Honoring My Friends

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This is a debatable post – reason being: I am not in touch with any of the people about whom this post is.

People very often have asked me “who my friends are?”
And I have fallen short of an answer for most of the recent years – my list would be like one or two people long.
For my years (2018-2022) in Chandigarh at Infosys, it was Anil Dahiya. He was like my friend, mentor, emotional support, my go-to person for most things but then he moved to the US from the Ford project and I moved to Delhi. I think I last met / hung out with him in 2021.

Well, I am happy as I am writing about Anil, otherwise I didn’t have him in mind when I was thinking of this post: I was thinking about Rohit Sud, Vikas Jain and Yajuvendra Gupta instead.
And so now I will make this post about four people instead of three.

Anil is like an idol to me, my role model. 
I admire him most for his strength to face the painful, life-altering disease of Ankylosing Spondylitis. And I regret writing this because he had told me last time (in 2021-2022ish) that he doesn’t want the world (friends, family or at work place) to know that he has this illness because Anil doesn’t want their pity, he wants their respect.

In my hindsight from my time in Chandigarh, I only remember being friends with two people: Anil Dahiya and Rohit Sud (though Rohit had quit Infosys in Nov 2019 in about 1 year and 8 months to move back to Delhi – but I was in touch with him on calls – The only person I used to call).

The thing about Anil and Rohit is this: They both teach you the philosophy of YOLO (You Only Live Once) – though neither of them have done anything for their own guilty pleasures / mischievous things that I am aware of. They both maintained a very clear, clean and disciplined image in my eyes – partly the reason why I adore them so much.

They didn’t share their difficulties with me and in contrast, they guided me through my tough times.

~~~

I came to know Vikas and Yajuvendra from my past workplaces. Vikas from Webplant and Yajuvendra from Mobileum. So they are both known to me for over 10+ years.

What Vikas and Yajuvendra teach me isn’t YOLO precisely but both of their lives do teach things on similar lines.
Vikas and Yajuvendra believed in enjoying what they did – otherwise (with a very high chance) they would stop doing it (eventually if not immediately).

One of their qualities that has definitely rubbed on me is: straightforwardedness (which I realized lately is also a Jain tenet practiced in Daslakshan days).
They express themselves so clearly, in such simple words that it would be understandable even to a five year old.

They are both hard working and look after their families (wife and children – Yaju has two (now) grown-up boys and Vikas has a daughter, Shivanshi who might have entered school) as responsible people.

One very contrasting thing about Vikas and Yajuvendra is how they see money: Vikas is definitely money-hungry, while Yaju practices contentment. And this reflects very clearly in their interactions with others.

Religiously and community-wise also I am able to connect with them: Vikas is Digambar Jain, and Yaju (though not Jain) is a Baniya (same as Jains 😀)

~~~

PS: 
All four are senior to me years, age and experience wise.
All four are married.
Three also have got kids – Rohit is yet to get there.
And I am a 34 years old bachelor.

Dated: 2026 Apr 10, 7.30 AM