A tale of four friends

Once upon a time, there were four very good friends - Sam, Rocky, Paps and Kots. And better friends you would not find anywhere. I was there to witness their friendship, so I kid you not. They went to college together and even after scraping their way out of college, they virtually lived together. Of the four friends, Rocky was the extrovert - an effervescent and dynamic person, bouncing his way through life. Sam was the calm, composed cool-guy of the group. Kots had the lion's share of the brains within the group. While Paps was the sweet-as-candy and sticky glue which held the group together.

The group had many adventures as they romped their way through life. The adventures won't make for very interesting reading, since not everyone knows them as I do. Well we will jump forward ten years in their lives and meet them as they approach their middle-age.

Kots - The Brains is now a very successful person. He is respected by everyone for his knowledge and his razor-keen acumen. He is not uber-rich as you might expect him to be, but then he never really believed very much in prosperity. He himself is extremely satisfied with what he has achieved and that is what counts.

Paps - The Sweet is now a supremely happy person. Paps was and still is the closest of pals with Kots. And this relationship has ensured great happiness for both of them. We can safely assume that as long as they are together, they will always be very happy. Paps, by the way, is also very successful. But Paps' definition of success was always based more on the success of the group as a whole.

Sam and Rocky, in the meantime, have had a far rougher time than the other two. Rocky has changed drastically in ten years. He is no longer the butt-kicking, back-slapping dude he once was. He is much more serious now and seems to spend more time contemplating life than actually living it. Financially, he is very successful. But his success has come at a price. You can see that his hair has greyed visibly and worry lines have formed across his once very-low brow.

Sam's plight is not very dissimilar to Rocky's. The two had once been the roller-coaster engine of the group. The engine has now nearly broken down. Sam had always been more vulnerable than he projected himself to be. The vulnerability had increased over the years and circumstances have token a toll on him. The grey hair and the worry lines are apparent on him too.

The four of them are still friends or so they tell me. But it's hard to tell now just how good friends they still are. I have observed them together a couple of times. Sam's and Rocky's respective troubles seem to perennially hang over the four of them like a dark cloud.