Might as well discuss it here. As it turns out, this bloke is soon to be married. I met him in 1998, 8 years ago at school… we were in Grade 10. I remember when he introduced himself to the class midway thru the school year all I could think of was how he took the vacant spot of my other friend who left the country… Taiji Kim. That wasn’t his real name, but everyone just knew him as Taiji. Neither I nor Marco will ever forget the guy and personally I was a little reserved on that note, this stranger taking the place of my friend. Big boned, dark-skinned and overly polite, Chirag was aware that Taiji had left just a few days before him and addressed them head on, saying that he knew it sucked and it looked like he was replazing this other guy who he had never met and that he would try to fill that hole as best he could… and he truly did.

We were all kids back then, with looks and attitudes that if I were to bring it up today would send a lot of us (including myself) in a fit of embarassment. Things are a little blurry, but I remember I met him through one of the group activities on the English course, with Teacher Douglas (who I still see regularly, coincidentally). He was shy, and limited himself to doing his work as best he could, asking without shame whenever he had trouble with something. During this year we (as in the guys in the class) were still feeling the situation out… those of us who had been in the school prior to entering high school dealing with seeing so many new faces (quite easily nearing 7 or 8 people) and personally, Grade 9 was a very… significant year for me. Things were set in motion that year that to this day influence me. Anyway, I saw Grade 10 as a new beginning, and it was a breeze. Things really picked up in Grade 11…

Our notoriety as a class began taking its real stride in 1999. A lot of things happened this year, with the whole KoRn/Limp Bizkit/Rap Metal thing going on, and us sucking all of that up like sponges I believe it was very influential. I met My Torment this year, as well as Fright Doll and many others that I still talk to, to this day. This year also created the alliance that would identify us for years to come… the FC Team. Standing for “Fire Cracker” for God knows what reason, Pat, Chris, Frost and I started this idea… no real definition as to what the point was, but we hung out all the time anyway so we might as well put a name to it. Chirag came into it as well as Ismael, and eventually we’d grow to be 12, and regarded as one of the best things that ever happened to our school… according to the students, anyway.

Woodstock ‘99 was on TV that year; 3 days of peace, love and Rock n’ Roll. The Internet boom was just starting, and logged on to my ICQ account (as “[FC] Otaku X”) I’d talk on the phone with Chirag as we watched on our TV’s the goings-on and ran our own commentary on the performances while we shot the shit. I’ll never forget that, in many ways it was better than to have actually been there. That year, we also had to do a Shakespeare play and everyone in the class had to get involved. That meant having all 24 of us learn our lines of “Hamlet” for the bimestral grade, doing a production based on the screenplay for the principal and teachers to see. Naturally we all protested since we were lazy and didn’t want to learn those crazy, difficult lines so it was proposed that we modernize the script. Since I was the resident word nerd, I was assigned to the task of rewriting the whole thing, and as a fair trade I’d have a 5.0 (numerical grades are the norm here instead of letter grades… a 5 would be an A) on the course and wouldn’t have to do any exams. Chirag decided he’d help me out with the massive endeavour and help me out he did… I was pulling double duty as well, the class imposing me to play the part of Hamlet while at the same time writing the script with Chirag. We pulled it off brilliantly in the end though, and even though the production had $0 budget and looked like so everyone liked it. It was a real triumph, one which we would celebrate by going to Chris’ house, all of the FC’s, and watch movies, play games and eat pizza. I saw “The Matrix” with them the first time, when it blew my mind. We would all play “Final Fantasy VIII” and trade secrets about it… I don’t think I had ever played a game that much before the game came. We all graduated to Grade 12 and nothing would prepare the school for us as seniors.

The year 2000. The FC’s numbers grew; we were even considered a “gang” for a while during the time we’d go to Extreme Planet EVERY FRIDAY to watch whatever movies went on. It was The thing to do every friday night, it seemed… we’d find everytone under the sun there, and these preppy kids would start “gangs” just to fight in the parking lot next to the theater. I used to wear the same shirts for 2 or 3 days straight because I really liked them, but these guys would always call me on it… it was great times. During the end of that year things got out of control, childish impulses that blew out of proportion; i saw it as a test on many levels, the only relevant one (to this story) being that Chirag was one of the only people that would stay by my side whenever I felt like crap (which was often) and I’ll never forget it, He taught me the concept of backing a friend up, whether you agree with their way of thinking or not. True friendship if there ever was one… I saw who was in it for me and who wasn’t, and of course I registered it and to this day haven’t forgotten about it… Innocence died, and with it I went to Cancun with Chirag and a precious few others and had an absolute blast. I came back from there corrupt.

Ever since we were out of school keeping in touch became increasingly difficult as everyone went into their own worlds, each with their own bags of problems. After drunken sturpors, My Torment and her cycles, trips, women, drugs, music and the like we’d all grow more and more apart… and I realized the one growing apart was me.

I’m very different now than I was 6, 7 years ago and he’s one of the people who can attest to that. What I love about the guy is just how genuine he is; a real heart of gold if there ever was one. He’s the kind of friend, at least from where I’m standing, that no matter for scarcely you see him or how long you haven’t talked to him, as soon as I see him it’s like nothing happened and I immediately want to tell him all I’ve been going through. I miss the guy a lot, and I feel like I haven’t been doing the friendship justice. It’s always when you feel like it’s too late that people react to doing the right thing and because of that, I’m very sorry. He’s just such a great guy. For all of his faults and fuck-ups you can’t help but stand by his side no matter what. He’ll always make you laugh, always. He’s so consistent with the way he is that, unlike me who has gone morally askewed and much more corrupt than I was when I left school he’s managed to stay true to who he was back then, and not just that but he’s managed to build upon it to become a better person and I believe that’s remarkable.

I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for not being there as much as I would’ve wanted, Chirag. I feel like a real dick about it, and I don’t feel like there’s an excuse in the world that could justify my negligence and I wanted to use this space to apologize. If I prayed, you’d always be in them. If it counts for something, I wish you the best and hopefully I’ll get to see you so we can kick back a few beers before the important dates. If not, then I hope you have a great wedding; she’s marrying one of the best people on the planet. I love you, bro.

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