People from my past.

I miss my friends - people I could talk to, people I cooked with, played video games with, discussed movies with, and went shopping with. Friends who shared my hobbies, and interests.

 Roby with his obsession love for international cinema, Pavan and Sai, who loved their gadgets and video games, Muddasir, who loved his gadgets and Bollywood, Nitin and his undying love for MMO shooters and RPGs (and Budweiser), Sriram, who I could discuss classic rock and music and technology with, Krishna, who was the token South Indian along with me, Avinash who took our constant ribbing, with a good natured smile, Parag, who was keen on photography and quality headphones, Sanjeev who made his famous "Tiger Rice", Sundar anna and Padma, who were the unofficial uncle-and-aunty for us PIGS, the all-round fun folk (and their spouses), Harish, Ananya, Nazia, Sagar, Pallavi, Shravani, Jincy, Aravind, Raghu, Mohit Paaji, the notorious Rakhi, the silent but very friendly Siyath..

I guess I could go on and list all the Indian friends from the 3+ years in Orono - at least the ones whose names I can recall. I miss them all so much - even the ones whose names I can't remember - the ones who I knew for just a few months too.

There were two colleagues/classmates from the university - Bingxin and Morvarid - two fellow sufferers who spent time with me in the Wireless Sensors Lab. I suppose I kinda became an unofficial honorary "little brown brother" to them :P

I miss Janice and Susan from the office at college - two of the friendliest people ever - always ready with a smile and a warm greeting whenever I saw them. Then, there was Dr. Musavi, the Department chair, who was a HUGE help during my grad school days. He got me my TA jobs when I was a mess financially, he wrote my letters of recommendation after I graduated - and helped reignite my love for neural networks. I wish I had kept in touch with him after I returned home, but me being.. well.. me, I lost touch with him. Maybe not for long. (Note to self : Mail Dr. Musavi). Also, there was Dr. Abedi, who was my advisor and teacher for a while. He guided me through my research, even when I was getting nowhere with my project work. He let me use his lab facilities even after I got kicked off his team, and helped me get through my coursework. I also miss seeing Sarah and Mireille's friendly smiles and helpful gestures whenever I was at the International Student Affairs office. I miss the friendly faces at the cafeteria - the employees who had learned to wave and smile at me whenever they saw the lonely brown kid approaching - specially the one whose name I forget - but whose cheerful smile I remember - The one who got a huge kick out of my innuendo-laden T-shirts I wore. Or the lady at the cafeteria who always added extra toppings to my pizza, and slipped me an extra cup of marinara sauce.

Then there was Paul - the friendly guy at the hairdressers at Bangor Mall.. He was friendly enough to slip me some samples of complimentary hair products - salon pomades and hair gels on occasion - he was the guy who knew instinctively how to style my hair - even without me asking beforehand.

It's ironic, really - I'm an introvert who loves spending time alone, away from people, by myself.
Yet, I often find myself missing these wonderful (and occasionally aggravating) people I spent time around. Among these are people I knew for a brief while - some who I had fleeting contacts with - yet, I find myself missing them so often lately. Mind you, I'm not prone to sentiments and yearning for people. But somehow, without these people, I feel lost and lonely. If I were to magically find myself in Orono right now (or wherever they are), I know what I'd be doing - Running around town renewing my acquaintances and catching up with these lovely folk.

I'm missing all y'all like crazy right now!