a letter he wrote to me from Delhi or Agra, making fun of things as usual in his large, clear handwriting. When I started to do my MBA he went to MS University, Baroda for his PG. Post my MBA, in my job, I was travelling to Ahmedabad from Mumbai by train and perhaps wrote to him that I'll be passing Baroda at 1130 pm. He was there at that late hour, searching me out and also taking a short term loan of a hundred bucks! When I visited Baroda last year for the first time in my life, I visited the University and thought of Mohan.
Funnily I don't remember either of us being present at each other's marriages. But we kept in touch, bumping into each other, catching up on our lives. He got a job as an Assistant Professor at NIFT, and his house which was previously filled with friends who enjoyed a drink or a smoke was now filled with painters, sculptors, writers. His drinking grew and he had an early bout of pancreatis.
Mohans wife Pratima was his student. A dancer, writer, an artist, an animal lover. They were made for each other. They decided not to have any children and filled their house with dogs and cats and later on expanded to other animals, reptiles, birds. I remember one lovely party we had at their house in Sena Vihar in Kukatpally.
When Mom died, he was there. He would keep coming every now and then with an update. He was now a highly respected Professor at the NIFT and would speak with authority on art, dance, history, fashion etc. When I quit my job and said I would write he fully supported me - never once did he tell me anything that was not supportive. Ofcourse, he came for the launch of my first book and really enjoyed himself. He read it and told me he liked it. He would religiously come and buy a few books to gift to friends and family. Very proud of me was he.
He had these phases. Once he used to have this auto guy to transport him everywhere. Then a beedi phase. Then a phase where some babas and such people would drop by at his house. He would travel all over easily - once drove off to the Himalayas, cooking food along the way. He got transferred to Delhi, Bhopal and always invited me. I would plan but never did go. It was Sreenu who told me recently that thanks to Mohan he got some exposure to art and other finer things in life. He would take him to Agra, Jaipur and so on.
Mohan invited me to do a lecture at NIFT once. Pratima would give me some writing work to do. When Anjali was born he came home and insisted I take a wooden cradle that he had for the function. I was not very keen because it involved a lot of work, transporting it etc but he was adamant. In the end it was perfect, putting her in the cradle etc and a couple of days later I transported it back. Just one of those things. He was very thrilled by it.
He moved to Jubilee Hills and once we visited their house which had a whole variety of animals. Anjali was fascinated to see a tortoise and other such animals at their place.
Mohan would read a lot. He would give me some great books. The Moon and Six Pence was one. Several others. And he would write academic stuff. He loved the films Ram made.
Aunty passed away. We went to some place together for ashes thing and came back the same evening. He was a careful driver and for perhaps the only time in our lives he would tell me not to drive too fast or something like that. He was glad that I could make the trip with him. I was glad too. Aunty was a beautiful soul.
He came over and stayed with his father because he was alone. I would meet uncle in the park and we would talk a bit. Then Uncle was unwell and there was some issue with his will do Mohan called me over to sign as a witness. I was glad to.
His health was always susceptible but to his credit, it bore an amazing amount of abuse. Then it started giving up. His kidneys first. Pratima was willing to donate but he was not sure if he should put her at a risk. We talked about it at one of those chai joints at KBR wondering how much life had changed. I told him to be open, God will show the way. There was some complication and the decision was made. No transplant.
We went and met Dr Krishnan to get his advise on the kidney. And then one by one, in the past few months, his body started to give up. So much so that when i went to Delhi the last time I was scared I would not be able to meet him again. I rushed to the hospital straight from the airport, met him. He was weak. The first thing he asked was - who told you.
I tried to meet him as often, not knowing how long he had to live. Dialysis twice a week, in and out of ICU, surgeries, but he bore it with not a trace of self pity. His voice would be surprisingly strong. Once I decided I could not wait for the right time and just went and sat with him in the ICU for a few hours. He was sleeping. I was reading and then I started writing this blog. He woke up and saw me and asked when I came. We spoke about things. I realised laughing would make things uncomfortable so we tried not to laugh. He ordered coffee for me. Then in his characteristic style told me - the future is not looking bright. He counted his issues and said that all that needed to happen to him health wise has happened. He took full responsibility and said he had abused his body. But no self pity, no weakness, just a grimace. He said he was so weak he could not walk. I sat with him, held his hand. We smiled awkwardly, not used to being in situations like this. Give us something stupid to laugh about and we were good, but seeing him like this was not. I hoped he would find an easier exit.
So many times i would text him or call and he would be in the ICU or having a procedure. So many times Sreenu and I planned to go, went a few times too. We wondered where he got the strength to carry on like this.
Sreenu called this evening and told me Mohan has finally moved on. I can hear his gruff voice, his laughter, his crazy sense of humor, vthe way his lips would stretch as he smiled, the way he chuckled at something he found funny. There's so much more to write about him and I guess I will continue to write about him. He made my life so much more richer just being in it. Its been almost fifty years since I have known him so there must be something to it, some karma. Not once did we fight about anything, we drifted apart a bit but that's about it. Some of my fondest childhood memories are with him. Funnily I don't have many pictures with him. I do remember writing a blog when he and Sreenu came over to meet me a couple of decades ago but we lost that picture. One picture when we went to Sreenu's daughter's wedding. Recently he sent me a picture taken by students - a rare one of me smiling, he captioned it.
Lovely walking the path with you Mohan. Won't be able to take the turn to Model Colony without thinking of you and our many capers my friend.
