Pujit Aggarwal

The moment you are born, the auspicious event instantly creates several ad hoc relative identities. Your entry into the world has given birth to mother, father, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, grandpa, granny, and any number of cousins. All of them welcome you to their fold. You are a bonny, mettlesome baby. The world is your oyster. Joining the pre-school and subsequently the school, you will discover the comforting equipage of classmates and playmates some of whom you will, for lack of a better word, miscall friends. They are fellow travellers and fellow sufferers under the back-breaking weight of the school bag you lug all the way to school and home.  No sooner do you upgrade from one class to another, than the equation changes. The old familiar faces scatter to the periphery, giving way to new classmates sitting next to you. Some are left behind and some now occupy the front row, basking in the supportive nimbus of the teacher on the dais. With a little bit of luck, one or two of...