This is an amusing anecdote about one of my close friends. His name is Muralidhar Movva (known as Murali) who left this world on 16th October 2006. Inspired by the quote “Good men must die, but death cannot kill their names”, I take this blog as an opportunity for paying tribute to my dearest friend. I shared my experiences and my views about him.Murali, a tall guy with a good build was like any other teenager who enjoyed playing sports, can call him a cricket freak. He was from a middle class family which had the basic amenities. He stayed in Hyderabad with his parents and sister. His grandparents, who love him more than anyone else, stay in a different place running their family owned business.
Srikanth (from Murali’s college), Murali and I spent most of our weekend times together during the first two-years of our under graduation days. Three of us stayed in adjacent streets and the distance between any two houses is very small, similar to the distance among our hearts which made it very easy for us to laze around and have fun. He had a craze to drive two-wheeler like any other young lad of India would have during their college days. He took either Srikanth’s motorcycle or my scooter to have test ride. I told myself that he was a bad driver after seeing a number of rides from him. Apart from two-wheeler driving, he was a big movie buff and also fascinated by computer games. You rarely see him fretting about anything except while playing sports. Of course, many times, he coaxed a brilliant performance out of the team.
One peculiar thing about Murali is that he becomes very irrational in believing some people. He supports them on whatever they say. I was not lucky to be in that category. There is one more interesting
point about him which you see during arguments. Usually, though one may say externally that the subject is important and not the person, but internally many people see only the person and not the subject, especially in heated arguments. Murali was a true exception to this notion. During arguments, he takes and gives abuses to people. Within no time after the argument, he behaves with you in a normal way as if he did not involve in the argument. Initially, you may think he is pretending but you have to change your opinion on the long run. He does it innately & wholeheartedly. Even if you avoid him, he will come back to you without any hard feelings. His anger was mercurial and restricted to subject of the argument/discussion. Among my friends, this was unique only to Murali and I have not seen this particular trait in any of my other friends.During our final year of bachelors’ course, we had campus placements. He was landed a plum job at CTS and me at Wipro. Both are software companies and offered a good pay package. After he started receiving salary, he began fulfilling his wishes such as mobile, attires, bike etc, all of them being brand new. I was still a bit cynical about his driving amidst of terrible traffic of Hyderabad. I started preparing for GMAT to pursue my dream course, MBA. I booked my GMAT slot on 17th October 2006 and was not in contact with friends since September 2006. I got a call to my landline (mobile was switched off) from Srikanth’s father on October 16th 2006. I opened my eyes and mouth as wide as possible after hearing from the receiver "Murali met with an accident and is no more with us in this world". I lost my senses for the next 10 minutes. Just before the call, I was doing mental preparation for the exam and all of a sudden I was getting calls from US to know how this tragedy happened. All of his friends were asked to come to Osmania hospital mortuary. I felt shame on myself on that night because I thought for a moment whether to go the mortuary or to do mental preparation for GMAT.
For Murali, friends are assets. We (=all friends) decided to support his famil
y financially, though we know that we could not replace life with money. I should specially thank Rohan for coordinating with CTS folks & other friends of Murali in sorting out various issues. I also thank the other assets of Murali such as Hari, Shanthan, Shanthi, Ashwin, Ravi, Vikranth, Chenna, Srikanth and Raghu for providing all forms of support to his family. The list could go on like a long train but I am not aware of all his college and office friends. His mother gave new shirts of her son to some of his friends. I accepted one shirt as a memory of my friend.In this barren wilderness of modern life, we still use the moments with Murali (under graduation days in particular) as a metaphor for the happiness of life. His foot prints are so strong in the hearts of his friends that we often recollect him. Even now, we recollect him whenever we discuss about our happiest moments. We don’t have to recollect him intentionally but cannot avoid recollecting him because he was a part of those joyous moments we had during our under graduation days.
William Shakespeare said “And, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of Heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun”. We know that the soul of my friend is resting in peace and joy. To the family members of Murali: we, friends of Murali, are here to support you in all walks of your life. Please do treat us as your family members.
